Candidates for State Assembly District 3, and State Senate District 4, met Tuesday evening in a sparsely filled Harlen Adams Theatre, for forums hosted by the League of Women Voters of Butte County, asking the full gamut of pressing issues.

Local media outlets North State Public Radio, Chico News & Review, and Chico Enterprise-Record sent representatives to ask questions of the candidates, and questions from the audience were mixed in. Candidates James Gallagher and Sonia Aery for the Third State Assembly District, and Jim Nielsen and Phillip Kim for the Fourth State Senate District were given two minutes to answer each question along with two-minute opening and closing statements. Speaking order was drawn by straw.

A full recording of the event has been made available by local cable network BCAC.tv.

After the forums, each candidate spoke directly to The Orion on their stance on what they felt was most important to students.

James Gallagher spoke on government policies and regulations diminishing opportunity and stifling innovation, and of promising to continue to fight against such regulations as he has during his years as a member of the State Assembly.

Sonia Aery spoke about minimum wage being too low to afford rent, and working towards a $15 minimum wage, as well as working towards free college tuition.

Phillip Kim spoke about working towards healthcare for all, and free college tuition.

Jim Nielsen spoke about his constant stance of being against the rising cost of tuition to reduce overall student debt.

Josh Cozine can be reached at [email protected] or @joshcozine on Twitter.