On election day, Whidbey Island voters will have a choice between an attorney from Camano Island or an attorney from Oak Harbor for a seat in the Washington State legislature.

Republican Greg Gilday is running for his second term as a member of the Washington State House of Representatives for District 10, facing off against Democrat Clyde Shavers, a newcomer to the political arena.

In the primary election in August, Shavers earned almost 52% of the vote, compared to the nearly 48% that Gilday received. The two candidates have been evenly matched in fundraising efforts for their campaigns.

A Navy veteran and recent graduate of Yale Law School, Oak Harbor resident Shavers has been actively involved in the community as a volunteer for several nonprofit organizations, including the Skagit Friendship House, the Whidbey Veterans Resource Center and South Whidbey’s Goosefoot Community Fund.

“I’m hoping to express to people across this district that this run for public office is simply a continuation of my lifelong dedication to public service,” Shavers said. “The moment I left high school, I dedicated my entire life to protecting our country, protecting our communities.”

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2013. In the Navy, he was a nuclear submarine officer before transitioning to public affairs. He served in both the Middle East and Southeast Asia and is now a reserve officer.

At Yale, he focused on environmental law and worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council on issues related to toxic contamination of drinking water, clean-fuel vehicles, deforestation and regenerative agriculture.

Gilday was first elected as state representative in 2020. A longtime native of the Stanwood area, he lives on Camano Island with his family. He is a real estate broker and has been a practicing attorney for 17 years, with a focus in real estate, estate planning and business law.

He’s served on boards for the Safe Harbor Free Clinic, the Stanwood Camano Food Bank and the Stanwood Camano Rotary Club.

Gilday first decided to throw his hat into the ring when former Rep. Norma Smith announced she would not be seeking re-election. His first term in office has undoubtedly been shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, which required legislators to do their work remotely in 2021.

“This is one of those jobs that it takes you a little while to get your feet under you. I’m kind of just hitting the ground,” he said. “Especially with COVID, the first term, I wasn’t allowed down in Olympia. I spent the first session behind four computer screens in a windowless cubicle in Stanwood.”

Both candidates named affordable housing as being one of the top issues they’d focus on if elected.

During his time in the legislature, Gilday served as a ranking member of the Housing, Human Services and Veterans Committee.

“How I look at it is we can get creative, we can institute a number of different policies that will help a little bit,” he said, pointing to different types of housing, such as mixed use developments, infill projects, townhomes, condominiums and ADUs.

He acknowledged that while there is no silver bullet to meet the demand for affordable housing in the state, there should be ways to make it less expensive for people to build homes.

As a volunteer for an organization serving the homeless, Shavers is intimately aware of the issue. At Skagit Friendship House, he’s cooked food for members of the community who have shared their struggles with him.

“Affordable housing is really important in a time when young people can’t afford to rent, when older folks are potentially being removed or kicked out of their homes,” Shavers said. “I think this issue really resonates across all age groups, all types of people.”

As a board member for Goosefoot serving on an affordable housing subcommittee, he said, he’s realized there are a lot of obstacles to building affordable housing, which he hopes to help remove as a member of the state legislature.

Another area of concern for Shavers is health care, including a woman’s right to manage her own reproductive care. He also wants to ensure that his fellow veterans receive the benefits they deserve.

Affordable health care, he explained, could mean something as simple as capping the pricing of certain drugs, such as insulin for example.

“As a veteran myself, I want to ensure that every veteran, every active duty military person is taken care of,” he said.

Gilday is choosing to prioritize public safety. He pointed to recent legislation that in some cases has tied the hands of law enforcement officers, such as a bill limiting police pursuit of suspects.

“In 2021, the majority party passed a number of police reform bills that went way too far,” he said. “It essentially went from defunding the police to disarming the police.”

While knocking on doors during his campaigning, he said, it has been “eye-opening” to see how many homes now have a security camera or doorbell of some sort, which indicates that people may not feel safe in their own neighborhoods.

Gilday maintained that with his cumulative life experience, he would be the best man for the job. He said that his goal is to bring balance and accountability to Olympia.

Shavers, on the other hand, is looking to take his life of public service to the next level. He decided to run, in part, to help remedy the “corrosive political dialogue” he saw taking place back home while serving in the military.

District 10 covers all of Island County and parts of Skagit and Snohomish county. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.