Interview 02/02/26

1:03 It’s local matters on 94.7 timber country. Here’s Johnny Manson,

Johnny 4 1:08
All right, our guest for the remainder of the 9am hour. His name is Aiden Hamilton, and you’re running for the 24th legislative district. Did I get that right, sir, that is correct. All right. Now you’re what 18?

Aiden 1:25
Yes, that’s correct as well.

Johnny 1:29
All right, it’s good to see you know young people wanting to get involved. You know what made you well? First, tell me about yourself. Where are you from, and all the things, yeah.

Aiden 1:40
So as you stated, I’m 18 years old, and I was born and raised on the Olympic Peninsula, so specifically Port Angeles area, and so it’s very much a hometown feeling. I’m running to represent, like my hometown, my district, and as a lot of people know, the 24th is, if I’m correct, in my memory, the second largest geographic district. And so even when I leave Port Angeles, I’m going to squim. This is a place where people from the north Peninsula know that’s where you get your groceries, because that’s where our local Costco is. So I’m used to Port Angeles, squim. We all have family that spread across the peninsula, so fort Townsend, and then even as I go down into Grays Harbor, it still doesn’t feel like I’ve left my hometown, because the area just feels so familiar to me. And so it’s it’s really just so wonderful that I kind of get to do this, and that the opportunities presented itself.

Johnny 2:37
So do you follow this stuff much?

Aiden 2:43
What do you mean? This stuff? Politics? Yeah, oh, um, yeah, I would say so. My political introduction came when I was about 14 years old or so. I think a lot of kids, you know, because of the internet, they get a hold of politics at a younger age. And so I kept getting fed these clips. I found some political interest, and at the time I was like, what I call, I like to call it a double hater. I didn’t like either party. I blamed both for the covid 19 pandemic. But as I started getting these clips, I started to realize, Oh, I was shut out of school for two years, not because of Republicans, but because we have a one party state, and the Democratic Party decided to shut down our school

Johnny 3:31
So and was that one of the reasons why you kind of decided to get in The mix of things?

Aiden 3:39
Um, I It’s certainly a factor. So part of the reason why I chose to run is because we have a situation in Washington where across the state, we are noticing less students are going into public schools. We are noticing that education is dropping in the state. I think it’s a regular thing we point out. I think somebody in the legislative session, when testifying to a bill had pointed out half of our students can’t read at grade level, and we don’t meet many of our state standards in math and math, science and ELA just all together, and so the quality of our education is dropping, and I it’s hard to ignore the covid 19 pandemic, and even locally, when school board directors were running for re election, even some of our legislators pointed out that there are still effects from covid that linger on today. I think that’s a big point. We want to fix this problem that we faced in covid 19 for two years, but we don’t have anybody on the inside of a legislative process who actually knows what happened directly to the students. It’s one of those things that is an experience that no matter what they do, nobody in Olympia will ever have unless we elect somebody who lives that experience.

Johnny 4:57
I was going to ask you about that. I mean, yet you live. Of through it as a student, what was you and your your peers, your take on the whole situation as it was happening?

Aiden 5:09
So it’s really funny. I really try to, like, think of like, what is the best way to present this, but I think, honestly, is the best policy here and in the moment when, like, when it just hit and I found out the school was going to be canceled for the next few weeks. I did what every young boy did at the time, which was, I went home and I played Fortnite. But as the pandemic drew on, something I realized was, is I’m gonna have to go to school again next year. Now this didn’t really like, click until later, like, when we’re, like, halfway through the summer and we’re getting set up for school. But I mean, realistically, who really kind of thinks that far ahead at that young age, right? And so because of that, we go into the following school year, and something that didn’t really kind of click in my head is that I didn’t get a single day of instruction time after schools had been closed for the pandemic, not one minute of teaching me more math, more science, more English. The only thing I got was a 20 minute lesson of my violin, and that was it. And that was in that really did affect my education, I think that affected the education of a lot of students, because how can you go into your following year without the second half of your previous school year? You basically just skipped four months of education, and now you’re supposed to just kind of pick up where you left off, as though you had finished the previous year in perfect colors, and so it was very hard to get ahead. And I should say this, that I was actually held back in second grade because I couldn’t read or write at grade level. My my handwriting was as though it was a foreign language, and my reading ability was that of a first grader. And so my members of my family thought it was best to hold me back, and so I was currently on track to need to be held back a second time in order to get back to grade level. And the issue was is that the school district wasn’t hugely in favor of holding students back, because it was a district wide problem where students just weren’t where they need to be for their grade level, missing out on five months of education. Can really do that to a kid, and I would say that I was fortunate where others may not have been. I had members of my family who really did care about my education. My God, parents were very adamant about me doing well, and then some people helped to for me where they could. My brother, he kind of helped where he could, because he was a couple grades ahead of me, and so I was able to actually kind of turn that around. And I’m actually, I’m on track to graduate, technically on time, but being held back, it really means that I’m graduating early, because I’m not slotted to graduate this year, but instead, I’ve pushed far enough ahead. My crowning achievement for education is that I completed 22 semester long classes in my freshman year, which is the equivalent to completing your sophomore and junior you’re a freshman and sophomore year in the same time span.

Johnny 4 8:19
Wow, yeah. Remember, it was just two weeks to flatten the curve,

Aiden 8:23
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that those, those two weeks really didn’t that. They didn’t end. They didn’t end for two years.

Johnny 8:32
So what do you think it would take to fix the problems our state has?

Aiden 8:38
So there’s a couple things. One of the things I would say is, as far as our education goes, that one is, there’s just a bunch of different issues. I hear a lot of people talk about, like, school choice, and I’m not like, I’m not like, saying, let’s copy and paste what all these other states do as far as school choice. But I think Arizona is a good case. We I was down in ocean shores for the Roanoke conference, and we had a lady there who had come up from Arizona, and they actually had open enrollment. And it did wonders to the state that the worry is that with open enrollment and more choice, people will leave the public school system. But we see, even without open enrollment and school choice in Washington, that people are still finding ways to leave the system, and that does affect our school districts. I think it’s not a exaggeration to say that most of our junior taxing districts, primarily our schools, are operating on shoelace budgets right now because they just don’t have the funds that they need. And so I think one of the things to do is, as far as education goes, to start looking to some of our neighbors and do we want some of the results? As I said, we don’t have to copy everybody completely, but I think Arizona is a good case study where school choice works. And it didn’t negatively impact the public school system. As far as other things like taxation goes, obviously, I’m in favor of less taxes, but we also need to find, I think, realistic ways that we can actually win on some of these tax tax things. And so one of one of the policies I’ve taken, and I don’t know how popular this is, even with Republicans, as far as how we could get it passed. I’m sure Republicans love the idea, but I believe it was five times. One of them might have been a referendum, but five times there was an initiative to impose a 2/3 majority requirement to increase taxes in Washington state, it came about as an initiative, I think, four times, and each time it received more than the margin it needed. I think at the height of it, it reached 60% of the vote, and so it was more popular than most of the politicians in the state, and it was shot down for some reason or another every time, at one point, they said it violated the single subject law, and other times they said that it violates States Constitution, that you need a constitutional amendment. I happen to believe that if so many people in Washington state want that requirement, I think we should impose that. I don’t think it will be fun for the legislature, because we’re going to have to be the ones who debate over it and decide what we want to do as far as the budgets go. But I think if we can make the budgeting process 100 times easier for Washingtonians, when they have to sit down and go over what they can and can’t afford, I think if we make it easier for them, then I think it’s well worth making it 100 times harder for us.

Johnny 11:39
You know, we voted for $30 car tabs twice, and, you know, they’re, they’re like, Oh, well, you don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t get that. And then, you know, we pass this parental rights thing. It’s like, oh, we’re gonna write something that nullifies that, or, you know, ignores that. I mean, how can we get anything done when we vote for something and we don’t get it? What’s your take on that, buddy.

Aiden 12:01
Um, yeah. So as far as the initiatives go, and then kind of just like overturning them and getting rid of them, I do think persistence certainly helps, and constantly getting these initiatives on the ballot is a really good thing, and we see them trying to actually get the initiative process right now, thankfully, Secretary of State, Steve pops, is even coming out against it. But the issue there, and the best way to kind of get around it, is really to keep running these initiatives. Because I think the thing they fear the most is actually having them on the ballot. Generally, because we’re a we are a left wing state, is that I would say parents rights for Republicans is like abortion for Democrats, if you put it on the ballot. And Republicans can genuinely say parents rights are on the ballot that will turn out Republicans. And I think even Democrats admitted it in in a way, in 2024 when they actually passed it. They didn’t want to pass it. They were almost pressured into it because they realized that would hurt them up and down the ballot. And I think that’s the only reason they did as well as they did in 2024 was because they were able to take those off the ballots. I mean, if we look at the way the 2024 race went, almost the entire country swung to the right, at least in some amount of margin, and the reason Washington State barely escaped that was because they took those off the ballot. If you were door knocking and you made your pitch for your candidate, everybody felt like the economy could do better. But could you imagine how the votes would change if you told them the economies do better. And by the way, parents rights are on the ballot. This is not hyperbole. This is an initiative, and it’s on the ballot now, I think people would have turned out in wide margins for those ballot measures, and that’s why they passed them originally, was to prevent them from being on the ballot.

Johnny 14:00
You mentioned the Roanoke conference in ocean shores. Can you tell me more about that?

Aiden 14:07
So I’m trying to think, like, the best way to describe it, but I would say it is everything I wanted it to be. It was very policy focused, and so for somebody who’s running for the legislature, it feeds my ideas, and it also like, lets me know, it’s like, is this a good idea? Is this a bad idea? Because it puts you in front of a lot of people who are familiar with policy. So of course, you’ll find a bunch of legislators there, and you’ll find people who do policy research, almost as a profession. And so it’s very, very informative. And I really did like it because it was tailored towards Washington and nothing else. So when you talk about policy or like the one for the average person who wants to hop online, it’s very hard to find policy prescriptions for I feel like your local area and even your state. You always get federal policy because, as it turns out, that’s the most popular but to have a conference that’s just dedicated to, how can we make Washington better? For me, that was just the goal. That was just gold. And so I really liked it. I got to meet a lot of interesting people there.

Johnny 15:15
We’re talking with Aidan Hamilton, 18 years old. He’s running for the legislature, 24th district, I believe, is positioned two more coming up on local matters.

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Johnny 17:28
All right, we’re talking with Aidan now. Aidan is running for the 24th district. Aidan Hamilton is his name. He’s 18 years old, and he wants to make a difference for his state. If you have any questions for him, you can call us at 360-533-5259, you can email or text message johnny@jodesha.com

Johnny 17:51
So that that conference in ocean shores. Had you been to a conference like that before?

Aiden 17:56
Um, I think that’s what made me excited. Is not exactly like that. I’ve been to conferences before, but the conference in ocean shores was different because it was so policy focused. But yeah, I’ve been to conferences before. I’ve been to the Republican Action Conference they had in Kennewick. That was my first one. That was back in 2023 I went to the Yakima Lincoln Day dinner, which, it’s not really called a conference, but the feeling is very similar. You’re in this hotel, you’re with all these different people who, if you’re around enough of these conferences, you almost recognize, like half the room automatically. So we did that one where they had Charlie Kirk speak, and I’ve been to the Spokane convention, and then the this the Roanoke conference was the first one I had been to in a while. And it was, it was wonderful.

Johnny 18:45
Anything stand out?

Aiden 18:48
Um, yeah, I would say so. So, as everybody knows that kind of, you know, we circulate the air and whatnot. So every so often you want to, you know, get, get a nice breath of fresh air. And so I actually walked out because, you know, I kind of wanted some fresh air. And I realized, as we were, as like, it only took, like, a couple second steps to realize that there was a line of protesters outside, and they had some very interesting signs, some of the vulgar language that I won’t repeat on radio. And they, you know, they were protesting ice and Trump, two things that came up at the conference next to mill. I’m trying to think of a time when they were brought up as far as like topics. There was some discussion about executive overreach, but that was more about the office of president, rather than any particular president. I think they may have given examples like overreach from like the bushes, Obama, maybe Trump, too, I think likely, just just as general overreach from the presidency, not a referendum on any particular president. And so they were protesting things that weren’t even being brought up there. And you. So I and a few others, we actually approached the general area of the protesters. We didn’t like walk up to them directly, at least most of us. And so we were just kind of, you know, standing there enjoying some of the fresh air and the group, I’m trying to remember, like everybody in the group, but I know it was me, somebody who was recorded in this situation named Don it was Jim Walsh, David Olsen, who ran for OSPI and is running in his legislative district. I do obviously myself. And then there was Ari Hoffman, his wife, and also representative angle. I hope I’m saying his name right from the seventh legislative district. And so we had all kind of approached that general area when they realized that we were there, they kind of, you know, started facing us and whatnot. So of course, they did what every leftist does. They started screaming at us. They called the Jewish guy a Nazi. One of them even started getting nasty with me, because Dawn she had actually got separated from the group. And of course, when they started yelling at us and whatnot, we thought it was best if one of us actually, you know, tried to approach her that way. She wasn’t alone in this crowd. And one of them that started screaming at me, and they’re like, I think I saw you on Grindr. So of course, the tolerant left, I had to respond that that was awfully homophobic, because they were making it sound like it was some kind of bad thing to be on Grindr. So I don’t know why they wanted to scream at me. I don’t know why they care about my sexuality, but it was, it was a rather interesting conference overall.

Johnny 21:32
Huh?, Out in ocean shores even? Yeah,

Aiden 21:36
I want to say I think it was ocean shores indivisible. I think that was the name of the group that was protesting us.

Johnny 21:41
So do you know the process of, you know, writing a bill and doing all the things that the legislature does.

Aiden 21:51
So I am somewhat familiar with it, and like obviously, I could be infinitely more knowledgeable of the process. But as it turns out, you get more familiar with it, the more directly involved you get. So I don’t like to quote my experience as it, because I don’t feel like it matters as much as other experience. But when I was a Senate page, they brought you in, and they actually teach you the legislative process, and they even have some of the legislators come in like explain it. And so I was already very interested, and I was very familiar with the bill writing. And I was actually surprised, because for some reason, when I was first learning about it, I thought that the legislators actually chose the language of the bill. No, as it as it turns out, unless you’re a lawyer, you don’t really get to do that, but so yeah, no, I am familiar with the legislative process a bit, but I’m certainly looking forward to becoming more knowledgeable about it. The more I campaign and the more I interact with the legislature, and of course, winning in November means I will become infinitely more knowledgeable about the process, because now I have to go through it

Johnny 22:59
Right, right.

Johnny 23:03
The last I saw eighth graders in our state, 70% fail at math. 69% fail at reading. Now our growth in public schools, if you want to call it that, since 2000 administrative staff grew 88% while students grew 8% and we always talk about, you know, education, education, education, we got to fund education. Do you see a problem there?

Aiden 23:35
I certainly do. And so I think you pointed out, what was it? You said, How many, how many eighth graders are failing math?

Johnny 23:42
About 70%

Aiden 23:45
70% Yeah, so it’s it is certainly worrying, because I, I wonder be what’s going on there, because I don’t want to be part of that statistic. How do I know that when I graduate high school, I am not part of the 70% of students there. You said, like 60 70% well, how do I know that I am out of 10 kids? Six or seven of them are failing in school just across the board, at least as far as math goes, and then with math and science being added, what is that an average of five students are failing in all major subjects? How do I know I am not part of that statistic? And so like that, that caused me a worry. Now I have, like, some signs that obviously I’m doing well, but what about my friends? Because it is, it is different. For me, it’s a different perspective, and Democrats that like to talk about diversity in the legislature, I think diversity of thought is a great thing, specifically diversity of thought, and you don’t have my perspective in Olympia, where I’m not concerned about our students, I’m concerned about my friends, because those are the people you’re you’re calling our students. I have a. Vested interest in seeing myself and my peers succeed, and so that’s what people can trust with my vote, is that every time I take a vote in Olympia, it is directed towards that, but I feel like I’m getting away from the question, do I see a problem with more administrators? I do because they’re not the administrators we want. Not always what I see locally, and I’ll just use our local school district as an example. I think we have like three vice principals and like four different school counselors, and my first thought is, how is that going to help us? I won’t drop names, but I know that there’s one counselor who most of the students ask for a different counselor because they don’t perform to any real standard. I remember when I was in school, I was in her office. I was asking her all these questions because I needed help with some administrative stuff, and she couldn’t answer any of them. They she had to call the school registrar to come in. He sat down, we basically took over her office and fixed all the problems, and I left. And so I don’t think that’s 100% like, see, it’s funny, because, like, I’m saying, like, it’s their fault, but it’s, I don’t think it’s, like, entirely her fault, because they’re trying to hire more people, that you almost have to drop the standard to find more people. And so somebody who may not be ready or even qualified for a position is now being pulled into one, and it’s not and it’s not doing students any good, because having an extra counselor, like a counselor per grade, I don’t know if that’s normal in other districts, but more counselors more vice principals, don’t equal better education, because unless those vice principals are walking in and teaching the classes, or similar to our para educators in the way that they’ll pull a student and have that one on one teaching moment, I don’t really see why more principals and counselors is going to help our school districts.

Johnny 26:57
Well, we have about a minute and a half, and I wanted to ask you about spending, because in the 2013 2015 budget cycle, 17 point 7 billion in public schools, and the 2527 budget cycles, 37 point 4 billion in schools. But I don’t think we’ll have enough time for that. But where could I get more information or reach out and, you know, communicate with you? I want to ask you some questions. I’m in the 24th district, that kind of thing. Where can I get a hold of you?

Aiden 27:26
So my campaign website, Hamiltonforwa.com, that will have just general information about the campaign policy prescriptions. I won’t have all of them, but it’ll have some. And then as far as directly messaging me, Hamiltonwausa@gmail.com, that is my email, and I do check that regularly. So if you, if people bombard my email enough, I won’t even find my treasurer’s reports. So if you bombard the email enough, you force me to respond to you. And I really do enjoy hearing what people have to say, and I’ve been reaching out to people regularly since we’ve been kind of doing this media blitz. So please feel free to reach out, and I’ll definitely try to respond as fast as possible.

Johnny 28:10
Well. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today, and I hope we’ll get to do it again sometime. Absolutely.

Aiden 28:16
Thank you so much for having me. All right,

Johnny 28:19
That’s Aidan Hamilton, tomorrow, we will have guests, because that’s what we do. Mike Myers returns. He’s a midnight cruiser. He’s also the co host of trash talking. Being better recyclers. Wants to talk about some recycling, waste management, things. Also a local spot. Meet with the push rods. We’ll talk with beacon pest control. Ed helps us prevent those pests from getting in our homes, in our work areas. We’ll talk with Ed All that and more tomorrow, seven to 10. Hey, thanks for listening to local matters.