Two hours of audience questions for Mike French and Jake Seegers at a packed Sequim Prairie Grange, on video with a chapter guide.
The Sequim Prairie Grange reached capacity on Aug. 27 for a Candidate Conversation between Clallam County District 3 commissioner candidates Mike French and Jake Seegers. The full recording runs a little over two hours and is posted below.
The Calico Cat Club sponsored the forum. Club member Mark Curtis moderated and set two rules at the start: every question would go to both candidates, and anyone disrespectful toward either candidate would be asked to leave. Club members asked the first questions before the floor opened to everyone else. Both candidates kept their opening statements short so more of the evening could go to the audience.
Questions came steadily for the next two hours. Voters asked about state trust timberland and the future of the timber industry, harm reduction and the county’s treatment capacity, tariffs and business recruitment in Forks, permitting and burn fees, the proposed transfer of the Dungeness refuge into tribal trust, and how much money the county is actually putting toward housing. Curtis closed the forum at the announced 8:30 p.m. hard stop with people still waiting in line at the microphone.
What is in the video
| Timestamp | Topic |
| 00:04:30 | Call to order and the capacity announcement |
| 00:07:00 | Ground rules and how questions will work |
| 00:12:37 | State trust timberland and the 93,000 acres question |
| 00:18:37 | Harm reduction: reasonable boundaries or enabling |
| 00:26:26 | Timber revenue, the habitat conservation plan and litigation |
| 00:38:35 | Detox and inpatient treatment capacity |
| 00:47:38 | Panhandling and the cash flow that feeds addiction |
| 00:48:30 | Tariffs and recruiting employers to the Forks Industrial Park |
| 00:51:11 | Riverside, and why the company is coming to Forks |
| 01:08:10 | What is the goal of harm reduction |
| 01:25:16 | Burn permit fees, affordability and pushing back on the state |
| 01:35:44 | The Dungeness refuge and the tribal trust proposal |
| 01:46:57 | Tariffs and tourism |
| 01:49:19 | Narcan distribution and overdose numbers |
| 01:54:25 | Election integrity and whether each would concede |
| 01:58:06 | Dollar figures for housing, job training and treatment |
| 02:07:00 | Close at the announced 8:30 p.m. hard stop |
Read the full story
I covered this forum for the Sequim Gazette. That story has the candidates’ answers in their own words, the quotes from the sharpest exchanges, and the figures each man cited.
Read it here: Voters fill Sequim Prairie Grange for French, Seegers candidate forum (Sequim Gazette, Sept. 1, 2026)
The general election is in November.
Video and photographs by Tom Buscher.
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