Before this election cycle, State House Rep. Zack Hudgins hadn’t faced a serious challenger for over a decade. Then longtime federal prosecutor and former Amazon HR guy David Hackney came along and beat the nine-term incumbent in the August primary by 12 points. Now Hudgins is campaigning like hell to keep his seat in Olympia, which represents one of Washington’s most diversely populated districts.

The race heated up last month when Hudgins’s spokesperson claimed Hackney led a “frivolous investigation” of “Bill and Hillary Clinton’s fundraising” in the 1996 campaign during his time as an attorney in George W. Bush’s Department of Justice. Hackney hit back, calling the claim “an egregious lie.” Hackney said he “did not participate in any investigations into the Clintons themselves.” As a Black man, he added, he’s “used to my life experiences being misrepresented by White men in power.”

TONIGHT, a bunch of foul-mouthed Stranger reporters dressed up like maniacs will hash out this dispute while running these candidates through a gauntlet of tough questions, policy battles, fantasy character-building exercises, and a totally low-rent Zoom talent show. After all that, the Stranger will poll the audience and announce a winner.

Debate starts at 8 p.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m.

Pick up your tickets here. Find out about our other upcoming debates (a prosecutor vs a lobbyist! a head tax necromancer vs Omari's brother!) right here.

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