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About 100 people filled a 312 seat theatre Wednesday night as College of the Redwoods hosted the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors District 1 and District 2 candidate forum.

All seven candidates running attended, with current District One Supervisor Rex Bohn running against local radio personality Cliff Berkowitz, while incumbent Estelle Fennel is challenged by Sean DeVris, Michelle Bushnell, Michael McKaskle and Rick French for her District Two seat.

The forum was moderated by Caroline Griffith and co-sponsored by 13 community organizations: The Mateel Community Center, Humboldt & Del Norte Central Labor Council, North Coast People’s Alliance, Cooperation Humboldt, Health Care for All Humboldt/Physicians for a National Health Program, Northcoast Environmental Center, Centro Del Pueblo, Move to Amend, Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives, The Eureka Chapter of the NAACP, The Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, Humboldt County Transition Age Youth Collaborative, Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction and the Wiyot Tribe. Each organization had the opportunity to ask the candidates one question, then each candidate was allowed one minute to respond.

The topics were diverse as they reflected each organization’s mission and focus area. The topics that drew the most questions were climate crisis action and racism.

Each candidate said they would declare a climate emergency as a supervisor when asked by the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities. Bohn and Fennel also spoke on Humboldt County's current climate crisis mitigation efforts, including the upcoming climate action plan, while other candidates presented their ideas.

Centro del Pueblo addressed racial profiling against Latinos in Fortuna and the Eureka chapter of the NAACP directly asked about the racist joke Bohn made at a fundraiser last March. Both organizations also asked what each candidate would do to address racism in the county.

Watch the full forum embedded below, courtesy of Access Humboldt: