‘Millennial’ Adrian Kilpatrick Brings Voice of Younger Generations to County Council Race
A CNL2 VIDEO IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
Adrian Kilpatrick is 39, but he looks and thinks like many 29-year-olds. In CNL2’s hour-long interview yesterday, Kilpatrick’s passion for the environment was never far away. And when the subject comes to affordable housing, his hands wave in large circular motions, suggesting affordable housing is a strong second in his priorities. He also lists “human connection” as a passion.
He is a carpenter and a landlord of a few units. He also has been an EMT, a production assistant in Hollywood, and he is a multi-media artist.
And on all things environment, Kilpatrick’s passion-within-a-passion is wildfire prevention. The risk of a catastrophic wildfire on one of the islands seems to be in the forefront of his mind.
Asked if he worries about the Initiative 2117 rollback of Washington Progressives’ signature “Cap and Invest” carbon offsets legislation known as the Climate Commitment Act, he shot back, “I’m worried everything might be repealed… It’s like we have two different sections of the stadium that aren’t watching the same game being played… Here on San Juan Island because we’re mostly blue and in this realm, we don’t think about the division as much. But it exists here. I feel like there’s this gray area that exists between these two divisions that is the reality we are in. And both sides need to come together in that gray area. Myself, I’m very much pro a lot of things I see as Progressive; yet at the same time I realize that we have an economy — we have all these things that are instrumental to creating success in people’s lives. You have to find a balance between those things. The divisiveness of the last 20 years is not helping anybody. In the end it seems toxic and it’s getting away from the issues at hand, which are big.”
He said, “I decided It might be smart for me to run for County Council just because my demographic in general doesn’t really have a lot of representation here on San Juan Island, especially politically-wise. And I think a lot of it is because most of us are working our butts off trying to make ends meet. And in the end, to be in politics takes a lot of time.”
Kilpatrick has learned about County government from the inside as three years on San Juan County’s Climate & Sustainability Advisory Committee and Friday Harbor Arts Commission. He seems to have a good understanding of the County’s Comprehensive Plan.
He likes to read. He is currently two-thirds into an 896-page book titled “The Deluge,” by Stephen Markley. It’s a fiction piece looking at America from 2014 to 2032, focusing on the climate. Kilpatrick summarizes the book as “We’re all in this together.”
Kilpatrick’s campaign is relatively spartan. His campaign website is a Facebook page, and he said he’s not actively looking for campaign donations. He seems to be building support from a base of friends he has amassed since his birth on San Juan Island 39 years ago.
This CNL2 video is approximately 62-1/2 minutes in duration.
