The Los Altos Institution, a student-run policy think tank, hosted the first U.S. congressional primary forum known to be moderated by high school students on Feb. 22 via livestream. 

In attendance were seven out of the 11 candidates running to be the representative of California’s 16th congressional district. Neither of the front runners, Sam Liccardo or Joe Simitian, attended the forum. Evan Low was also absent and Rishi Kumar left 30 minutes in for a meeting. 

Of the approximately 250 attendees watching the forum via LinkedIn, an estimated 100 were high school students, according to Los Altos High junior Maulik Dhakal, one of the forum organizers and director of the Los Altos Institution.

“I believe that the way we trailblaze is the way that we show high schoolers across the country and other youth that we can be civically involved and we should be,” said Palo Alto High junior and ASB president Julian Hong. 

Candidates had 45 seconds to respond to open-ended policy-related questions ranging from the housing crisis to cybersecurity concerns. There was also an opportunity for candidates to give their stances in a yes or no format and debunk their criticisms. Hong said they chose to ask rapid-fire style questions that “required less nuance” to save time for more policy-heavy questions.

With 33.8% of primary election voters undecided as of Feb. 12, the recently-held congressional forum could be influential in voters’ decision-making process, according to a poll by San Jose Spotlight.  

“We believe that we can provide a more complete picture for all voters at home on who to select,” Hong said.

Although the event was scheduled to be held at Palo Alto High School, the district expressed concerns over potential disruptions, according to Dhakal.  

The concern for disruption was founded in the previous congressional live debate which was paused due to pro-Palestinian protests and calls for a ceasefire. With 72 hours’ notice, the high schoolers coordinated with the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation to secure a spot at the Neutra House in Los Altos. 

“I think it’s sad that the event had to change because the school thought their students were threatened,” Dhakal said. “I wish we had a live audience, but I think we did well with the circumstances we had.” 

The major concerns on which candidates had distinct opinions were housing, AI, support for Ukraine and Israel and immigration. Their stances are as follows:

Affordable Housing

Peter Dixon’s approach to affordable housing is reappropriating the 1,500 acres of available space on Moffett Field for housing projects. In contrast to Dixon’s expanded housing efforts, Rishi Kumar said he wants new housing built from a “proper urban plan,” in addition to increased public, green transportation to decrease commute time from affordable housing areas, according to his website. 

To fund affordable housing projects in the first place, Julie Lythcott-Haims said she wants to increase taxes on the wealthy in addition to increasing vouchers for low-income families and supporting existing measures, like Project Homekey. 

Ahmed Mostafa is looking to address the homelessness issue by constructing projects on public land and utilizing unoccupied building spaces. He also said the housing shortages pose a challenge for survivors of domestic abuse who have to constantly change shelters. 

Joby Berstein agreed that Silicon Valley needs to build more housing, in addition to making general needs, like medical issues, more affordable.

Peter Ohtaki cited the $33 million of accumulated federal debt as increasing the price of housing. He also referenced that he passed a housing element in Menlo Park, leading to thousands of newly built apartments. 

Greg Tanaka tied the increasing housing issues with inflation; he said the growing money supply is “reallocating the economic pie,” instead of “making the pie bigger for everyone.” To do so, he wants to increase national production, education, and research and development spending.