For the candidates vying for the 5th District senate seat, it’s about the economy, people.

Both Republican candidate Brad Toft and Democrat candidate Mark Mullet are touting their experience in the private sector, Toft in financial services and on the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce board, and Mullet as the owner of Zeeks Pizza and Ben and Jerry’s in Issaquah.

Former Rep. Cheryl Plfug stepped down in August to take a position on the Growth Management Planning Board. The position is held in the meantime by Dino Rossi.

Both Toft and Mullet have stated education is a significant issue for the Legislature to deal with after the state Supreme Court ruling last year concluded the state’s funding was inadequate, though Mullet and Toft see the economy as by far the most pressing. Where they differ is how best to encourage job growth.

Mullet, who has served on the Issaquah City Council since 2009, said that the council helped encourage businesses to open in the Issaquah Highlands by being willing to amend city codes in order to accommodate them. While he believes government should act as a business regulator, he also believes government can act as a facilitator as well.

Toft, on the other hand, said removing unnecessary regulations would help businesses grow, rather than government spending.

“The role of state has been to manage the private sector,” Toft said. “I don’t think it’s conducive to a thriving economy or education. We should work with it instead of trying to manage it.”

Toft added that another way to help economic recovery would be to streamline the tax structure, which he said puts a small businesses at a disadvantage to bigger companies that can afford to have entire departments dedicated to tax codes alone.

“There’s a barely even an ear for ideas like that in Olympia,” Toft said.

Both candidates have also cast themselves as independent and not inextricably tied to their respective parties. Mullet, who was endorsed by Pflug, said he is more interested in ideas than ideology.

“I think it’s definitely speaking of the fact that I’ve always put ideas and people above party affiliation,” Mullet said. “That’s been my record on the Issaquah City Council. I’ve been a moderate ideas person, not a party line person.”

At the same time, Toft pointed to the fact he intended to challenge Plfug before she resigned, putting himself at odds with his own party.

“It was critical to me once we worked through those challenges we were unified,” Toft said. “I’m not sworn to a platform. I can do what I think is right for the people of this district.”

For Maple Valley and Covington, both Toft and Mullet stated transportation, particularly on state Route 169 and state Route 516, is the biggest concern.

“What I hear is two things: congestion and freight mobility,” Toft said.

Mullet stated he would push for funding to help alleviate traffic congestion on state Route 169.

“I think that highway is getting so much use and it can’t handle the amount of use,” Mullet said. “No cities can have the money to improve it. It’s going to be somebody working at a state level.”

During the August primary election, Mullet won with 52.31 percent of the vote, while Toft took 47.48 percent.