Claudia Balducci and Girmay Zahilay — cordial colleagues in their day jobs, political opponents in their off hours — squared off Friday night in front of what could be their largest audience of the campaign, as they battle for the right to lead Washington’s largest county.

Balducci and Zahilay, both multiterm members of the Metropolitan King County Council, sparred — mostly gently — over the value of executive experience versus coalition building as they pitched themselves to voters who will choose a new King County executive for the first time in 16 years.

Right off the bat, moderator Angela Poe Russell asked a question that many voters have been wondering as they consider two progressive candidates who almost always vote the same way on legislation at the County Council: “What makes yo

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