The four Democratic candidates who qualified to run in the special election to fill Tony Hill’s vacated state Senate seat held a forum Wednesday night at New Life Cathedral Baptist Church.

The race features two political veterans in former state Reps. Terry Fields and Audrey Gibson, and Ramon Day, Leandrew Mills, and Andrea Austin, three candidates who have never held public office.

Austin, a write-in candidate, did not attend the event.

Issues from accountability, job creation and education were touched upon during the roughly hour long question-and-answer session.

Mills said there are four staples in life: Food, water, shelter and education.

“If you have education, you will always be able to get the others,” said Mills, who said there should be no more cuts to public education.”

Each candidate was asked about the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program, which provides scholarships that allow low income students to attend private schools. The program is funded through corporate contributions that earn tax credits for donor businesses.

None of the candidates said the state-imposed cap of $175 million on the program should be raised.

“I don’t think the cap should be raised when we are cutting public education,” Gibson said.