A pair of rivals found some common ground Tuesday, but it is nonetheless clear that 79th District state representative candidates Glenn Nixon and Kate Cloonen are not in lockstep on all issues.

Nixon, a Republican, and Cloonen, a Democrat, are vying to replace outgoing State Rep. Lisa Dugan, a Democrat. The Nov. 6 election will determine who the successor will be, and the candidates participated in a forum held Tuesday night at the Kankakee Public Library.

Both agreed that Illinois' pension system, which remains unfunded to levels equal to three times the state's annual budget, should be reformed.

Both agreed that same-sex couples should not be allowed to marry.

Both oppose Gov. Pat Quinn's decision to close Dwight Correctional Center.

They parted ways on education. Cloonen said she is unsure if charter schools would work in the 79th District she and Nixon aim to represent.

Nixon said charter schools and vouchers would make public schools "more competitive."

Both said they would repeal the 2011 income tax hike.

Cloonen said she would support a detention center for illegal immigrants. Nixon was less definitive but said the county's Jerome Combs Detention Center could accommodate immigration detainees.

Nixon, a Bourbonnais police officer and Kankakee County Board member, steered many questions back to his core campaign issue, arguing at one point, that job growth would be the best anti-recidivism strategy to keep convicts out of prison.

Cloonen, owner of JK Steel Erectors Inc. for the past 20 years, said one of her central campaign issues is to reduce bureaucracy and regulation of small business.

The candidates also face unintended pitfalls. Questions were either repeated or oddly phrased, as was one from an audience member about health care.

On the proposed South Suburban Airport in Peotone, the candidates finally appeared to draw a clear line of distinction.

"The third airport brings in jobs, so I am in favor of the third airport," Cloonen said.

"The third airport is one more $1 billion project that there's been no allocated funding to," Nixon said. "We need to end that project right now."

His comments were a departure from what Nixon told The Daily Journal the previous day during his candidate interview.

"To make a blanket statement, to be opposed to it, it's kind of hard to do," Nixon said during that meeting. "Because everybody wants economic development and that would be a huge development tool."

Cloonen made her own questionable statement of the night, one that drew the only audible grumbling from the crowd. When asked if she would support House Speaker Mike Madigan, Cloonen hedged.

"We'll see that when the time comes," she said. "But I would keep that to myself."