City of Sammamish

Minal Ghassemieh is an immigration attorney and the Board Chair at API Chaya, a domestic abuse and sexual assault/trafficking assistance organization. She also serves as a pro-bono attorney for Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Ghassemieh's city council campaign is focused on alleviating traffic, developing strong educational and after-school programs, and balancing growth with infrastructure improvements. She places special emphasis on making Sammamish safe and inclusive for all. She is running against marketing consultant and progressive Karen Howe and Karen Moran, commissioner of the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District. Ghassemieh is the best choice in this race.

Rituja Indapure is a Senior Analyst at Costco. She has served in the community as Treasurer at Challenger Elementary, co-president of the Beaver Lake PTSA, and a United Way volunteer. Indapure is seeking cost-effective transportation solutions and sustainable growth that protects parks and the environment. She also seeks ways to improve emergency response times, specifically services deployed in natural disasters, and to decrease language barriers between the police department and the community.

Indapure is running against attorney Ryika Hooshangi and conservative Chris Ross. We recommend Indapure in this race.

Pam Stuart is a Senior Manager in Customer and Partner Advocacy at Microsoft. Her campaign principles include balancing growth with environmental sustainability, investing in parks and senior services, and improving transportation options to reduce traffic.

She is running against Melanie Curtright, Republican John Robinson, and Roger Chapanis. Chapanis has dropped out of the race due to health problems. He will still appear on the ballot, but has stated that he will not take office if elected. Curtright is a program and project management consultant. As council member, she would vote for the city to buy and preserve wetlands and green spaces, create a standing Health and Human Services Commission, keep teens engaged and supported with targeted programs, and hold developers accountable for building infrastructure to support increased density. We lean toward Stuart in this race because of her support from progressive advocates.