39th Legislative District

Senator Maria Cantwell was first elected in 2000 and continues to represent our state's progressive values in our nation's capital. Sen. Cantwell has been a leader on a wide range of issues including reproductive rights, supporting the Children's Health Insurance Program, defending net neutrality, passing oil spill legislation to protect our water, working on clean energy policies, and many more.

Sen. Cantwell is opposed by Republican Susan Hutchison. Hutchison is a former news anchor and past chair of the state Republican Party. She ran for King County Executive in 2009 and lost by twenty points. Hutchison is well-known for being a party-line Republican and for her fierce defense of President Donald Trump, including calling fellow Republican Ted Cruz a "traitor" for not supporting the president's campaign.

Sen. Cantwell has been a tenacious advocate for the people of Washington state and is the best choice in this race.

Representative Suzan DelBene has served the 1st Congressional District since 2013. DelBene is a former executive at Microsoft who has used her technology background to become a leader in protecting privacy rights against government surveillance. Her priorities include creating family wage jobs in the aerospace, sustainable agriculture, and clean energy industries. She also supports raising the federal minimum wage and passing comprehensive tax reform to ensure that those making more than a million dollars a year don't pay a lower tax rate than low and middle-income families.

Rep. DelBene is running against Republican Jeffrey Beeler. Beeler is a Sultan city councilmember focused on "securing our borders," health care, and the deficit. However, he lacks Rep. DelBene's knowledge and experience with the important policies that impact working families in the 1st District.

Rep. DelBene is clearly the best choice in this race.

Representative Rick Larsen is a moderate Democrat who has been a strong advocate for jobs, transportation, and infrastructure projects in the 2nd District. Before his time in Congress, he served on the Snohomish County Council and worked on economic development for the City of Everett. Rep. Larsen has also supported efforts to protect voting rights, fought to reform student loans, and championed Wall Street reform. Unfortunately, Larsen joined Republicans to repeal some banking rules imposed after the Great Recession intended to prevent another economic collapse.

Rep. Larsen is running against Libertarian Brian Luke, who has worked in the grocery business for 22 years. His campaign is focused on reducing the national debt and cutting regulations.

Rep. Larsen is the best choice in this race.

Dr. Kim Schrier is a pediatrician who was inspired to run for Washington’s 8th Congressional District because of Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. She is committed to building an economy that works for everyone and protecting Social Security and Medicare for all. She also wants to bring her voice to the debates about women’s health care and abortion rights in Congress, where there are currently no women doctors. Dr. Schrier supports letting Americans of any age buy into Medicare on a sliding scale to reduce overhead costs and increase competition for private insurers.

Dr. Schrier is running against Republican Dino Rossi, who previously ran unsuccessful campaigns for governor and U.S. Senate. Rossi has consistently sided with congressional Republicans, including supporting the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy few. He is also strongly anti-choice and does not support commonsense gun safety legislation. While in the state Legislature, he wrote a budget that would have taken away health care from 45,000 low-income kids. Rossi would be another reliable vote for the Republican leaders and powerful special interests in Washington, D.C.

We need new leadership in Congress that puts working families before corporations and the wealthy elites who rig the rules. Dr. Kim Schrier is the best choice for Washington's 8th Congressional District.

Moderate Democrat Claus Joens is running for the 39th Legislative District Senate seat. Joens is an educational instructor, an advocate for children, and a local precinct committee officer. Joens is prioritizing the restoration of salmon fisheries and Skagit County water rights. He is also focused on protecting consumers from high-interest rates and believes that wasteful tax loopholes should be closed before raising taxes on working families.

Joens faces an uphill race against incumbent Republican Senator Keith Wagoner, who has been an obstacle to progress throughout his tenure in the Legislature. Sen. Wagoner routinely votes against commonsense legislation that supports working families,.

Though we don't agree fully with Claus Joens's political positions, he is the better choice in this race.

Democrat Ivan Lewis is running for the 39th Legislative District House Position 1. Lewis co-owns a math and reading tutoring center in Snohomish County and has previously served as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. He is focused on supporting living wage jobs and wants to increase investment in local infrastructure to help families and businesses across the region. Lewis is also supportive of health care reform, reducing gun violence, fighting climate change, supporting labor unions, and improving education.

Lewis is running a competitive race against Robert Sutherland, a veteran whose platform centers on supporting the 2nd Amendment and charter schools, and reducing property taxes.

Lewis is the best choice for the 39th Legislative District House Position 1.

Moderate Democrat Eric Halvorson is a tax accountant who runs an animal rescue farm from his home. His campaign supports reproductive health care, the Second Amendment, and not instituting a state income tax. Halvorson wants bipartisan solutions that will help protect farmland and the district's natural resources. He is prioritizing roads, access to higher education, apprenticeships, and job training programs.

Halvorson is running a competitive race against former Sultan Mayor Carolyn Eslick, who was appointed to the House in 2017 after Rep. John Koster resigned. She has a standard Republican economic platform which favors the wealthy few, resists all taxes, and opposes fixing the state's regressive tax code. Rep. Eslick also voted against this year's health care bills that expanded access to contraception.

While Halvorson is a moderate on most issues, we expect that he would have a better voting record than Rep. Eslick in the state House. Halvorson deserves your vote.

Adam Cornell has served as the Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor for 15 years and has been endorsed by Mark Roe, the departing incumbent. His platform is centered on alternative justice programs, alternative sentences, and treatment programs for those suffering from mental illness and addiction issues. Adam Cornell is running unopposed and deserves your vote.

First elected in 2000, Supreme Court Justice Susan Justice Owens brings more 40 years of legal experience to Washington's Supreme Court. Prior to serving on the court, Justice Owens served nineteen years as a District Court Judge in Western Clallam County. Justice Owens has been a leader in the judicial community on addressing the impacts of domestic violence on children. Nationally, Justice Owens is a judicial trainer on this topic and participated in the writing of the Northwest Tribal Judges Domestic Violence Manual. Justice Owens is running unopposed for re-election and has earned your support.

Supreme Court Justice Steve Gonzalez has earned national recognition for his judicial expertise and work to increase access to the judicial system. Before serving on the Supreme Court, Justice Gonzalez served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and on the King County Superior Court for more than 10 years hearing criminal, juvenile, and family law cases. Justice Gonzalez is devoted to working for the people of Washington and serves as a board member for the Washington Leadership Institute, an organization that supports emerging community leaders from diverse backgrounds. As one of the few multi-lingual justices, he chairs the Interpreter Commission. Justice Gonzalez is rated "Exceptionally Well Qualified" by 10 independent bar associations in Washington state.

Gonzalez is being challenged by Bellevue-based attorney Nathan Choi, who ran unsuccessfully for a judicial seat on the Court of Appeals in 2016. Since then, Choi has faced numerous ethical controversies. In 2017, the King County Bar Association formally reprimanded Choi for violating KCBA's fair campaign practices guidelines by releasing misleading campaign materials and failing to follow state candidate rules. In February of this year, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson formally filed a lawsuit against Nathan Choi in a Thurston County Court. The case is still open.

Justice Steve Gonzalez is the best choice for Supreme Court Justice Position 8.

Washington Supreme Court Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud has been a fierce defender of constitutional rights and has written the decision in several consequential court cases. Prior to serving on the Supreme Court, she worked as an accomplished appellate court attorney for nearly three decades and was a founding member of the Washington Appellate Lawyers Association. Her strong judicial track record has earned a rating of "Exceptionally Well Qualified" by 10 independent state bar associations, including Washington Women Lawyers and the newly-minted Veterans Bar Association.

Justice McCloud in running unopposed for Position 9 and deserves your vote.

Public defender Cecily Hazelrigg-Hernandez is running for the Court of Appeals, Division 1, District 3, Judge Position 1. She possesses more than 10 years of legal experience representing low-income clients in Skagit County courtrooms and aims to administer justice fairly and impartially. Prior to joining the public defenders' office in 2010, Hazelrigg-Hernandez worked as an adjunct faculty member in American Cultural Studies at Western Washington University. As a public defender, Hazelrigg-Hernandez is assigned to the felony unit.

Hazelrigg-Hernandez is opposed by attorney Tom SeGuine, who is the wrong choice for a non-partisan judicial role. A Republican Precinct Committee Officer, SeGuine has been endorsed by Skagit Republicans and attended partisan fundraisers after announcing his candidacy, which suggests he will be a conservative judge who favors judicial activism.

We believe Hazelrigg-Hernandez is the best choice in this race.

First elected in 2016, Judge Laura Riquelme is running for re-election to the Skagit County Superior Court. Previously, she served 12 years as both a prosecutor and a senior deputy public defender. Judge Riquelme is very active in her community, serving as president of the Parent Teacher Association for her son’s school, working with the Skagit Immigrant Rights Council on issues affecting immigrants in the court system, teaching English as a a second language class with Community Action, and serving on two committees at the Superior Court Judges' Association. Judge Riquelme's judicial expertise and courtroom experience have earned her an "Exceptionally Well Qualified" rating by the Washington State Veterans Bar Association and Washington Women Lawyers.

Riquelme's opponent is Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Rosemary Kaholokula of Skagit County. Kaholokula has extensive legal experience and earned support from many members of the law enforcement community. However, Kaholokula earned lower ratings from independent state law associations. Riquelme is the best choice in this race.

Tyler Rourke is a project engineer at Electroimpact in Mukilteo. He was in the running for the appointment to Position 4 last winter to fill Cassie Franklin's seat after she was elected as mayor of Everett. He is prioritizing pedestrian safety, the city's Master Bike Plan, and a law and order-oriented view when it comes to homelessness and addiction, stating that we must be compassionate but "people who choose to break the law must also be held to account."

Mary Rollins is running to ensure that utilities are managed in the most equitable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly way possible. She serves as chair of the 38th Legislative District Democrats and is focused on reducing energy costs for Snohomish County families. One of Rollins' proposals is to build charging stations at the local PUD office to support the growing number of electric vehicle users.

Rollins is running against conservative incumbent Sidney "Sid" Logan. Logan is a former Shell engineer and consultant who is running after being appointed to this seat last year.

Rollins is the best choice for Snohomish County PUD Commissioner Position 1 because of her commitment to renewable energy and keeping costs low for consumers.