No Good Choices
There are no optimal choices in this race.
Democrat Rick Payne is running for state Senator in a field crowded by Republicans, and is a former vice president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as well as a current precinct committee officer. His official voter's guide info states that he will work on flipping the state's upside-down tax code and protect funding for local schools, but Payne has little concrete policy information or endorsements available. His official voter's guide writeup for a previous years' election, notably his 2014 run under the "Marijuana Party" label, was unserious.
Republican Gina Blanchard-Reed is the director of the second-largest domestic violence shelter in Washington. A former Ted Cruz campaigner, the core of Blanchard-Reed's platform is to keep government small.
Blanchard-Reed is at least supported by some labor unions because of her support for working families. However, she is also anti-choice and opposes LGBTQ equality. In addition, Blanchard-Reed recently said that while she believes the murder of George Floyd was wrong, in Puyallup the police have only used force 47 times, calling it a small number. She sought to discredit the nationwide protests against police brutality, which she called "rhetoric and violence" against law enforcement.
Other candidates in this race are Republicans Joshua Penner, Jim McCune, Ronda Litzenberger, and Matthew Smith. Orting mayor and veteran Joshua Penner is running to be a "conservative voice" in Olympia. He notes that he would continue to prevent "unfair taxes," though notably Washington already has the most regressive taxes in the nation, and blocking tax reform for the wealthiest will continue to hurt low-income people who pay more than those at the top.
Former House representative Jim McCune currently serves as a Pierce County Council member. He states that he's running to tackle the state's "bloated bureaucracy." Even with the national conversation around police reform and accountability, McCune states that it's a priority to fund more officers to try and arrest the district's way out of addiction and encampment issues. Eatonville School Representative Ronda Litzenberger's priorities include protecting property rights, fiscal responsibility, and mental health treatment. Marine Corps veteran Matthew Smith is similarly running to push back on taxes and the state's sex education policy, though his campaign policies available for reading are fairly limited on his site.
In this highly conservative contest, voters should pick Payne or write in a candidate of their choice.
Rick Payne
There are no optimal choices in this race.
There are several good progressives running to replace Rep. Denny Heck, including state Reps. Beth Doglio and Kristine Reeves. We recommend Dogio because of her strong track record of progressive leadership and support from our Progressive Voters Guide partner organizations.