48th Legislative District

Rep. Suzan DelBene is running for re-election in the 1st Congressional District. DelBene is a former executive at Microsoft who has used her technology background to become a leader in protecting privacy rights against government surveillance. She was first elected in 2012 and has been an advocate for creating family-wage jobs in industries like aerospace, sustainable agriculture, and clean energy as well as advocating for reproductive justice. She also supports raising the federal minimum wage and passing comprehensive tax reform to ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay their share. This year, DelBene urged the Trump administration to send Washingtonians resources and use science to combat the coronavirus crisis and has pushed for relief for workers and small businesses.

DelBene is running against Republicans Derek Chartrand and Jeffrey Beeler, Sr., Libertarian Steven Skelton, Robert Dean Mair, Matthew Heines, and Justin Smoak. Chartrand considers himself a "Compassionate Capitalist" and wants to cut costs but has no other ideas for generating revenue. Beeler is a conservative running on a platform of term limits for elected officials and pushing our state to re-open unsafely in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Skelton is a consultant who believes that Democrats and Republicans "agree on just about everything that matters" and is not qualified for Congress. Heines ran for state Senate in 2018 as a New Republican. Mair has no policy ideas available as of mid-July and Smoak is running to quickly re-open the state in light of the "sensationalism" of COVID.

Rep. DelBene is the clear choice in this race and deserves your vote for her re-election.

Rep. Adam Smith has been a reliable vote in Congress on progressive issues from taxation to immigration reform. He represents Washington's most diverse district, which is home to 30 percent foreign-born residents and large Asian, Hispanic, and Black communities. Smith is an advocate for greater equality, and supports a path to citizenship for immigrants, reforming the tax code, and Medicare for All. Recently, Rep. Smith spoke out against President Trump's call for the military to intervene and stop the "insurrection" of demonstrators protesting police brutality. He supported the $3 trillion coronavirus pandemic relief package and is supporting the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to dramatically increase accountability and transparency.

Also in this race are Libertarian Jorge Besada and Republicans Joshua Campbell and Doug Basler. Campbell believes that all Americans should "pick a side" and unite under one party while stating that voting for Trump was a good choice. Basler has challenged Rep. Smith before, making it to the general in 2014 and 2016 but losing to Sarah Smith in the primary in 2018. He does not have a strong campaign platform but has always run as a Republican and believes the Democratic caucus has "literally held Americans hostage" during the coronavirus pandemic. Besada is running on a platform including making taxes voluntary but does support reforming the criminal justice system.

Rep. Smith is the clear choice in this race and deserves your vote for Congress.

Governor Jay Inslee has been a strong, principled leader on the important challenges facing Washington. Before he was elected as governor in 2012, Inslee represented both sides of the Cascades in Congress, opposed the Iraq war, and worked to increase accountability and oversight for Wall Street banks.

Inslee has established himself as a national leader on fighting climate change. He has invested more than $170 million into clean energy and energy efficiency projects, implemented the Clean Air Rule, and pushed for legislation that reduces pollution in Washington. In his 2020 bid for the presidency, Inslee brought a climate-centered focus to the race. Outside of his work on climate, Inslee has signed into law Washington's public option for health care, paid family leave, and the Equal Pay Opportunity Act.

Recently, Inslee has been a national leader in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. His proactive, decisive, science-driven efforts have saved countless Washingtonians from getting sick. Unfortunately, we've seen the flip side recently where states with governors who were slow or failed to act have seen dramatic increases in cases.

Inslee is facing 35 opponents this year, the most prominent of which are Republicans Sen. Phil Fortunato, Tim Eyman, and Bothell Mayor Joshua Freed. Fortunato is a social conservative who has abandoned working families while in the office. In past legislative sessions, he voted against protections for LGBTQ school children and against expanding access to reproductive health care for women. Freed believes we should be less cautious about COVID-19 protections and rapidly re-open the state, a faulty strategy in the face of death and difficult recoveries even for previously healthy coronavirus patients.

Eyman is one of the worst candidates for governor the state has ever seen. Eyman's legal problems range from fraudulently diverting funds from his ill-conceived initiatives into his personal bank accounts to wide-ranging campaign finance violations to stealing a chair from Office Depot. He is the face behind many of Washington's most damaging initiatives, including the most recent disaster that has cut tens of billions of dollars from state transportation projects. Eyman has lately been doubling down on his cringeworthy antics by comparing Gov. Inslee's COVID policies to George Floyd's murder.

As the coronavirus crisis continues and the gap in the state budget persists, we need real, experienced leadership at the helm of the state. Inslee is the clear choice for governor.

Former port commissioner and progressive state Rep. Gael Tarleton is now running for Secretary of State, who serves as the state's chief elections officer, among other roles. First elected to the Legislature in 2012, Tarleton has been a strong advocate for environmental causes such as Governor Jay Inslee's initiative to reduce carbon pollution. She sponsored bills during her first term in the House to strengthen the maritime industry, improve access to health care, and ensure gender pay equity.

Tarleton is running for Secretary of State to expand access to voting in Washington while safeguarding our elections against attacks "foreign and domestic." She wants to improve digital security and increase funding for county auditors to safeguard local elections from hacking attempts in the wake of the 2016 election. She would also expand audits of the state and local systems to identify any weaknesses that could be exploited.

Tarleton is challenging incumbent Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman, who has faced a bumpy road during her time in office. Last year, Wyman's office released a new $9.5 million voter registration database that was riddled with errors and led to a backlog of tens of thousands of registrations. King County elections director Julie Wise described the release as "irresponsible" and "not even functioning." In addition, Wyman was slow to support the Washington Voting Rights Act, same-day voter registration, and postage-paid ballots, and she has failed to condemn the president's relentless attacks on voting by mail.

Also in this race are Independent Ed Minger and Progressive Party candidate Gentry Lange. Minger wants to prohibit candidates from running paid ads, which is blatantly unconstitutional, and Lange wants to end voting by mail in Washington, a particularly confounding position during a pandemic.

We need a progressive leader in the Secretary of State's office who is fully committed to protecting our elections and removing every barrier to participation in our democracy. Tarleton is the clear progressive choice in this race.

Mike Pellicciotti has served in the Washington state House representing the 30th Legislative District since 2016 and is now running for Treasurer. Pellicciotti has never accepted corporate campaign donations and has led efforts to make the Legislature's records open for public view. He also wrote the Corporate Crime Act, which increases financial penalties for corporate crimes by 100 times, and has successfully supported laws reducing property taxes.

Pellicciotti is challenging incumbent Republican Duane Davidson. In 2016, incumbent Jim McIntire retired, leaving the seat open. Because of the crowded primary, two Republicans made it through to the general election, giving them control of the Treasurer's office for the first time since 1957. Davidson previously served as the Benton County Treasurer from 2003 to 2016. In his term, he has been a traditional Republican and has referred to the state Legislature "raiding" the Rainy Day Fund. He has also only attended 3 of 18 critical pension meetings since fall 2017.

Pellicciotti has been a solid legislator and is the best choice in the race for Washington State Treasurer.

Washington Auditor Pat McCarthy has been a consistent advocate for government transparency and accountability during her first term in office. Previously, she served as Pierce County Executive and Pierce County Auditor, where she was honored as the 2006 Washington State Auditor of the Year.

Recently, McCarthy announced that her office has opened two independent audits of the Employment Security Department. The first will investigate the delay in unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second audit will look into how criminals stole hundreds of millions of dollars through a sophisticated fraud scheme.

McCarthy is facing a challenge from Democrat Joshua Casey and Republican Chris Leyba. Casey is a CPA who wants to bring his financial expertise to the auditor's office. Leyba is a former police detective who currently runs an animal rescue on his farm. If elected, he would prioritize buying from Washington businesses and saving taxpayer dollars.

McCarthy's experience and commitment to oversight will be valuable as the state works to emerge from the pandemic and the recession. McCarthy is the best choice in this race.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson's accomplishments during his two terms in office are impressive. From delivering millions of dollars back to consumers who were wronged by fraudulent corporations and his ongoing battle with the federal government to clean up the Hanford nuclear waste site to successfully fighting two Tim Eyman initiatives, Ferguson has been a strong and effective advocate for people in Washington. He has sued the Trump administration 50 times as of October 2019 and won every completed case (22 by his own count). Some of Ferguson's biggest accomplishments from the past few years include protecting consumer medical data, protecting statewide water quality from Trump's erosive environmental policies, and fighting back against the Trump administration's child detention laws.

Ferguson is running against Republicans Brett Rogers, Mike Vaska, and Matt Larkin. Rogers states that with over 20 years of law enforcement experience, including time with the Seattle Police Department, he would be well-suited to research and set criminal justice policy. A member of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Vaska's priorities include reducing regulations for business and streamlining the permitting process. Larkin states that he's running to prioritize "the homeless situation" that "no one is doing anything about," and promises to empower law enforcement while making Washington more business-friendly.

Ferguson is the clear progressive choice for Attorney General of Washington.

Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz has been a proactive force for protecting our communities from climate change. As the head of the Washington Department of Natural Resources, she has focused on wildfire management and climate action.

This year, Franz released a climate resilience plan for rural Washington that includes expanding wind and solar farms and massive reforestation. Given the statewide threat and impact of wildfires with recent record-setting fire seasons, she has also worked on a 20-year forest health plan and a 10-year fire protection plan.

Franz is running against six other candidates: Republicans Cameron Whitney, Steve Sharon, Maryam Abasbarzy, and Sue Kuehl Pederson, Democrat Frank Wallbrown, and Libertarian Kelsey Reyes. Wallbrown and Abasbarzy have no campaign details available. Pederson is the former chair of the Grays Harbor Republican Party and says she's running to bring new leadership to the office and to balance the state's economy and ecology. Reyes works in the restaurant industry and has no concrete campaign details or website available. Finally, Sharon is running to investigate the effects of 5G towers and Whitney is running to follow Trump's suggestion of raking forests to stop forest fires.

Franz has the experience we need to guide and protect our state from increasingly dangerous fire seasons to the rising threat of climate inaction. Vote Franz for Commissioner of Public Lands.

Chris Reykdal is running for re-election to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to continue his leadership of our state's public schools through this challenging time. Previously, Reykdal spent 14 years serving on local school boards and in leadership positions at community and technical colleges, as well as serving 6 years in the Legislature. In the state House, Reykdal had a strong progressive voting record and was a consistent champion for public schools.

In his first term as Superintendent, Reykdal has pushed the Legislature to fully fund K-12 education, increase teacher pay, and close the opportunity gap for students of color. More recently, Reykdal has worked closely with Gov. Inslee to help Washington's schools navigate the pandemic. He made the tough decision early to close schools for the year to keep kids and families safe and slow the spread of COVID-19. If re-elected, Reykdal will continue to advocate for these priorities and work with schools across the state as they make the transition back to in-person education.

Reykdal is facing a handful of opponents in this non-partisan race: conservative Ron Higgins, former Republican legislative candidate Maia Espinoza, Dennis Wick, Stan Lippman, and David Spring. Espinoza has garnered attention by publishing a false and inflammatory voters pamphlet statement attacking Reykdal. Lippman is a disbarred lawyer and anti-vaccination advocate, Spring doesn't think we should have closed schools during the pandemic, and Higgins wants to inject religious teachings into public education. Wick is a former member of the Snohomish School District Board of Directors who wants to modernize our school system.

Reykdal is the clear choice for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has spent his entire career serving the people of Washington. Prior to running for statewide office, Kreidler was a doctor of optometry, state legislator, and member of Congress.

As Insurance Commissioner, Kreidler has been a consistent advocate for consumers and patients in overseeing insurance companies in Washington. Kreidler set up one of the first and most effective Obamacare exchanges in the country, helping expand access to health care for hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians. More recently, Kreidler moved quickly to issue an emergency order requiring insurance companies to waive copays, coinsurance, and deductibles for COVID-19 testing and office visits. In addition, he forced insurance companies to allow consumers to access other health providers if they did not have an in-network option for testing.

Kreidler is running against Republican Chirayu Avinash Patel and Libertarian Anthony Welti. Patel wants to model the office of the insurance commissioner based on a hybrid of the Ronald Reagan and Thomas Jefferson administrations, though he gives few details on what this would mean. Welti is running on a vaguely anti-corruption platform and wants to allow insurance companies to offer cheaper plans with fewer protections for consumers.

Kreidler has earned your vote for re-election to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

Rep. Vandana Slatter is running for re-election to the 48th Legislative District, House Position 1. Prior to running for the Legislature, Slatter was Bellevue's first Indian-American city councilmember. In her role as representative, Slatter has focused on education and equity issues, working on legislation benefiting homeless youth, fully funding schools, and providing health care for all. She has served on the boards of several organizations and nonprofits, including the Children's Institute for Learning Differences, NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, Global Social Business Partners, and the Cancer Center at Overlake Hospital Foundation. This year, Rep. Slatter sponsored legislation prohibiting race-based hair discrimination and requiring the state to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Slatter is running against Victor Bishop and Scott Dusenbery. Republican Bishop is strongly anti-transit and the former chair of the Eastside Transportation Alliance, a group funded to promote cars and oppose the advancement of Sound Transit. He claims traffic congestion is the top quality-of-life issue for voters in the district but is not interested in expanding transportation options. Bishop has repeatedly called on expanding freeways as the only solution for traffic congestion and is not qualified to be an elected official. Dusenbery, who does not have a party preference, also has no campaign website and submitted no official voter guide statement.

Rep. Slatter deserves your vote in this race.

Rep. Amy Walen is running for re-election to the 48th District, House Position 2. Walen previously served as the mayor of Kirkland. Her campaign is focused on fixing Washington's upside-down tax code to ensure lower-income families don't pay more than wealthy families. She is also promoting gun safety legislation to raise the age of purchase for semi-automatic weapons, treat homelessness and addiction as public health crises, and prevent discrimination.

Walen is running against Democrat Morgan Puchek and Republican Tim Hickey. While Puchek is running as a Democrat, his platform emphasizes fiscal conservatism and partnerships with corporations. He does not have any meaningful endorsements. Hickey is running to fund police officers and fire departments as a response to homelessness and "senseless attacks on our persons and our property," as well as to reject comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education, lower all taxes for businesses, and fight socialism.

Rep. Walen is the clear choice in this race and deserves your vote.