City of Walla Walla

Adam Kirtley is running to represent the Central Ward in Position 2 on the Walla Walla City Council. Kirtley works as the chaplain at Whitman College and is a member of a local band. He has been heavily involved in community organizations such as the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition and the Christian Aid Center.

Kirtley’s campaign priorities include increasing affordable housing, adding community alternatives to traditional policing, promoting environmental protections, and making Walla Walla as inclusive as it can be. He wants to uplift community voices, especially from Indigenous and immigrant communities in Walla Walla. Kirtley has earned widespread community support in this race.

His opponent Brian Casey is a business owner and farmer. In a recent candidate forum, Casey agreed that public safety was an issue in the Central Ward, but he did not offer any solutions other than to keep the police department fully funded. He stated in a recent local article that he would promote affordable housing and street maintenance as well. He is running a more conservative campaign but has not offered detailed policy suggestions on his site as of mid-October.

Adam Kirtley is the best choice in this race to bring leadership experience and a community-focused approach to Position 2 on the Walla Walla City Council.

Gustavo Reyna is running for Walla Walla City Council, At-Large Position 3. Reyna is a marketing manager with Intel and previously served as the mayor pro tem for the city of Lafayette, Colorado for five years before moving to Washington. Additionally, he is the president-elect of the Walla Walla Community Council and the council's Affordable Housing Implementation Taskforce chair.

Reyna wants to help Walla Walla advance opportunity, equity, and affordability so that all residents can experience a high quality of life. He also wants to work on sustainable, human-scale development, helping the local business community to thrive, and investing in public spaces. He is a part of the Walla Walla Latino Alliance and has earned the support of many local leaders in this race.

Reyna is facing Rick Phillips. Phillips is running on a conservative platform aligned with the local Republican Party that is out of step with the needs of Walla Walla. He has spent more than 30 years in real estate property management, and recently implied insensitively that the lack of affordable housing in Walla Walla has been a benefit to home owners and real estate investors, despite it leaving many Walla Walla residents in difficult financial positions and without secure housing. His other campaign priorities include increasing funding for the police department while cutting social services and prioritizing business interests.

Given his experience with elected and community leadership, Reyna is the best choice in this race and deserves your vote for Position 3 on the city council.

Incumbent director Terri Trick is running for Walla Walla School Board, Position 2. Trick joined the school board in 2018 when she was appointed to fill a vacancy and was later elected in 2019 to retain the seat for a two-year term. Before that, she spent more than 30 years in education including teaching pre-college courses and developing the GED program at Walla Walla Community College. Trick serves on the boards of Little Theatre of Walla Walla, Friends of the Farm Labor Homes (Valle Lindo), and the American Association of University Women.

During her time on the school board, Trick has worked to raise the district’s graduation rate above the state average, provide science-based and transparent decisionmaking throughout the pandemic, and most recently, to establish the Summer Sol program to help students who have fallen behind during online learning. If re-elected, she wants to continue putting the budget to good use with school improvements and supportive programs for students. Trick will also continue her work on the ​​district’s Equity and Access Committee. She has earned ample Democratic endorsements and community support in this race.

Firefighter and union member James Stovall is challenging Trick for this position. Stovall is running to make sure that the school district is meeting the needs of its diverse community and has said that he would use his experience as treasurer for the firefighter’s union to help manage the district’s budget and keep Walla Walla schools well-resourced. However, he does not have a detailed platform as of mid-October.

Trick will continue building on past school board successes and bringing steady, thoughtful leadership to the district. She deserves your vote for Position 2 on the Walla Walla School Board.