1st Legislative District

Sen. Patty Murray has been a consistent and strong progressive voice in the U.S. Senate. She's seeking re-election to continue fighting for our basic rights and a better quality of life in Washington and beyond.

Murray was first elected in 1992 and has been a champion for veterans, working families, women, and economic opportunities for all. Before her tenure in the Senate, Murray worked as a preschool teacher, on the Shoreline School Board, and in the Washington state Senate.

During her time in Congress, Sen. Murray has worked hard to keep our communities safe from gun violence, protect abortion access at the federal level so that everyone has reproductive freedom, and expand access to affordable childcare. This year, she voted in support of the Women’s Health Protection Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and a slate of other progressive bills that invest in working communities so that our country is a place where everyone can thrive. Murray has earned an impressive and diverse coalition of endorsements from local and national organizations, elected leaders, and unions.

Sen. Murray faces Tiffany Smiley, a triage nurse running on a MAGA Republican platform. Smiley has never held public office but she previously worked on Capitol Hill. Her Trump-inspired agenda aims to divide us while she seeks to cut funding from our most essential services and repurpose it for a needless border wall and more militarized police forces. Working Washingtonians need real solutions so that we can access the basics like gas, groceries, rent, and prescription medicine – not MAGA rhetoric and tax breaks for the wealthy.

Sen. Patty Murray is a national leader on many of the most important issues facing our country. She has earned your vote for re-election.

Rep. Suzan DelBene is running for re-election to the U.S. House representing Washington’s 1st Congressional District. Since first being elected in 2012, DelBene has been a champion for working families, small businesses, and data privacy and consumer protections. This year, she served as the chair of the moderate New Democrat Coalition, a 98-member congressional caucus that seeks to find solutions that bring Democrats and Republicans together. She brings private sector experience from her background in tech, working at Microsoft early on and then leading a number of local startups.

DelBene has been a staunch advocate for bills to help Washingtonians and the rest of our country afford stable housing, find family-wage jobs, and access quality health care. She has leveraged her tech background to balance consumer rights with innovation to create protections that benefit us all. DelBene played a key role in passing the Child Tax Credit and is leading efforts to expand it going forward in order to reduce child poverty across the country. She also recently supported the bipartisan infrastructure law which sent federal funding to Washington to upgrade public roads, ports, broadband, and more. Now, she is running to keep protecting Social Security, Medicare, reproductive freedom, and community investments that help Americans afford the basics.

Mill Creek City Council member and sheriff deputy Vincent Cavaleri is challenging DelBene in this race. He wants to expand militarized police forces and send more people to Washington’s expensive and overpopulated prisons. Instead of Cavaleri's failed positions, we need greater investments in community solutions that compassionately address addiction, housing insecurity, and mental health so that we can all thrive.

DelBene is a pragmatic and hardworking Democratic leader who will continue to make progress at the federal level if she is re-elected. She deserves your vote to represent Washington’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal is running for re-election in the 7th Congressional District. She has a long history of civic leadership on immigration reform, economic justice, and civil liberties. Rep. Jayapal founded OneAmerica (formerly Hate Free Zone) in 2001 and built it into the largest immigrant rights organization in the state and a national model. She also played a key role on the Mayoral Advisory Committee that created Seattle’s $15 minimum wage, and this year secured $31 million in federal funding for community projects in the Seattle area, including housing, sciences, education, and the environment.

Since her election to Congress in 2016, Jayapal has resisted the Trump administration and conservative extremists at every turn and provided a voice for progressives across the country. She has supported the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the Dream Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for young DACA recipients. She also introduced legislation to expand collective bargaining and provide relief to workers and businesses during the pandemic. More recently, she has called for a national women's strike in response to the Supreme Court's ban on abortion and the curtailing of reproductive freedom across the country. Jayapal is also seeking to codify a transgender bill of rights to protect our country from the erosion of trans civil rights.

Her opponent, Republican Cliff Moon, founded Moon Construction Company and is running because he believes Congress needs more "normal" people. Unfortunately, he echoes Republican Party talking points about the 2020 election, opposes stronger gun safety laws, and he supports building a divisive border wall. Moon states that he's open to exploring a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks in a move to limit the reproductive freedom nationwide. While Jayapal is seeking to broadly improve the lives of her constituents with affordable housing, upgrades to infrastructure, and expanding childcare, Moon is focused on the conservative agenda of pouring more money into militarized policing. 

Jayapal is highly experienced and responsive to her constituents, and has held more than 100 town halls during her time in Congress. As chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, she has been one of the strongest progressive advocates in Washington for the needs of all in this country. Pramila Jayapal has earned your vote as a national leader for progressive causes.

Dr. Kim Schrier is seeking re-election to her seat in the U.S. House representing Washington’s 8th Congressional District. Prior to serving two terms in Congress, she worked as a pediatrician and ran a local pediatric practice in Issaquah caring for kids and families across the region.

Schrier has consistently brought her professional health expertise and community-driven values to Congress. Unlike her Republican opponent, Schrier would support a federal law protecting reproductive freedom for all Americans. This term, Schrier supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill that will provide essential funding to improve local roads and bridges, as well as $19 million dollars for pedestrian safety projects in the 8th District alone. She also voted for Build Back Better, which would have provided funding for early education, extended the child tax credit, reduced the cost of child care, and combated climate change. If re-elected, Schrier wants to prioritize the everyday needs of working families as well as be a compelling changemaker on public health issues like affordable prescriptions, gun violence prevention, clean air, and access to healthy food.

Schrier faces a challenge from Trump Republican Matt Larkin, one of the most far-right candidates on the ballot in Washington this year. He is also one of the state's most staunchly anti-abortion candidates, calling for federal legislation to ban abortions nationwide, and even opposing certain contraceptives and Plan B options. Larkin is running on a Trump Republican platform that scapegoats our community members struggling the most. Larkin also joins some of the most extreme right-wing candidates in his refusal to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, ignoring the will of the people. 

Schrier has been a standout member of Congress working across party lines to get things done for her district. She has earned your vote for re-election.

Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson is running as an independent to bring a non-partisan voice to the secretary of state's office. Anderson served on the Tacoma City Council before running for county auditor in 2009 and winning re-election three times. As Pierce County auditor, which is a nonpartisan position, she has administered dozens of elections while also overseeing licensing and public record-keeping.

Anderson is running because she believes political parties shouldn't be involved in running elections they are simultaneously trying to win. Her campaign priorities include supporting more local races becoming non-partisan, increasing access to voting and election information, and improving election security. She wants to translate the voters' pamphlet into 10 languages, going beyond what is mandated by the Voting Rights Act. She also wants to conduct risk-limiting audits in all 39 Washington counties and "pre-bunk" rumors to increase confidence in our state's election systems.

During our interview, Anderson expressed support for ranked choice voting because she believes it will allow candidates to break through our two-party political system. This is one of the biggest points of difference between Anderson and Hobbs.

Anderson offers voters an experienced option if they are looking for a nonpartisan administrator to manage our state's elections and support ranked choice voting.

Incumbent Rep. Davina Duerr is running for re-election to Position 1 in the 1st Legislative District. Duerr joined the House in 2019 when she replaced Derek Stanford who moved to the Senate. Prior to joining the Legislature, she served as deputy city mayor from 2016 to 2019 while on the Bothell City Council, where she still serves in an at-large position. She also chaired the Bothell Landmark Preservation Board for eight years and founded the M.I.L.K. Money campaign at the Northshore Schools Foundation to support students experiencing homelessness.

In the Legislature, Duerr has sponsored an impressive slate of progressive legislation. Most recently, she supported bills to make sure all Washingtonians pay their share in taxes and to reduce gun violence caused by homemade guns. Duerr has worked to increase affordable housing options, invest in public schools, and ensure environmental protection.

Duerr's opponent is Republican John Peeples, who unsuccessfully ran for Seattle City Council in 2019 and state representative in the 43rd Legislative District in 2018. This year, he is running again largely to fight against public health requirements that kept Washingtonians safe during the pandemic. Peeples does not have elected or community leadership experience.

Duerr has been a strong and consistent progressive leader in the House and deserves re-election to Position 1 of the 1st Legislative District.

Rep. Shelley Kloba is seeking re-election to Position 2 representing the 1st Legislative District. Kloba was elected to the Legislature in 2016 and previously served a three-year term on the Kirkland City Council and a four-year term on the Kirkland Parks Board. She has been involved in community projects such as the King County Domestic Violence Initiative and the King County Cities Climate Collaboration, and brings a particular eye for consumer protections and boosting opportunities for working people.

Kloba has championed many issues in the Legislature, such as data privacy, gun safety, and treating gambling addiction as a health issue. She was the prime sponsor of a bill that extended the Expanded Learning Opportunities Council, which increases opportunities for students from low-income backgrounds. She also sponsored successful legislation this year to expand coverage of the paid family and medical leave program, improve public contracting opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses, and more.

Her challenger this year is Republican real estate agent Jerry Buccola, who is running to deny Washingtonians the freedom to access safe, legal abortions. He states that we would also repeal the governor's emergency powers and the growth management act, two reactionary and politically-driven ideas with far-reaching consequences beyond this election cycle. As of late October, he has no campaign website or other policy priorities to review.

We recommend Rep. Kloba for re-election so she can continue fighting for progressive values at the state level. She deserves your vote in the 1st Legislative District.

Leesa Manion has worked as the chief of staff of the King County prosecuting attorney’s office for the last 15 years. She is now running for King County prosecutor to provide consistent leadership to the office and support important reforms to the criminal legal system. If elected, she would be the first woman and the first person of color in this role. Outside of the prosecutor's office, Manion has served several leadership roles, including on the boards of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, and as co-founding partner of Choose 180, which offers coaching and diversion programs to keep youth out of the juvenile justice system.

Manion's top priorities include tackling the backlog of 4,500 cases filed during the pandemic's work halt, increasing funding for reforms like mental health court, and intervening in gun violence before people become victims or offenders. High on her agenda is continuing to prosecute violent crimes while addressing racial disparities and providing culturally responsive care to victims.

In our interview with Manion, she offered compelling insights about the prosecuting attorney's office and how she would manage it if elected. She spoke of her experience building a well-functioning team and solid working relationships throughout the legal system, as evidenced by the fact that she earned the endorsement of SEIU 925, the union that includes public defenders. She also spoke about the need to apply racial justice principles to better reflect the values of the community, and invite the community to public listening sessions or possibly convene community advisory boards. Finally, Manion committed to spending more time going to monthly police and sheriff meetings to build relationships throughout the county.

We recommend Manion for her impressive platform and extensive track record of results, as well as the broad support of many progressive and Democratic organizations.

Jason Cummings is running to serve Snohomish County as the county prosecuting attorney. Cummings has worked in the Snohomish County prosecutor’s office since 1999 and for the last 14 years has been the chief civil deputy prosecuting attorney there. He has spent his free time in a number of community leadership positions including as president of the Imagine Children’s Museum board.

Cummings wants to lead the prosecutor’s office with transparency and integrity. As a lead on the Data Collective Initiative, he also has a strong focus on understanding racial and ethnic disparities in Snohomish County so that the prosecuting office can deliver equitable and accurate legal services for all residents. In this race, Cummings has received many local and statewide endorsements to bring his extensive experience and a strong sense of justice to the seat.

Cummings is running against Brett Rogers, a lawyer and former Seattle Police Department officer. Like many of his fellow Republicans, Rogers wants to use police, jails, and prisons as a catchall solution for the social issues facing our communities, which is both more expensive and less effective. His views on crime and punishment echo antiquated, right-wing beliefs that don’t make our communities safer.

Jason Cummings is the best choice in this race. He deserves your vote for Snohomish County prosecuting attorney.

Justice Mary Yu is running unopposed to continue serving on the state Supreme Court. Yu was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2014, elected by voters to the seat later that year, and re-elected in 2016. Before joining Washington’s highest court, she spent 14 years as a trial court judge in King County Superior Court and earlier as the deputy chief of staff to former King County prosecutor Norm Maleng.

Yu has an unimpeachable reputation and has been rated “exceptionally well qualified” by a number of key bar associations. On the court, she has been a voice for equal justice and upholding the rights of all. Now, she is running with endorsements from all of her fellow justices as well as a number of retired justices from the court.

Justice Yu deserves your vote to continue serving as one of Washington’s state Supreme Court justices.

Justice Barbara Madsen has served on the state Supreme Court for 30 years and is running unopposed for re-election this year. She was only the third woman to serve on the court when she was first elected in 1992. During her time on the court, her fellow justices elected her the 55th chief justice of the court – a position she held for 7 years.

Having spent her career in both prosecution and public defense, Madsen has extensive knowledge of the criminal legal system and a passion for serving her community. Her re-election has been endorsed by each of her fellow justices and a wide range of other judicial leaders and community organizations.

Justice Madsen has served the state with fair and equal justice. She deserves your vote to remain in her seat on Washington’s Supreme Court.

Justice G. Helen Whitener is running unopposed for re-election to Position 6 on Washington’s Supreme Court. Whitener became the first Black woman to serve on the state’s Supreme Court in April 2020 when she was appointed to fill a vacancy by Gov. Inslee. Later that year, she won her election to fill the remainder of the term. Prior to joining the Washington Supreme Court, Whitener served on the Pierce County Superior Court and worked as both a prosecutor and a defense attorney before becoming a judge.

Justice Whitener is both a Trinidadian immigrant and openly gay, and has worked to be a representative voice for justice for all in the state’s highest court. In this race, she has earned the endorsement of each one of her fellow justices as well as some retired justices. Whitener has been rated as "exceptionally well-qualified" by a number of bar associations and has done an exceptional job since joining the court.

Whitener is an important voice on the State Supreme Court and deserves your voice to continue serving as a justice in Position 6.

Incumbent Judge Michael Finkle is running for re-election to Position 6 on the King County Northeast Electoral District Court. Finkle has served on the district court since 2010, and he is widely respected for his judicial leadership and his accomplishments since joining the bench. Outside of court, he volunteers with the YMCA Mock Trial Program and a handful of other community projects.

Finkle is running to continue his work building up alternative courts, like the landmark mental health, veterans, youth, and community courts he worked to establish. He wants to work towards social justice through fair treatment in court and diversions to keep non-felony offenders out of prison so they can have a second chance. Finkle has received the highest ranking possible from six key bar associations and has earned widespread, bipartisan support in this race.

Joshua Schaer, an assistant attorney general in the state office, is the other candidate in this race. Schaer has worked in trial law and serves as a pro tem judge. He has yet to share campaign priorities as of early October and lacks the experience and recommendations of his opponent.

Judge Finkle has done an impressive job on the court and deserves your vote for another term serving on the King County Northeast Electoral District Court bench in Judge Position 6.

Incumbent commissioner Tanya (Toni) Olson is running to continue serving District 3 on the Snohomish County Public Utilities District. Olson has been in this seat for 18 years and also serves as a member of the American Public Power Association and Northwest Public Power Council.

Olson is running on a more status quo platform this year. Her priorities include delivering reliable customer service, keeping rates as affordable as possible, and protecting our environment so that we have sustainable power for generations to come.

The other candidate in this race is Ken Maertens, a Navy veteran and mechanical engineer. Maertens says that one of the reasons he is running for this seat is that “[he has] time on my hands.” His platform emphasizes the ideal of planning for the future, however, he doesn’t have a focus on environmental sustainability nor any concrete policy suggestions yet in this race.

In this race with no progressive choices, we recommend Olson because of her focus on community and the environment.