Condado de King

La demócrata Lisa Callan se postula para la reelección a la Posición 2 representando al 5º Distrito Legislativo, donde ha servido durante los últimos tres años. Antes de eso, se desempeñó como miembro electo y presidenta de la Junta Escolar de Issaquah y trabajó en el sector privado como ingeniera y gerente de proyectos. 
 
Callan ha trabajado arduamente para lograr un cambio positivo en Washington, incluida la mejora de la seguridad económica de las familias trabajadoras y la inversión en nuestra juventud y nuestra educación pública. Este año, fue nombrada Defensora de la Vivienda Asequible por Habitat for Humanity del Condado de Seattle-King por su trabajo para expandir las opciones de vivienda para todos. Callan presentó dos proyectos de ley para proteger la salud mental de los estudiantes y legislación para promover la seguridad contra el humo quirúrgico tanto para los trabajadores de la salud como para los pacientes. En esta elección, se ha ganado un amplio respaldo de la comunidad debido a su liderazgo consistente y valores progresistas. 
 
El republicano Chad Magendanz se postula una vez más para la Legislatura, esta vez desafiando a Callan. Es un ex gerente de programas de Microsoft que anteriormente se desempeñó como presidente de la Junta Escolar de Issaquah y en la Cámara de Representantes del estado de 2013 a 2017. Magendanz renunció para postularse para el Senado estatal en 2016, perdiendo ante el senador Mark Mullet, y luego se postuló nuevamente para la Cámara de Representantes estatal en 2018 y perdió ante el representante Bill Ramos.
 
Mientras estuvo en la Legislatura, Magendanz mantuvo un historial conservador, incluido ser el único legislador del condado de East King de cualquiera de los partidos en votar en contra de un proyecto de ley de transporte que habría reducido el atasco de tráfico en el corredor I-405. Magendanz se postula para recortar las leyes de supervisión corporativa que protegen a los trabajadores, los consumidores y el medio ambiente. Magendanz estaba orgulloso de su calificación “A” de la Asociación Nacional del Rifle durante su última campaña, lo que plantea preguntas sobre su voluntad de mantener a nuestras comunidades a salvo de la violencia armada.
 
La representante Callan es la opción clara en esta elección y merece ser reelegida para la Posición 2 en el 5º Distrito Legislativo.

Progressive incumbent Rep. David Hackney is running for a second term representing the 11th Legislative District in Position 1. Before joining the Legislature, Hackney spent 25 years as a practicing attorney, including at the U.N., and worked at a handful of progressive organizations that focused on environmental protections and workers' rights. In 2019, he was appointed to the Washington State Human Rights Commission by Gov. Inslee.

This past session, three of Hackney's bills were signed into law. His legislation protected the sensitive information of currently or formerly incarcerated Washingtonians, created a tax exemption for organizations maintaining affordable housing, and increased access to electricity as a transportation fuel for all Washingtonians. Hackney is running for re-election to continue investing in a clean energy future, tackling the housing crisis, and building safe and economically secure communities.

His challenger this year is Republican precinct committee officer Stephanie Peters, who is running under the extreme Election Integrity Party mantle. Her main priority is to question election security, echoing the messages of MAGA Republicans who are trying to overturn the will of the people in the last presidential election. As of late October, Peters does not have a functioning campaign website to detail her priorities.

Rep. Hackney is by far the best choice in this race for his experience and his effective first session as a legislator.

Incumbent Rep. Steve Bergquist is running for re-election to Position 2 in the 11th Legislative District. Bergquist is a former deputy majority floor leader and currently serves as the vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Outside of the Legislature, he teaches high school in the Renton School District and previously owned a small business.

Bergquist's legislative priority is making community investments to continue economic recovery, particularly for students, working families, and small businesses. This year, Bergquist introduced bills to help with shortages in school staffing and provide career advancement opportunities for public school paraeducators. As a union member, Bergquist has been a consistent advocate for creating living-wage jobs in the 11th Legislative District, and has worked to increase youth voter turnout by allowing 16- and 17-years old to pre-register to vote so that they can be civically engaged and ready to vote by the time they're eligible.

Bergquist faces a challenge from Republican Jeanette Burrage. She served on the Des Moines City Council from 2012 to 2015 and as a state representative in 1981. Burrage has run for multiple other positions throughout the years, including failed campaigns for Legislature in the 33rd District in 2014 and for Highline School Board in 2019.

Unfortunately, she wants to bring a slate of regressive policies to Olympia. With only a bare-bones website and no detailed policy agenda available as of late October, Burrage's primary concern based on her official voters' guide statement seems to be denying kids a modern education. Every child, no matter their zip code, background, or race, deserves to see themselves and their experiences in history. Writing race out of the school agenda doesn't help children, it simply erases many of them and denies them the chance to learn about the cultures and experiences of different people.

Rep. Bergquist's work to improve the lives of students, working people, and families in the district make him by far the best choice in this race.

Jamila Taylor is running for re-election to the 30th Legislative District, House Position 1. Taylor is an attorney who advocates for crime victims and has an extensive record of volunteer service. She previously served as the statewide advocacy counsel for the Northwest Justice Project, where she managed a network of legal aid attorneys, and has worked on youth intervention programs and other violence reduction efforts. Taylor was elected chair of the state Black Members Caucus this year, where she advocates for racial equity for all Washingtonians.

In her first term, Taylor sponsored successful bills to restrict the open carry of guns in public places like school board meetings, establish the state's first statewide digital equity plan, and create a system to locate missing Indigenous people. She was the prime sponsor of legislation that will expand scholarships for community and technical college students. She also supported increasing housing options near transit to alleviate the state's housing crisis. If re-elected, Taylor wants to work on crime and violence prevention, affordable housing access, and health care.

Taylor's opponent Casey Jones states that he is a Federal Way police commander with 23 years in law enforcement who, unsurprisingly, wants to increase prosecution. Unfortunately, law and order is the only campaign agenda point on his website. Aside from a desire to reduce police accountability measures passed recently in the Legislature, Jones offers no further vision for the district. This doesn’t speak to an interest in the majority of work that a legislator needs to do to keep their communities healthy and whole, including protecting our water and air, supporting great schools, addressing the housing crisis, and more.

The 30th District doesn't need more abrasive and divisive rhetoric. As we continue to recover from the pandemic, the district needs someone who can bring together communities and write legislation that works for everyone. Taylor's standout first term has shown that she is a progressive and capable legislator, and she has earned your vote in the 30th Legislative District.

Former House representative Kristine Reeves is running for the vacant seat left open by the retirement of Rep. Jesse Johnson this year. She currently serves on the Washington State Gambling Commission and is the former director of Economic Development for the Military and Defense sector for Washington state.

In the Legislature, Reeves was a champion for paid family and medical leave, gun safety, linking students with apprenticeships, and making child care more affordable. She is motivated to address affordable housing and homelessness by using her experience growing up as a foster child and being homeless herself at times. Reeves also wants to see child care workers compensated more fairly, advocate for military families and veterans, achieve greater climate action, and protect abortion rights by closing fake "crisis pregnancy centers" that pretend to offer abortion services.

Reeves is running against Ashli Tagoai, a lawyer and former communications director for the Washington State Republican Party. Like many MAGA Republicans running this year, Tagoai is trying to divide and scare us about crime instead of providing our communities the care, security, and support we need. Rather than supporting proven strategies to reduce gun violence and address homelessness, Tagoai wants us to believe that the solution is just to put even more people in jail. She also has no desire to balance our state's upside-down tax code and would allow corporations and the wealthy to avoid paying what they owe our communities.

While Reeves has been progressive on several issues, she's taken a more cautious approach to others, including voting against taxing polluters. She was also one of only three Democrats to vote no on eviction protections in 2019, especially notable in this district because eviction disproportionately affects Black and Latino residents. While we hope that Reeves will vote differently on these issues, Tagoai's far-right agenda would drag the 30th Legislative District backward. Reeves is by far the best choice in this race.

School librarian Leah Griffin is an advocate for survivors of sexual assault. After police refused to test her rape kit, she worked with state officials on legislation that led to testing all 11,000 of the state's backlogged rape kits, passed a survivor's bill of rights, and more. Griffin also worked with Sen. Patty Murray on the federal Survivors’ Access to Supportive Care Act, founded the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) Task Force, and organized for the R-90 campaign for age-appropriate sexual health education.

Griffin is now running for the Legislature to advocate for more access to behavioral health care, public safety reform, and affordable housing. In our interview with Griffin, she elaborated on the immense need for more behavioral and mental health care across the population - for frontline workers with PTSD, youth, teachers, people experiencing homelessness, and many others. She wants to see counselors embedded in union halls and wraparound services at shelters, giving care at the point of need where people can access it. As a victim of violent crime, Griffin states that a lack of behavioral health care, housing, and education are the undercurrents for crime, and putting people in prison without resources is morally bankrupt. Griffin also wants to see an increase in green energy like tidal power, community-centered child care programs, and greater unionization of workers.

Both Griffin and Alvarado are progressive and support bills like the capital gains tax, which aim to flip Washington's deeply regressive tax code to stop favoring the ultra-wealthy. Griffin in particular is a good choice if you are looking for a candidate with a long record of grassroots advocacy who will focus on expanding health care access.

Environmental advocate Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon is running for re-election to Position 2 in the 34th Legislative District. Fitzgibbon worked as a legislative staffer and served on the Burien Planning Commission before joining the Legislature in 2010.

Fitzgibbon is running for re-election to build on his impressive track record of success. He played a leading role in passing clean fuels legislation that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lead to cleaner air. In addition, he supported legislation to cut plastic bag pollution, reduce gender pay disparities, and improve gun safety laws.

This session, Fitzgibbon also passed bills to streamline the permitting process for salmon recovery projects, increase the construction of affordable housing, and expand coverage of paid family and medical leave. His other priorities in office include addressing mass incarceration and inequities in our criminal legal system, expanding voting rights, and investing in public transportation.

Software engineer and Republican Andrew Pilloud is running against Fitzgibbon to roll back many of these progressive victories. He does not have elected experience but volunteers with a robotics program. Pilloud's thin platform mentions mental health and addiction as the drivers of homelessness without addressing the cause that local housing experts have pointed to for years: the lack of affordable housing options. Pilloud also makes vague statements about criminals and a confusing statement about abortion that implies that he does not fully support the freedom of Washingtonians to decide whether and when we have children.

Rep. Fitzgibbon has been one of the most effective progressive legislators in Olympia and has earned your support for another term.