48th 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 higher 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, pass abortion rights 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. 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 in the U.S. House to help Washingtonians and the rest of our country achieve stable housing, living affordability, family-wage jobs, and accessible health care. She has leveraged her tech background to balance consumer rights with innovation to create protections that benefit us all. DelBene was a key legislator in getting the Child Tax Credit passed and leads the effort to expand it going forward in order to keep putting cash back in the hands of working families and reducing 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.

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.

Stephanie Gallardo is a progressive teacher and first-generation Chilean American challenging Rep. Smith this year. She lived on the University of Washington campus until she was 10 years old while her parents were finishing their education. She has taught history in the Tukwila School District and was elected to serve on the Washington Education Association board.

Gallardo's lived experience has shaped her platform and campaign for office. She supports Rep. Jamaal Bowman's Green New Deal for Public Schools Act, which would invest billions in green retrofits for school buildings, hire hundreds of thousands of new educators, and improve accessibility on campuses. She would also back Sen. Cory Booker's legislation to provide comprehensive and medically accurate sexual health education for all students.

Foreign policy is Gallardo's other top priority. During our interview, she stated that her family's escape from Chile as political refugees showed the danger of our country's "expansionist foreign policy." If elected, she would add her name to Rep. Jayapal's bill to prohibit the U.S. from aiding Saudi Arabia in their war with Yemen. She also wants to redirect some of the historically large defense budget that Smith writes to invest in education and fighting climate change. On community safety, Gallardo expressed support for revoking immunity for gun manufacturers, banning assault weapons, and prohibiting the military from transferring powerful equipment to law enforcement.

Gallardo's platform and experience offer a clear contrast for voters looking for a progressive alternative, particularly on foreign policy, to Rep. Smith.

Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson is running as a nonpartisan candidate to bring an independent 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 as a nonpartisan candidate 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 nonpartisan, 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.

While Hobbs spoke more about using cybersecurity to protect our elections, Anderson leaned on her professional expertise to describe ways to expand our democracy. She believes, for example, that the state should redouble its efforts to reach voters with disabilities. By using a secure, expert-vetted electronic ballot similar to those used for overseas military voters, Anderson sees a path forward to reach those who don't always have access to vote.

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. She supports grants for local jurisdictions that are interested in trying ranked choice voting so that it's not unduly expensive for local governments, and so that auditors can learn more about how to manage and implement it.

Anderson offers voters an experienced option if they are looking for an independent to administer our state's elections.

Sen. Patty Kuderer is one of the state's most active sponsors of progressive legislation. She was first appointed to the state House in 2015, won her seat in the 2016 election, and was then appointed unanimously to the Senate in 2017.

She has been a powerhouse on reducing gun violence, voting rights, health care reform, and affordable housing. This year, she sponsored successful bills to limit high-capacity gun magazines and pass a transportation package, as well as bills aimed at flipping the state's upside-down tax code. She also sponsored the missing middle housing legislation that would reduce housing costs by allowing more housing options near transit.

Kuderer faces a challenge from Michelle Darnell, a paralegal and perennial candidate who alternates between running as libertarian and Republican. Darnell's divisive agenda attempts to pit parts of the state against each other and whip up voter fear. She argues against investing in public transportation, which gets tens of thousands of people to work, school, and play safely and alleviates the traffic congestion Darnell complains of. Though she notes that Washington has one of the most regressive tax codes in the nation, Darnell makes no mention of the many efforts Kuderer has made to make the wealthiest in our state finally pay their share. Finally, Darnell acknowledges the housing crisis but only promises to reduce regulations on builders, while Kuderer introduced the bill this year that will make a historic effort to address the root cause of the problem.

As our communities begin recovering from the pandemic, we need serious and experienced leadership, not more political rhetoric that seeks to divide us. Patty Kuderer is by far the best choice for Senate from the 48th Legislative District.

Rep. Vandana Slatter is running unopposed 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 council member.

Slatter 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.

In the Legislature, Slatter has focused on education and equity issues, working on legislation benefiting homeless youth, fully funding schools, and providing health care access. This year, Slatter sponsored legislation restricting ghost guns and improving public safety by banning the carrying of guns in places like school board meetings. She was also a sponsor of the missing middle housing bill, which would have expanded housing options near transit.

Rep. Slatter has earned another term in the House.

Rep. Amy Walen is running unopposed for re-election to the 48th District, House Position 2. Walen previously served five years on the Kirkland City Council before becoming the mayor from 2014 to 2019.

In the House, Walen has promoted gun responsibility, affordable housing, and small businesses. This session, Walen sponsored bills to improve community safety by restricting ghost guns and banning carrying guns in public places like school board meetings. She was also a sponsor of the wealth tax, which if passed would have finally made the extraordinarily wealthy in our state pay for the resources that everyone needs and uses, like education, transportation, and more.

Walen is running to continue working to fix Washington's upside-down tax code to ensure that families with lower incomes don't pay more than the wealthy, as well as build communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. She has earned your vote for another term in the state House.