42nd 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.

Progressive Jason Call is challenging Larsen for Congress in Washington's 2nd District. He is a high school math teacher who serves on the board of Whole Washington, which seeks to provide universal health care to everyone in the state. Call got his start in activism by protesting the first Iraq War and worked his way up to running for Congress. In 2020, he came up just 1 percent short of qualifying for the top two general election contest with Larsen in this relatively safe Democratic district.

Call is running on a sweeping platform that includes Medicare for All, free college, ending student debt, a Green New Deal, and a housing guarantee to help end our housing insecurity crisis. When it comes to public safety, Call supports banning assault rifles and wants to end the transfer of military equipment to police forces. He was proud to be named a Green New Deal champion and refuses to take any money from corporate PACs.

Beyond Larsen's failure to sponsor key legislation, Call is quite critical of the way Larsen has led the Aviation Subcommittee of the Transportation Committee. Rather than prioritizing aviation, Call believes we need to transition rapidly to using more high-speed rail and transit to fight climate change.

During our interview, Call acknowledged that many of his policies would require substantial structural changes to become law. He told us that he wants to use his candidacy - and if elected, office - as a platform to build grassroots support for progressive policies. His long-term goal is to build support for electing enough progressive senators to eliminate the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court.

While Call faces a challenging race against a longtime incumbent, he provides an alternative for those looking for bolder progressive leadership than Larsen.

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.

Rep. Sharon Shewmake, who currently serves the district in House Position 2, is running for state Senate. She is a professor at Western Washington University, a member of Bellingham’s Lettered Streets Neighborhood Association, and an active union member. Her background in agricultural economics paired with her progressive values have made her an effective representative for residents of the 42nd Legislative District.

Shewmake’s top priorities for the Senate include investing in good schools, living-wage jobs, clean air and water, a productive local farm industry, and safe communities. This year, she sponsored a number of commonsense bills focused on protecting marine habitats, promoting cleaner business standards, and working towards greater social equity in our state. Shewmake also wants to make sure that all residents can access prescription medication and health care services, including the freedom to make personal reproductive health decisions.

Shewmake is challenging MAGA Republican Sen. Simon Sefzik, who was appointed to take over Sen. Doug Ericksen’s seat when the late incumbent died of COVID-19 last December. Prior to being appointed to the state Senate at age 22, Sefzik served as an intern at the White House during the last year of the Trump administration.

Since joining the Senate, Sefzik has minimized the real issues facing our communities and used his platform to promote divisive and extreme positions. Though he lists living affordability as a top concern in this race, Sefzik and his Republican colleagues oppose funding services that help working Washingtonians afford groceries, gas, rent, and prescription medication. He also sponsored short-sighted legislation that would have cut funding for badly needed transportation projects in Whatcom County and across the state.

Whatcom County Councilmember Ben Elenbaas is a fellow Republican challenging Sefzik for this seat. Outside of the Legislature, he works in the agricultural industry. Even though working Washingtonians are struggling to pay bills and afford health care, Elenbaas wants to prioritize industry and corporations in the Senate, especially oil interests in the region. He also says he would throw our neighbors without stable housing into jails and prisons instead of investing in community programs so that we can all have our basic needs met.

Sharon Shewmake has spent the last three years working to make Legislative District 42 a place where everyone has the chance to thrive. She is the clear choice in this race for Washington’s state Senate.

Incumbent Alicia Rule is running for re-election to the 42nd Legislative District in House Position 1. Rule owns a therapy practice and previously served on the Blaine City Council and as president of the Blaine Downtown Development Association.

Rule brought her expertise in counseling to the Legislature in her first term by focusing on health care and youth services. Some of the bills she sponsored include increasing access to outdoor education, encouraging young people to participate in fishing and shellfishing, and ensuring that services like counseling are available to public employees. Rule also stepped up quickly to support her community by passing legislation to provide relief for farmers, ranchers, and communities affected by flooding in northwest Washington.

She is running for re-election to continue working to increase shelter options, create more living-wage jobs in Whatcom County, and keep our communities safe. In addition, Rule is passionate about preserving the environment of Whatcom County and has pursued local conservation efforts both as a volunteer and a city council member.

Rule faces two Republicans in this race. Her first opponent, Republican Kamal Bhachu, ran for Whatcom County Council last year and lost to Democrat Barry Buchanan. Bhachu's 2021 platform was on the thin side, stating that he would solve mental health and addiction issues in the community by bringing D.A.R.E. programs back to school, and he did not present detailed policy on his promises to address affordable housing and living-wage jobs. This year's platform is similarly undetailed. Bhachu's campaign site says education is an area of great concern. Unfortunately, he neglects to offer any policy proposals to address this. Like most Republicans this year, he states that he wants to unbind law enforcement from recent legislation set to make officers accountable to the community.

Tawsha Dykstra Thompson has served as a police officer for almost 25 years in Bellingham and is running to bring a conservative and regressive agenda to Olympia that emphasizes the role of law enforcement in the district. Thompson wants to criminalize homelessness, characterizing law enforcement as the "brakes" on mental health or addiction issues despite the fact that arrests don't address the root causes of these issues and often deepen them - to the cost of individuals and the community. She opposes balancing our state's upside-down tax code by making billionaires pay their share of the resources we all use.

Republican politicians keep stoking fears and promising that communities will be safer by jailing more and more people. We need leadership that aims to address the many places where our country lags behind - in education, health, food security, housing, and more.

Rep. Alicia Rule has embodied the ethos of fully supporting the community and has earned your vote in the 42nd District.

Blaine City Councilmember Richard May is running for state Legislature to improve housing options, protect the environment, and make life easier for working people. May is the mayor pro tempore of Blaine and a former Blaine planning commissioner of ten years. He has also served on numerous nonprofit boards and organizations, including the Sierra Club and Habitat for Humanity.

May wants to create more affordable child care, make zoning changes to bring more affordable housing for all, and ensure water management takes into account the protection of salmon, drinking water, and farms. He believes more local production of crops and more accessory dwelling units, are just a few tools to improve life for everyone in the district.

May and Timmons share several policy priorities, including better broadband internet and natural disaster preparedness. During our interview, May offered a more ambitious progressive platform than Timmons and shared strong views on the need for better communications from elected officials. In addition, he believes that his election to the Blaine City Council signals that voters support his local agenda and are ready to send him to Olympia.