City of Snohomish

Maygen Hetherington is running for Snohomish City Council, Position 6 At-Large. She's the executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association.

Hetherington's campaign site features a detailed plan to preserve and update the city's historic charm. She wants to see a comprehensive assessment of the downtown district that would support future infrastructure updates, including pathways for pedestrians, bike lanes, transit, and more. Under this plan public spaces would be created or enhanced to promote performance spaces, community engagement, and more. She believes that addressing climate change and air quality are two major parts of a comprehensive environmental impact plan, which means protecting the Snohomish River and better waste management. Finally, Hetherington wants the city to invest in crime prevention programs and emergency services.

She is running against former Snohomish mayor John Kartak, who was ousted by voters in 2021. As the city's first elected mayor since a shift in the governmental system, Kartak had a controversial tenure. In May of 2020, Kartak faced heavy criticism for allowing a gathering of 100 armed vigilantes with confederate flags to tailgate and intimidate Snohomish protestors. Kartak claimed, falsely, that only a few of the people were associated with fringe groups. In October of that year, Kartak sparked outrage once again by posting a picture on Facebook depicting a toy car running over figurines meant to resemble protesters.

Kartak's conservative agenda has brought endless division and controversy to the city of Snohomish. Maygen Hetherington is the best choice in this race.

Melanie Ryan is a progressive advocate who is challenging incumbent Chuck Whitfield to represent District 2 on the Monroe School Board. Ryan has worked as a school social worker and an advocate for foster students while earning her master's in social work. She then moved into the private sector, where she got experience managing large budgets and projects for Microsoft Education. Now, she is a certified diversity coach, the founder of a nonprofit that fosters pets for low-income families, and an advocate with numerous social justice organizations like the Monroe Equity Council.

Monroe has faced challenges with school environment in recent years - several hate crimes made headlines, and many students stepped up to share their struggles with homophobic and racist slurs, bullying, and violence. Superintendent Justin Blasko resigned after he mishandled these racist incidents and was found to have created a toxic workplace himself.

Through her role as board president of the Monroe Equity Council, Ryan helped organize families of color to share their experiences and hold the superintendent accountable. If elected, she would fight for more consistent training for staff on how to handle bigotry in schools, create more accountability measures for leaders, and hire staff to coordinate diversity and inclusion efforts across the district.

Notably, the incumbent Chuck Whitfield voted against basic inclusivity trainings for staff, and continued to support Superintendent Blasko even after credible reports of his sexism and inappropriate behavior. Whitfield is an Army veteran and the owner of a vehicle-licensing agency. His platform centers around making a strategic plan and improving test scores, but lacks concrete ways he will support students and teachers. His statements on student safety focus on his fears about drugs and alcohol, but fail to acknowledge the racism that has led several students of color to leave school. Whitfield is supported by several Republican elected officials, and the teachers' union has endorsed Ryan.

Ryan would focus on improving students' academics by creating a more welcoming culture, investing in resources to keep quality teachers, and engaging families in kids' education. She also is passionate about fully funding support for multi-language learners and special education, which became a priority after her conversations with educators. Ryan also wants to elevate the student voice by including student representatives on the board to inform their strategic plan.

Ryan has one of the most impressive and detailed platforms that we have seen in all school board races this year. Her dedication to racial justice and her extensive experience advocating for students make her by far the best choice in this race.