Ciudad de Spokane Valley

There are no good choices in the race for Spokane Valley City Council, Position 2. Write in the progressive name of your choice for this race.

Jessica Yaeger is running to replace retiring council member Brandi Peetz on the Spokane Valley City Council, Position 2. Yaeger is a first-time candidate for city council, serves as a Republican precinct committee officer, and works as a director in the senior living industry. Yaeger states she is running because she is tired of what she thinks are public servants at all levels of government making excuses.

Yaeger is running on a typical conservative platform. She argues Spokane Valley should spend valuable resources to create its own police department instead of cooperating with Spokane County on law enforcement. Yaeger stokes fears by promising that we will feel safer if we just jail more people. But stronger community safety comes from making sure everyone has a safe and affordable home and access to social services and health care.

Instead of acknowledging the need for a rapid increase of safe and affordable homes, Yaeger supports discriminatory zoning laws. She explicitly states she will fight against allowing more affordable multi-family housing, recently re-legalized in Washington state. Her approach will increase rents, destroy affordable options, and push more us out of our homes and onto the streets. 

Rachel Briscoe is also running for Spokane Valley City Council, Position 2 as a first-time candidate who describes herself as conservative. She is the co-founder of Briscoe Construction and a content creator at the Ladies Business Community. She volunteers in a women’s local Bible study group.

Briscoe’s policy platform is comprised of the standard MAGA agenda instead of focusing on forward-looking priorities to truly tackle Spokane Valley’s challenges. She wants to reduce city funding, which will harm vital services that we rely on, like mental health services and more affordable housing. Instead of funding priorities that actually keep us safe, such as good schools and having food on our tables, her main goal is to send an ever-larger militarized police force into our communities.

The third candidate in this race is Adam Smith, the owner of the Spokane Valley Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, who is running for city council for the third time. Smith has an active history of community service as a volunteer firefighter in Spokane County. He states he is running to be a voice on the city council representing people who do not feel represented.

Smith has no policy platform he is running on and does not seem to have an active campaign. As of early July, Smith has yet to report any campaign funds. With no campaign website or policy platform, it is unclear what Smith stands for and how he will address issues if elected to the city council.

Write in a candidate of your choice for Spokane Valley City Council, Position 2.