4th Legislative District

A host of candidates are running against Sen. Cantwell this year, though none appear to be competitive.

Dr. Raul Garcia is the leading Republican challenger for the U.S. Senate. After initially announcing a campaign for governor, he is now running to install conservative leadership in one of Washington’s senate seats. Dr. Garcia is a Yakima-based doctor and hospital medical director who previously ran for governor in 2020. He has served in leadership positions across medical institutions, nonprofits, and small businesses. Despite his vague platform, he has already received support from some of Washington’s most prominent conservatives.

Paul Lawrence Giesick is running as a Democrat even though he self-identifies as a “Catholic, Libertarian-leaning conservative” and is campaigning on a platform indistinguishable from many right-wing candidates. A Marine veteran, Giesick has worked in aerospace, municipal administration, and production management. His platform emphasizes racist border policies, oil production, and cuts to crucial public services that Americans rely on. Giesick frequently uses religious language in his campaign and even boasts a “pledge a prayer” section.

David Tilton is running a non-partisan challenge to Cantwell. Tilton works for Microsoft as an associate manager and lacks community leadership or public service experience. He is running on a moderate platform to support local economies, invest in public education, ensure affordable health care, increase funding for militarized policing, and cut some public services.

Mel Ram, another Republican challenger for the Senate seat, is running an incoherent, spiritual, conspiracy-based campaign. She blames black mold for our nation’s social unrest and refers to a conspiracy called the “smart lie” as the reason she wants to enact massive education reforms.

Far-right candidate Isaac Holyk has some of the most extreme views in this race. He has stated that he believes the country is Christian in nature and that he does not believe in leading for “the greater good.” Recently, he came out against the Trump verdict, criticizing the fair ruling by a jury of Americans and in doing so undermining our criminal legal system. Like many MAGA Republicans, his platform consists of scapegoating people at the border, blaming Biden for economic insecurity caused by Trump policies, and promoting conspiracy theories about public education curriculums, including calling for a ban on any diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within schools.

Seattle Republican Scott Nazarino works in estate and retirement planning. Nazarino has only a vague campaign platform in this primary. He states that in order to keep our school-age children safe, he wants to bring armed guards to elementary schools – but we know that more guns do not make us safer.

Three additional candidates - Independent Thor Amundson, Independent Chuck Jackson, and "Socialist Workers" candidate Henry Clay Dennison - have minimal, unrelated, or no campaign website or information available as of mid-July. We will continue to monitor this race and update their information if it becomes available.

Perennial conservative challenger, Goodspaceguy, has also filed in this race. He regularly mounts empty, unserious challenges to seats across the state.

Spokane treasurer Michael Baumgartner is the leading Republican candidate in this race to replace Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Baumgartner served two terms as a state senator for the 6th Legislative District and previously worked at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad for the State Department.

Baumgartner is a very far-right candidate. In his first campaign in 2009, he proposed to ban all abortions and supported the Republican platform to withdraw from the United Nations, privatize Social Security, and eliminate the federal Department of Education. Though his website doesn't list extensively what his policy priorities are this year as of late June, Baumgartner supports right-wing border policies as well as uncompassionate and ineffective responses to our neighbors suffering from mental illness, substance abuse, and/or housing insecurity.

Another candidate in this race is a former police officer and current Legislative District 7 representative Jacquelin Maycumber. Maycumber was originally appointed to the House in 2017 and she has been a very right-wing voice in office. Last year, she opposed bills to expand access to reproductive health care, ensure that Washington students have the basics, and require the state’s private prisons to respect human rights and dignity.

Rene' Holaday, a self-described “MAGA Christian patriot,” is one of the most extreme candidates in this crowded race. Holaday is a radio personality and author. She led the 51st state movement, which advocated for the division of Washington across the Cascades. Now, she is running to fight the “Communists” in Congress as the kind of “killer” Donald Trump would be proud of.

Rick Valentine Flynn, a farmer and writer, is another conservative in this race. Flynn is a disabled veteran who served in the Air Force and currently works as a member of the Spokane County Water Conservancy Board. His platform in this race is more moderate. Flynn criticized the overruling of Roe v. Wade as a historically bad political move by the GOP and has stated that the right to abortion should remain a personal one without interference. He wants to protect gun ownership but has shared some support for reform aimed at curtailing the epidemic of mass shootings in communities across the country.

Former state senator Brian Dansel is also in this race. He previously served as both a Ferry County commissioner and a state senator for Legislative District 7. In 2017, he was appointed by Trump to serve as the state executive director of the Farm Service Agency within the United States Department of Agriculture. Now, Dansel is running on a Washington Republican Party-endorsed platform to bring conservative values to Congress but has yet to release a detailed campaign platform as of mid-June.

Nurse Bobbi Bennett-Wolcott is another Democrat in this race. Bennett-Wolcott has spent more than 40 years in nursing, specializing in maternity care, midwifery, and women’s health, and currently serves as a clinical assistant professor at Washington State University. She has no prior political experience but identifies strongly with her Eastern Washington community. Unfortunately, she offers no policy ideas or specific campaign focuses in this race and instead espouses the broad values of strong communication and community collaboration for the office. She lacks a campaign website as of late June.

State Sen. Mark Mullet is a conservative Democrat who would be a step backward for Washington. For example, his votes were part of the reason that rent stabilization failed in the Legislature this year, denying Washingtonians the safety of more stable, affordable housing. Mullet also voted against the progressive capital gains tax, which taxes the ultra-wealthiest Washingtonians to fund education and early learning. Mullet's stances against bills like the wealth tax and the Climate Commitment Act make it clear that he would prioritize the powerful few over working families.

Former U.S. House Representative Dave Reichert is the leading Republican in the crowded gubernatorial race to replace retiring governor Jay Inslee. Reichert served Washington’s 8th Congressional District in the House for 14 years, where he took some bad votes against climate protections and health care affordability and voted for a national abortion ban, among other anti-abortion votes. He also previously served as the elected King County Sheriff, and worked on the prominent Green River Killer case.

While Reichert is adept at sounding more moderate than some of his MAGA colleagues, his policy positions tell the truth, particularly when speaking to friendly crowds of Republicans behind closed doors. Earlier this year Reichert said that he opposes marriage equality, which Washington voters passed in 2012 and became the law nationwide in 2015. More recently, Reichert finally admitted that he plans to vote for Trump this November and cited his signed MAGA hat as evidence of his Republican credentials. Finally, Reichert questioned humans' impact on climate change, despite the overwhelming scientific consensus. Reichert is clearly out of step with the values of most Washingtonians.

Another Republican in the race for retiring Gov. Inslee’s seat is Semi Bird, a recently ousted Richland School Board member. Bird has served in a number of leadership positions including as a senior advisor to the ambassador of Bangladesh, a former chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Energy, and as the executive director of a consulting firm.

Last August, Bird was recalled from the Richland School Board after his controversial vote to defy Washington’s indoor mask mandate during the height of the pandemic. In this race, he has defined himself as a “constitutional Christian conservative” and made concerning comments about the role of religion in government. Bird is in favor of expanding our overcrowded criminal legal system, further militarizing our police, allowing far-right groups control over public education, and eliminating policies that keep neighbors dealing with substance abuse safer. If elected, he would not represent the values or needs of average Washingtonians.

Heck faces several opponents this year, none of whom appear to be running competitive campaigns.

Republican Bob Hagglund is an IT professional with data science credentials. Previously, Hagglund joined some of the country's biggest MAGA conservatives in lying about the results of the 2020 elections in an effort to illegally install Trump as president. He has spent most of this campaign criticizing elected Democrats rather than offering his own ideas for improving the office. He has an identical platform to Rep. Mike Kelly, who is running for a state Senate seat. Like Kelly, Hagglund has shared transphobic and misogynistic rhetoric about protecting the so-called “very essence of womanhood.” Hagglund is not a leader and his views do not represent our state’s values.

Navy veteran and retiree Patrick Harman is also in this race. Harman previously ran an unsuccessful bid for Oak Harbor mayor in 2019. Now, he is running in support of typically conservative fiscal policy with more moderate social positions, including supporting reproductive freedom and commonsense gun safety policy. However, he has no detailed campaign information or website as of mid-July.

Republican Dan Matthews is a veteran and former school board member running to deprioritize public schools in favor of private education, cut spending on social services, and limit regulations on businesses and corporations.

Democratic challenger David Griffin has a minimal campaign website that promises to support government transparency, "embrace change" in leadership, and support reproductive rights. He lists no elected or community leadership experience.

Hobbs is facing a challenge from fellow Democrat Marquez Tiggs, a finance professional and veteran. In a volunteer capacity, Tiggs has been involved in community organizations such as POCAAN Seattle, which delivers social services for people of color. The pillars of his campaign include community empowerment, voter education, election security, and strengthening public trust in the electoral process. Tiggs’ ultimate goal is to build an inclusive, secure democracy where everyone’s voice can be heard and counted. In comparison to Hobbs, Tiggs appears to lack a track record of community leadership and strong endorsements in this race.

Republican Dale Whitaker, who owns a small tax business, is also in this race. Whitaker serves as the executive director of We Believe We Vote, which claims to educate Christian voters by supporting conservatives with some of the _most _extreme views in the state, including strong anti-abortion stances, homophobic positions, and a belief that the Christian Bible should be the ultimate guiding text for leaders. In this race, Whitaker’s top priority is election transparency and security. Unfortunately, the greatest threat to our democratic, electoral processes has been incursions from the far-right, of which Whitaker is affiliated. Washington voters deserve a secretary of state who is above divisive, conspiracy-based politics.

Damon Townsend is running without party affiliation – what he calls “No Labels” – in this race. Townsend previously worked as Pierce County’s elections specialist and supervisor before resigning in 2019 after a “disruptive” personnel dispute where he displayed unprofessional conduct. In 2022, he ran to earn the county seat back but was unsuccessful. This election cycle, he has set his sights on the state’s highest elections position, campaigning on a platform to improve confidence in Washington elections, increase office transparency, improve voter privacy, and strengthen contingency planning for election emergencies.

Republican and Pasco attorney Pete Serrano is running to bring a conservative agenda to the attorney general's office. Serrano, the board president and general counsel of an organization that fights commonsense gun laws and public health mandates, was recently elected as mayor of Pasco. He states that while he disagrees with these laws he will follow the state Constitution, but the Seattle Times also reported that he intended to remain "actively engaged" with the organization in a Facebook video on the organization's page. If elected he promises to "Make Washington Safe Again" and make the office more transparent. Serrano is not a progressive choice in this race.

Patrick DePoe, the tribal relations director for the state’s Department of Natural Resources, is running to become the first Native candidate to win a statewide position. DePoe is a member of the Makah Tribe who grew up on the Neah Bay reservation. In addition to his DNR job, he works with a number of groups at the intersection of environmental sustainability and Indigenous land use, including the Northwest Indian Fish Commission, the Environmental Justice Council, and the Pacific Fishery Management Council. DePoe has also served on the Makah Tribal Council, including as vice chairman.

In this race, DePoe is running to manage public lands in a way that maximizes environmental sustainability while balancing building a stronger economy of well-paying jobs. He believes he can build a widespread climate coalition to engage all community stakeholders in efforts towards a green future. DePoe also wants to improve forest health while preventing and fighting increasingly dangerous wildfire seasons. Finally, he is committed to being a representative for rural communities who often serve as the frontline of environmental issues in our state. However, DePoe lacks Upthegrove’s experience in elected office as well as his demonstrated track record of writing and passing environmental legislation.

Also in this crowded race is state Senator Kevin Van De Wege. Van de Wege served five terms in the House before joining the Senate in 2016. Before that, he served as a firefighter and paramedic. His voting record makes it clear he would not be a progressive choice in this race. Van De Wege broke ranks with his party to vote against the critical 2021 Climate Commitment Act, which enables the state’s Department of Ecology to make headway on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and engages an environmental justice approach to make sure no community is left behind in climate mitigation, among other key policies. As a hindrance, rather than a leader, on addressing climate change within his own party, Van De Wege is not the best choice to take the bold action our communities need from the next public lands commissioner.

Firefighter and ecologist Allen Lebovitz is another Democrat in this race who is running to lead the public lands office with core values of sustainability and respect for the land. Lebovitz has worked for the state’s Department of Natural Resources in a number of roles since 2011, including aquation restoration ecologist and most recently wildland fire and forest resilience liaison. His experience spans policy, science, and frontline work to protect our public lands from environmental degradation, wildfires, habitat loss, and climate change.

Lebovitz is running with a progressive, sustainable vision for the office. If elected, he wants to invest in fire-resilient forest management techniques, ensuring public lands benefit all Washingtonians equitably, strengthening rural economies, and valuing healthy forests above time volume. His goals for office revolve around effective crisis management and a strategic, optimistic plan for a sustainable future.

Redmond City Council member Jeralee Anderson is another Democrat in this race. Anderson first joined the city council in 2018, and she also co-founded and serves as president of a globally recognized nonprofit focused on helping to make our transportation systems more sustainable. Her training is as a civil engineer, and her work has been recognized at many levels including as one of President Obama’s White House Transportation Champions of Change.

Former congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler is back on the ballot this election. In 2022, she lost her re-election primary to ultra-conservative Joe Kent and current Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez. In Congress, Herrera Beutler voted with Trump more than 80 percent of the time, though she has received criticism from her party after voting to impeach Donald Trump following the January 6th insurrection. Herrera Beutler has overwhelmingly opposed bills that protect our environment including the 2021 Build Back Better Act and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act which, both contained bold policies to alleviate the climate crisis. She lacks a detailed campaign platform in this race but mentions wildfire mitigation, habitat preservation, and public land use as top issues.

Also in this race is Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson, a retired environmental and power analyst who has worked for Seattle City Lights and the Grays Harbor Public Utility District. Pederson previously ran for this seat in 2020. Despite the growing climate crisis and the need to build a sustainable Washington future, Pederson’s focus lies in criticizing the Democratic incumbent and prioritizing revenue from the sale of timber from public forests.

Gig Harbor School Board member David Olson is running on a reactionary platform. Olson wants to increase special education budgets, engage parental intervention, and double down on letter grade systems. Like many conservative school board directors, he wants to expand local control of curriculums and schools. Olson wants to employ strict guidelines in our schools that penalize students struggling the most.

Former Vashon School Board member John Patterson Blair is also in this nonpartisan race to challenge Reykdal. Blair previously ran for the state superintendent position in 2016 on a platform centered on individualizing Washington student experiences. As of mid-July, he lacks a campaign website and he previously failed to attend a community campaign event for candidates in this race.

Bill Boyd is the other Democratic candidate in this race. Boyd has worked in insurance for more than three decades and has spent nearly all of his industry experience at his own company, Boyd Insurance Brokerage. He is highly involved in his community as a church leader, youth sports coach, and league treasurer. Boyd is campaigning to expand health care options and take climate change into account in insurance coverage. However, he supports privatizing the workers’ compensation program, which the voters opposed in 2010 because it would undermine benefits for working people and their families.

Republican state Senator Phil Fortunato is also running for insurance commissioner. Fortunato was first elected to represent the 31st Legislative District in Olympia in 2016 as a representative before being immediately appointed to an open Senate seat. Outside public service, his professional background is in erosion control and stormwater management. In the Legislature, Fortunato was the primary sponsor of many far-right bills, including legislation to strip abortion rights for some Washingtonians and to oppose commonsense gun safety policy. If he's elected insurance commissioner, Fortunato wants to remove regulations that keep health care costs lower. He is vehemently opposed to universal health care policies that would allow all Washingtonians, regardless of income status, to access the health care and medicine they need. He is not a progressive choice in this race.

Democrat Chris Chung has no campaign website as of mid-July. His official voters guide statement is very vague and offers Washingtonians no real insight into how he would run the office. Fellow Democrat John Pestinger is a veteran who has worked for five years as a project manager in the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

Insurance professional Jonathan Hendrix is running without a party preference in this race. Hendrix recently finished an eight-year stint with Premera Blue Cross and has previously worked for Aetna and United Dental Care. He believes his experience in the industry will allow him to better prioritize customer service. Unfortunately, he also supports deregulation of the industry. We know that left unregulated in the pursuit of profit, the insurance prices for customers soar while service quality declines. Washingtonians need a strong leader who is unafraid to hold private insurance corporations accountable.

Deer Park mayor Tim Verzal, who is running without a party preference, and Republican Justin Murta have no campaign website or information available as of mid-June. We will continue to monitor this race and update their information if it becomes available.

Conservative Rep. Leonard Christian is running for Legislative District 4’s Senate seat, from which Sen. Mike Padden is retiring. Christian first joined the Legislature in 2022 after defeating fellow Republican and incumbent Rob Chase for the Position 2 seat. Christian also previously served in the state House back in 2014 when he was appointed to fill the remainder of Larry Crouse’s term, though he was not retained by voters at that time. Outside of public office, Christian works in real estate.

In the past year, Christian has voted along party lines to the detriment of community needs. He recently took bad votes to oppose greater access to reproductive health care, human rights and dignity in our state’s private prisons, and funds to cover basic needs for Washington students. Christian has yet to release a detailed campaign platform in this race as of early June. However, if elected to the Senate, it is fair to assume he will not bring progressive solutions to the problems facing Washingtonians.

Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley is also in this race. Haley, a Republican, has served on the Spokane Valley City Council since 2016, when she was first appointed to fill a vacancy, and was elected as mayor in 2022. Outside of public service, Haley runs childcare facilities. In this race, she wants to cut funding for social programs, increase divisive rhetoric about public education curriculums, and pour even more money into law enforcement forces instead of investing in the community services that actually keep us safe.

Also in this race is Republican Mike Kelly, a local business owner and Spokane Valley City Planning Commission member. Kelly spent most of his career in real estate-adjacent work after an early conviction and incarceration for offenses related to selling drugs. He attributes his early sentence to a life of renewed purpose, accountability, and commitment to building an ethical life. Unfortunately, Kelly’s platform emphasizes conservative criminal legal policies that don't afford people the second chance that meant so much to his own life. In this race, Kelly is also promoting transphobic and misogynistic ideas through the disturbing rhetoric of protecting the “very essence of womanhood.” Like other far-right candidates across the country, Kelly is campaigning to remove public curriculums that teach accurate American history and multiculturalism. Kelly is one of the more extreme right-wing candidates in this race and does not represent the needs of Legislative District 4.

Republican Al Merkel is a business owner and Spokane Valley City Council member. In May of this year, an independent investigation uncovered Merkel had a “pattern of disrespectful behavior toward city staff” after a city staffer filed a formal complaint regarding safety concerns. Now, Merkel is running for a seat in the state Senate to bring conservative values to Olympia. If elected, he would take us backward on police accountability, housing solutions, and responsible development.

Paige Scott, the other Democrat in this race, has no campaign website or information available as of early June.

Also in the race is former Spokane City Council member Brandi Peetz. Aside from her position on the council, for which she chose not to re-run last year, Peetz also served two years as deputy mayor. On the council, she was a moderate who focused on tourism, recreation, parks, and outreach to residents. As a representative, however, Peetz intends to fight against the long-term care program that approximately 70 percent of Washingtonians will need in their old age or in the case of disability.

The third candidate in this race is Democrat Ed "Woody" Wood, who has no campaign website or information available as of early June.

Cattle farm owner and Republican Michael Schmidt is running on a conservative platform. He's served as a volunteer firefighter and a youth sports coach, among other roles in the community. He states that he will fight against "virtue-signaling regulations," and states that he will support property rights and law enforcement though he gives few details on what policies specifically he would support. He also promised in local interviews that he would prevent government overreach in schools without offering meaningful details.

Fellow Republican Rob Chase is also in this crowded race. Chase served one term in the state House from 2020 until 2022, before losing his re-election bid to Leonard Christian. Chase has also recently worked with the U.S. Census Bureau as well as Phoenix Protective Corps in security. In this race, he is also running a conservative campaign that does not reflect the needs of the 4th Legislative District community. Chase has promoted far-right conspiracies from QAnon to COVID-19 falsehoods to the lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Re-electing him would be a dangerous setback for all of Washington.

The last candidate in this race is Republican Stephen Major, who challenged former U.S. Rep. Cathy Morris Rodgers for her seat in 2020, where he only got 8 percent of the vote. At the time, he spoke about the wisdom of Donald Trump, fighting socialism, and revering God. This year's platform has diverged little from his former one.

Federal Way Municipal Court Judge Dave Larson is also in this race. Larson has spent 16 years as a judge, and 23 years before that as a trial attorney. He claims to have bipartisan support and wants to serve as a “balance” if elected. Yet unfortunately, Larson perpetuates fears of rising crime rates as a reason for his candidacy even though judges are meant to be impartial arbiters and the state’s highest court deals more with large cases that affect all Washingtonians rather than individual instances of nonviolent crime. He has not listed any endorsements as of mid-July but it is clear that progressives are backing Mungia in this race.

Tacoma attorney David Shelvey is also in this race. Shelvey has practiced in the areas of family law, estate planning, and taxes, and most recently worked as a tax preparer at H&R Block. On his resume, he lists many degrees including PhDs supposedly earned in a year or less. He lacks judicial leadership experiences in professional or service capacities, and his campaign website shares somewhat scattered thoughts about various legal precedents. He stated in that interview that he decided to run for the Supreme Court after initially setting his sights on a local judicial seat because he was inspired by one of the court’s recent cases defending the rights of some of Washington’s most marginalized residents.

Tax and finance advisor Todd A. Bloom is also in this race. Bloom previously ran for Congress in 2016 as a Republican. While Bloom has a law degree and is a member of the Washington State Bar Association, his professional experience is in financial planning. He appears to have little direct experience with our state’s criminal legal system and offers only vague statements about service and judicial integrity in his campaign. His website is filled with what appears to be filler content from an unrelated architectural firm as of mid-July.

Judge Fennessy has three challengers in this race. Jerry Scharosch is a Spokane County Superior Court Commissioner. Previously, he worked as a deputy prosecutor for the county and as a Washington state assistant attorney general. Though Scharosch states explicitly that he believes courtroom experience matters, he has less than half the years of trial work that Fennessy has, let alone experience actually serving in the superior court judge role. He wants to bring integrity, strongly rated leadership, and a commitment to justice and safety to the court if elected.

Also in this race is Andrew Van Winkle, a senior staff attorney for the Washington State Court of Appeals. Van Winkle also serves as a pro tem commissioner for the Spokane County Superior Court. A few years ago, he created Chelan County’s first alternative court, a drug court focused on healing more than punishment, and serves as chairman of the Spokane Behavioral Health Advisory Board. He wants to bring his prosecutorial background and Police Guild experience to the superior court to modernize court functions while ensuring impartial accountability and justice for all Pierce residents.

F. Dayle Andersen has spent more than thirty years practicing as a general litigation attorney in Washington and Idaho. He wants to make the experience of coming to court fair and anxiety-free. Without a clear platform about what the superior court position means to him nor a working campaign website, it is not obvious what Andersen’s vision is in this race.