The political races are heating up in Washington’s Congressional Districts 30 and 33 just before Election Day on November 8.
This article is the third in a multi-part series reporting on various elections for political office. In the first, we discussed the race for King County Prosecuting Attorney and voting information. In the second, we wrote about the campaigns for Congress in Washington’s District 8 and 9.
This week, we will focus on candidates running for seats in the Washington State Legislature representing southwest King County in Districts 33 and 30, where the Highline community predominantly resides.
District 33, which includes the Highline campus, consists of Des Moines, Normandy Park, Seatac, and specific areas of Kent and Burien.
Due to the fact that both candidates for House Representatives in Positions 1 and 2 are running unopposed, we will focus on the State Senate race between incumbent Karen Keiser (D, Des Moines) and her opponent Marliza Melzer (R, Bellevue).
According to Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission’s filings for candidate’s election fundraising as of Nov. 1, Keiser has raised $173,000 while Melzer has raised about $4,000.
While Keiser has served the southwest King County community in Olympia between State Senator and State Representative, you may also recognize Melzer’s name despite the fact that she has never held political office.
Melzer previously ran for District 33’s House of Representatives, Position 2, on the Libertarian Party ticket. She lost to Mia Gregerson (D) by 47% who continues to hold the seat and is running for re-election unopposed.
Reading Melzer’s campaign website and her submitted statement for the Voters’ Pamphlet shows that she is focused on the social-cultural issues sweeping nationwide versus serving the local constituency, such as lowering drug prices.
Additionally, when any candidate receives both Seattle Times and The Stranger’s endorsements like Keiser has, it’s not hard to imagine that she will likely walk into victory again in this election.
Given all of the above, let’s move on to neighboring swing districts that might have an impact on who’s sent to Olympia next January.
Directly south is District 30, residing along the King-Pierce Counties’ border with its main cities of Federal Way, Auburn, Algona, Pacific, and parts of Des Moines.
This district has been experiencing a more robust civic engagement election season than the others in this article, likely due to the fact that all three seats (State Senator and the two State Representative positions) are in play between Democrats and Republicans.
Campaigning for its State Senate seat is incumbent Claire Wilson (D, Federal Way) and current Federal Way Council President Linda Kochmar (R, Federal Way).
One of the prominent values on Kochmar’s campaign website is “individual liberty,” despite demonstrating repeatedly her fears of school curriculum teaching children about sex and expressed her personal position on abortion as pro-life.
Despite her standing, Kochmar has shown that she respected Initative 120, a voter-approved citizens-initatied ballot measure which stated that “the state may not deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or to protect her life or health.”
As of fundraising filing from Nov. 1, Wilson has raised $306,000 and Kochmar has raised $220,000.
The amount of money raised in support of each candidate is roughly the same, however, the amount of money raised from outside funders in opposition to the campaigns demonstrates a more interesting picture as opponents to Kochmar have raised only $104,000. Conversely, those vying to unseat Wilson have raised $222,000.
Despite all of this, when listening to each candidate speak, it is not hard to imagine Wilson being easily re-elected.
During a candidate forum hosted by the Federal Way Mirror, when asked to discuss a problem in the district directly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and how she would solve it, Kochmar started answering saying it was school drop-outs as the number one problem. Then spoke about how those drop-outs are now the unemployed and untrained adult males dealing drugs, but that “Dealing drugs is not the real money. The real money is in trafficking, human trafficking. Getting that quiet, young, little girl in high school, making her feel love, popular. Once you get her into the drug trafficking trade, it’s $300,000 per year renewable.”
The competition to represent District 30 is notably higher in races for State Representative. In Position 1, Casey Jones (R, Federal Way) is campaigning against incumbent Jamila E. Taylor (D, Federal Way). According to Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission’s filings as of Nov. 1, Jones has raised $83,000 in comparison to Taylor’s $305,000.
In regards to key issues, Jones speaks repeatedly about concerns of crime, public safety, and is an unapologetic advocate for law enforcement, having served since 1994 in multiple roles.
“I am pro-police and in the interests of law enforcement…not enacting the legislation that hamstrings officers. We’ll deal with what the law says,” said Jones.
“But overall the impact is on people in that community when their catalytic converters are getting stolen, cars and their houses are getting broken into, and officers can’t do anything about it when we find the bad guys and they bolt,” he said.
Jones touts his various endorsements by law enforcement agencies on his website and flyers.
Taylor has spoken about her experiences as a black woman driving in Federal Way and being criticized for needing to “over explain” her actions and movements with police while pulled over.
For Position 2, incumbent Jesse Johnson (D) is stepping down. First-time candidate Ashli Tagoai (R, Milton) is running against Kristine Reeves (D, Federal Way). Tagoai has raised $132,000 and Reeves has raised $246,000, according to Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission’s filing from Nov. 1.
Towards the end of one candidate forum in her closing statement, Tagoai indirectly attacked Reeves by stating she was running to represent people in the district and did not have aspirations for higher office in Congress, causing quieted laughs and gasps amongst audience attendees.
This remark was made in reference to Reeves previously holding this seat but stepping down in 2019 in a failed attempt to run for Congress.
At this forum and in media interviews, Reeves attempted to reassure voters that if she were re-elected to the seat she once held, but abandoned, that she would not leave it again.
During the forum, when candidates were offered to ask their opponents one question, Reeves dared to ask Tagoai, “Are you pro-puppy or pro-kitten?” While this garnered laughs and that Reeves noted herself several times that she and Tagoai held similar positions on several issues, it was a clear missed opportunity for voters to see Tagoai pushed critically and directly on her stances supporting landlords and police and other standard Republican messaging.
Next week, we will review Tuesday’s General Election results in all of the races we have covered in this series, approved ballot measures, and discuss the potential impacts these democratic decisions may have.