SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Endorsements

Clyde Shavers is running for re-election as state representative for the 10th Legislative District in Position 1. He is a U.S. Navy veteran who previously served as a public affairs officer and now works as a reserve officer.

In his first term, Rep. Shavers focused on several of the big issues he campaigned on, including addressing the housing crisis and prioritizing environmental sustainability. He was the prime sponsor for a successful bill that loosened limits on food bank funding for necessary items like diapers and menstrual products. Shavers also sponsored bills to expand hydrogen and fusion power to reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels.

Shavers is a member of the Capital Budget committee and states that he's proud to have supported a budget that funds clean drinking water infrastructure in Island County, the Camano Lutheran Childcare Center, and housing services for people with developmental disabilities.

While Shavers faced some controversy during his previous hard-fought campaign, his solid track record during his first term in Olympia has earned your vote for re-election.
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Democratic Rep. Dave Paul is running for re-election in the 10th Legislative District for Position 2. He joined the Legislature in 2019 after working for Skagit Valley College for more than a decade. As a member of the Transportation and Postsecondary Education and Workforce Committees, Paul has worked hard to improve Washingtonians' career opportunities and connectivity to work, play, and school around the state.

This year, Paul led efforts to cap the cost of life-saving inhalers and epinephrine injectors at $35 a month and to implement the 988 behavioral health crisis and suicide prevention system. Locally, Paul helped secure funding for the Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue's new station as well as outreach and services for rural youth mental health in Island County.

Paul has been one of the most thoughtful leaders in Olympia during his first two terms, reaching across the aisle to get things done for the district. We enthusiastically recommend Paul to continue representing the 10th Legislative District with strong community-centered leadership in the House.
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Democrat Heather Koellen is running to fill Rep. Keith Goehner’s seat as he runs for the 12th District's Senate seat this year. Koellen has served on the North Bend City Council since 2020 where she currently chairs the Transportation and Public Works Committee. She has spent her career as a registered nurse and currently provides care at Harborview Medical Center.

Back in 2019, she had a strong community vision for North Bend that included investments in public infrastructure, improving transit options so residents drive less, and increasing public greenspaces. In this race, Koellen wants to invest in high-quality and equitable education as well as affordable childcare. To address the region's housing crisis, she supports expanded affordable housing paired with protections for tenants' rights. If elected, Koellen would also strengthen reproductive freedom, take bold measures to mitigate climate change, support workers' rights including workplace safety and collective bargaining, and ensure affordable health care access for all.

Koellen is the best choice for state Legislature from the 12th District in Position 1.
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Democrat Chelsea Dimas is running for the newly redistricted 14th Legislative District, Position 1. If elected, she states that she would be the first openly Queer, Indigenous, Latinx woman in the Legislature. Dimas has spent her life working as an activist for the rights of farmworkers and immigrants. She wants to bring these experiences to Olympia to strengthen protections for working people and make progress on the housing crisis.

Dimas wants to establish housing as a human right and pass a range of bills to bring costs down and increase accessibility. Tenant protections, downpayment assistance, and prioritizing affordable housing are also at the top of her list for addressing the housing crisis. Dimas knows working families need a boost in the form of livable wages, safe working conditions, and good benefits, which she wants to secure for all residents regardless of immigration status. If elected, Dimas wants to bring in more resources for public health issues like substance abuse and for environmental protections. Her work in the labor community and her strong progressive platform have earned Dimas a huge slate of diverse endorsements, from many labor unions to environmental groups.

With her experience and commitment to the people of Washington, Dimas is the best choice in this race.
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Democrat Ana Ruiz Kennedy is running for the Position 2 seat in the newly formed 14th Legislative District. Kennedy is running to be a "moderating voice" who wants to bridge political divides to get things done for the residents of the district. Kennedy has served in many community leadership roles, including on the Washington Commission on Hispanic Affairs, as chair of the Franklin County Democrats, and on the board of organizations like Progreso, Latino Community Fund, and more. She works as a business liaison at Craft3, a non-profit community development financial organization.

Though Kennedy's site does not have an extensive list of policy priorities as of early July, her voters' candidate statement shares that she wants to create living wage jobs, support local businesses, tackle fentanyl issues, and strengthen our health care access and services. Her platform has earned her the endorsement of the county Democrats, many labor unions, and more.
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Housing attorney Adison Richards is running for state House from the 26th Legislative District. With his background in legal assistance for the disenfranchised, Richards' campaign emphasizes a better approach to public safety and addresses the rising cost of housing. Richards previously worked at the Northwest Justice Project assisting survivors of crime, including domestic violence and human trafficking, and now works at Kitsap Legal Services in housing law. He also volunteers in the community with groups like the Rotary Club, Harbor History Museum, and the Bremerton NAACP.

Unlike his opponents, Richards promotes policies that help the middle class, including supporting tax reform that makes the wealthy pay their share, building more housing, and supporting clean energy jobs. With his experience in helping people struggling with housing instability, he knows the country's mental and behavioral health challenges require a comprehensive response. He is committed to improving public safety through community investments that raise wages, increase education options, and expand stable housing. Richards narrowly lost to Republican Spencer Hutchins in 2022 by a few hundred votes but has come back this year with a stronger platform and campaign.

Challenging Richards is former representative Jesse Young, one of the most conservative members of the state House, Young sponsored several bills aimed at curtailing people's constitutional right to an abortion long before the Supreme Court's ruling in 2022, including a bill to ban most abortions after 15 weeks. Young was also infamously restricted from having legislative staff after allegations of mistreatment in 2017. He has led some of the more controversial conservative policies, like efforts to stop a ban on high-capacity magazines. If elected, Young can be expected to rejoin the Legislature with the same far-right fervor that he held while in office.

Republican Jim Henderson is another candidate in this race. Henderson is the president of a company that offers services for landlords and property managers, and he founded a separate company a few years ago to legally lobby for the landlord company’s interest. He is running on a conservative platform to eliminate corporate accountability measures, maintain our unbalanced state tax code where corporations and the wealthy do not pay their fair share, prevent a Democratic supermajority in Olympia, and pour even more public funding into militarized law enforcement which doesn’t keep us safer.

Richards is the best choice in this race as a thoughtful progressive who has worked to improve the lives of all in the district.
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