OLYMPIA [Jake Goldstein-Street] – Four Democrats are on track to battle this year for an open Washington state House seat in a district stretching north from Seattle.
Rep. Cindy Ryu’s decision to challenge Sen. Jesse Salomon, a fellow Democrat, is opening up her seat in the 32nd Legislative District. The safely blue district represents a slice of northwest Seattle, Shoreline, Lynnwood and Edmonds.
Ryu has said she’s trying to unseat Salomon because she believes he’s too moderate. Both she and Salomon are already backing different contenders in the House contest.
Three local city council members, two from Edmonds and one from Shoreline, and a startup founder have leaped into the race.
Salomon and the district’s other delegate in the statehouse, Rep. Lauren Davis, D-Seattle, have endorsed Chris Bloomquist, the owner of an environmental- and technology-focused recruiting firm who hasn’t held elective office previously.
Shoreline City Council member Keith Scully boasts Ryu’s endorsement.
Edmonds City Council members Jenna Nand and Will Chen announced their candidacies more recently.
Salomon and Davis said they’ve “seen Chris Bloomquist lead in many ways, from advocating for school funding as a parent to creating PNW Climate Week’s inaugural career fair.”
“As a Latino leader from an immigrant family, he understands what our neighbors are facing during ongoing I.C.E. raids and is prepared to represent our district with energy, passion, and heart,” Davis said in an email.
Before supporting Scully, Ryu said she asked herself a few questions: “Does he reflect the values of the 32nd LD voters and me? Does he have a proven record of working well with others? Does he bring skill sets that will make him an effective legislator? And will he make a difference in the Legislature?”
“My answers are YES,” she said in an email.
No Republicans have filed to run.
Subtle differences
All the candidates for Ryu’s seat said they would support Democrats’ proposed income tax on millionaire earners that the Legislature is considering this year. Though Nand, a lawyer, doesn’t think it’ll stand up to legal scrutiny.
They don’t disagree on much, but do differ on some priorities.
Nand, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Fiji, was ramping up to run for the seat when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had access to a mammogram that caught it early, but she knows others don’t have the same opportunity, especially with federal cuts to Medicaid and health care subsidies.
Her priorities include protecting health care access, expanding education opportunities and addressing homelessness.
“There are things that I think that we could be more aggressive on as a party at the state level and the local level, and I’m not really seeing that a lot from the establishment,” Nand said.
Chen, who is an accountant, said he’s running because families, seniors and small businesses feel “squeezed from every direction and too often conversation in Olympia doesn’t reflect what people are actually experiencing day to day.” Given the state’s budget woes, he thinks it’s particularly important to have people like him involved in these discussions.
Otherwise, he’s focused on making Washington more affordable, supporting immigrants and improving public safety.
Bloomquist lists immigration, funding public schools and the environment as priorities. He’s not concerned about being the only candidate without experience in office.
“I’ve ran five marathons in my life. I’ve survived cancer, I’ve founded multiple companies,” he said. “I’ve done new things my whole life. I’m not worried about this.”
Scully is zeroed in on the state’s regressive tax structure and housing, as well as, like Bloomquist, school funding and the environment.
Scully, who is a lawyer, points to work done in Shoreline to fund pedestrian infrastructure, get behavioral health co-responders working alongside police and firefighters and build housing around the new light rail stations, all without having to make budget cuts like other local governments.
“You go to Shoreline and there’s cranes everywhere,” Scully said. “The multifamily really is getting built.”
He thinks this track record distinguishes him from the three fellow Democrats he’s running against.
Scully, who jumped into the campaign first, leads the early fundraising race, with nearly $31,000 in campaign contributions so far, according to filings with the Public Disclosure Commission. Bloomquist has raised almost $26,000.
Nand and Chen, who got into the race later, trail in fundraising.
‘Spirited primary’
The district’s other House seat also faces a Democrat-on-Democrat clash, as Imraan Siddiqi, the executive director of the Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, recently announced he was challenging Davis, who was first elected in 2018. Siddiqi ran for Congress in 2024 against incumbent U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Sammamish, and didn’t advance past the primary.
In a statement, state Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad said she looks forward to a “spirited primary” for the district’s two seats, but the party is neutral in Democrat-on-Democrat races.
A spokesperson for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee said it doesn’t engage with races before the primary, but it is targeting Washington as a state where Democrats could get a supermajority in its House. Though the already deep-blue 32nd District won’t play a role in that goal.
Prospective candidates have until May 8 to file to run. The primary is Aug. 4.
Source: This article was authored by Jake Goldstein-Street of the Washington State Standard part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
Author: Washington State Standard
