My Story

I am a lifelong Washingtonian who grew up in Redmond and went to public schools here on the Eastside.

I became an activist at the age of fifteen, before I could vote, because I was concerned about the impact of Tim Eyman's destructive initiatives on our state.

I formed a project called Permanent Defense to oppose Eyman's measures (which celebrated its twentieth anniversary last year) and subsequently formed two nonprofits, the Northwest Progressive Institute and the Northwest Progressive Foundation, to champion progressive causes.

In 2005, I joined the Democratic Party and became active in the 45th District Democrats. I served on the Endorsements Committee for several years and became its chair in 2008; I continued to chair the committee through the 2012 cycle.

In 2012, I was elected to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee (WSDCC) and have served on that body for ten years. My Accomplishments page details my work as a WSDCC member.

Since 2005, I have also volunteered for and written material in support of many candidates, such as Kim Schrier, Darcy Burner, Manka Dhingra, Roger Goodman, Claudia Balducci, Lisa Wellman, Patty Kuderer, Bill Ramos, Lisa Callan, Sarah Perry, and My-Linh Thai.

Within a few years of starting my journey in politics, I had developed a list of state and local electoral goals I wanted to achieve with fellow Democrats and progressive activists.

Electoral Goals

I realized not long after November 8th that most of those electoral goals have been accomplished, which is an amazing feeling.

The key goals:

Goal: Neutralize Tim Eyman's destructive initiative factory, a grave threat to the future of Washington State.

Status: Accomplished. Tim Eyman has failed to qualify any statewide initiatives since this time four years ago. He's mired in his longest ever drought and may never recover, which was the whole point of our accountability work. Those lawsuits Bob Ferguson filed against Eyman? They originated from complaints filed by NPI leadership and NPI members. 🙂

Goal: Flip the 8th Congressional District (represented by Jennifer Dunn at the time I became an activist, then by Dave Reichert for many years)

Status: Accomplished. Dr. Kim Schrier has now won the 8th three times: in 2018, 2020, and 2022. It's a district that voted for Loren Culp for Governor, but we've held onto it. Kim ran a great campaign, explaining how she has worked hard for the people and gotten results. It is great to have a congresswoman who holds town halls and is accessible, unlike Dave Reichert. Goal: Turn the 45th Legislative District and other Eastside legislative districts sustainably blue, capable of electing all-Democratic representation every single cycle, and powering durable statewide Democratic legislative majorities

Status: Accomplished. The 1st, 45th, 48th, 41st, and 5th each have all-Democratic representation and that has been true since the end of 2018. Going on four years of progress! We've currently got Davina Duerr, Shelly Kloba, Derek Stanford, Manka Dhingra, Roger Goodman, Larry Springer, Vandana Slatter, Amy Walen, Patty Kuderer, Mark Mullet, Bill Ramos, Lisa Callan, My-Linh Thai, Tana Senn, and Lisa Wellman. (Of note: Manka is the first Democrat to win consecutive elections for the State Senate in the 45th!)

Goal: Obtain progressive representation for Redmond, Kirkland, Woodinville, Bellevue, Mercer Island, and nearby communities on the King County Council

Status: Accomplished. In 2015, we replaced Republican Jane Hague with Claudia Balducci, who faced no serious opposition in 2019. In 2021, we replaced Republican Kathy Lambert with Sarah Perry. We now have two councilmembers for the Eastside of King County who are responsive, accessible, and committed to progressive values. There's only two districts left to flip: the 7th and the 9th.

Goal: Get a measure on the ballot and pass it.

Status: Accomplished. The first ever NPI-conceived ballot measure, King County Charter Amendment 1, appeared on the ballot this year, thanks to the work and support of Council Chair Balducci, Councilmember Perry, Councilmember Girmay Zahilay, and our four other Democratic councilmembers Dave Upthegrove, Joe McDermott, Rod Dembowski, and Jeanne Kohl-Welles. It will move elections for twelve King County offices to even years by 2028. The NPI team and I have long argued that even year elections are popular. Now we have more than just polling to prove it. 69% of voters in King County are approving Charter Amendment 1. Its margin of victory is bigger than any of the Tim Eyman initiatives I fought over the years. 🙂 Shows the power of a good idea, as Council Chair Balducci says!

Goal: Elect a Democratic Secretary of State.

Status: Accomplished. Steve Hobbs is the first Democratic Secretary of State to be elected since halfway through the last century, accomplishing a feat that half a dozen Democrats before him since the new millennium began could not do against Republican opponents. (I supported Laura Ruderman, Jason Osgood, Kathleen Drew, Tina Podlodowski, Gael Tarleton; sadly, none of them prevailed.) Hobbs was appointed to this post a year ago; now, the voters are retaining him. We've won an SOS election! Relatedly: Democrats also now completely control the state executive department, with 9 out of 9 positions held by D's.

Goal: Elect Democratic Party leadership committed to the fifty state strategy at the state and local level, and develop the party so it is a force in not only presidential elections, but midterms and local elections too

Status: Accomplished. Every race, every place is a familiar refrain now at the Washington State Democratic Party since the tenure of Tina Podlodowski began. (I'm one of the people who asked Tina to run for chair back in 2016!) Part of the reason there wasn't a "red wave" in Washington is because Democrats worked hard to create a blue wave instead.

Election victories have much more to do with skill than luck. You create your own luck and we did that in 2022, showing that a midterm during a Democratic presidency needn't result in legislative seats or congressional seats being lost.

This was such a different election than 2010 or 2014. Since Tina took over, we have flipped two U.S. House seats, a net of seven State House seats (maybe we'll get an eighth in 2022, we'll see), a net of five State Senate Seats, and gained two statewide executive positions: Treasurer and Secretary of State. There have also been a long list of wins at the local level for Democratic LPOs in Washington. We still aren't fielding legislative candidates in every district, but hopefully in 2024 we will.

With WA-03 now flipped, there will hopefully be a big emphasis on investing deep in Central and Eastern Washington in the next cycle in addition to defending Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. 2022 is proof that in politics, wins can be sustained. We don't have to do the one step forward, one step back thing.

A two decade journey has led to this point and set the stage for more success in the future.

We'll need it - democracy's future is on the line!