News
Candidate filing week begins busy elections season
Get ready for a summer and fall marked by political mailers, yard signs and television ads.
The 2022 campaign season starts this week, when candidates begin formally filing for office with the Pierce County Auditor’s Office. The Gig Harbor area could be political ground zero in Washington state.
All three 26th Legislative District positions (the Senate seat and both House seats) are up this fall. The 26th — which incorporates Gig Harbor, the Key Peninsula, South Kitsap and parts of Bremerton — has routinely been among the most hotly (and expensively) contested legislative districts in the state during the 2000s.
At the county government level, the Pierce County Council 7th District seat currently occupied by Democrat Derek Young could prove pivotal to which party has a majority on the council. Democrats currently hold four of the council’s seven seats.
Young is term-limited after serving eight years on the council and is not running for re-election.
The 2022 primary election will be on Aug. 2. The general election will be on Nov. 8.
In-person filing begins at 8:30 a.m. Monday, May 16, at the Auditor’s Office in Tacoma. Candidates can file through Friday, May 20.
Early indication of who’s running
Although candidates can’t officially file to run until Monday, May 16, information filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission offers an indication of who’s planning to seek office.
The PDC tracks the funding of political activity in Washington state. Candidates who raise money for their campaigns are required to file regular reports with the PDC.
Candidates who have filed with the PDC so far, and how much they’re raised, include:
26th Legislative District Senate
Emily Randall (D, incumbent): $251,693
Jesse L. Young (R): $268,916
26th Legislative District House
Position 1
Spencer W. Hutchins (R): $126,341
Adison Richards (D): $50,979
Position 2
Michelle Caldier (R, incumbent): $75,016
Matthew T. Macklin (D): $10,416
Pierce County Council
District 7
Randy Boss (R): $0
Robyn Denson (D): $60,546
Joshua Harris (R): $40,050
Marty McClendon (R): $2,000
The Federal Elections Commission tracks similar information for candidates for Congress and other federal offices. According to the FEC, the following candidates have filed to run for the Sixth Congressional District, which includes Gig Harbor:
Chris Raymond Binns (R): $0
Aaron Hansen (R): $346
Derek Kilmer (D, incumbent): $1.44 million
Elizabeth Kreiselmaier (R): $271,076
Rebecca Elizabeth Parsons (D): $135,529
Big spending
The 26th District has a long recent history of being one of the most expensive places in the state to run for the Legislature. The district is viewed as a swing district, winnable by either party.
A 2014 special election for state Senate, necessitated when Kilmer resigned after winning election to Congress, became the most costly legislative race in state history. Former state Rep. Jan Angel, R-Port Orchard, defeated Democrat Nathan Schlicher, who had been appointed to to replace Kilmer.
That total has since been exceeded elsewhere, but elections in 2018 and 2020 also drew substantial political spending.
This year will again see big spending in the 26th District, if early PDC reports are a guide. Incumbent Randall and Young, who is seeking a promotion from the House, are among the top three fundraisers among 2022 state Senate candidates.
Only Manka Dhingra, who represents an Eastside district that includes Kirkland and Woodinville, has raised more, at $259.193. Former 44th District Democratic Sen. Steve Hobbs’ Senate war chest sits at $318,033.48, but he was appointed state Secretary of State last year.
County council
The 7th District Pierce County Council seat being vacated by Young is being sought by one Democrat and three Republicans, according to PDC filings.
The Democrat is Denson, a Gig Harbor City Councilmember.
The Republicans are Boss, a previous candidate for county council and state representative who made his name as a voice against Tacoma Narrows Bridge tolls; McClendon, a previous candidate for state senate and lieutenant governor and former Pierce County GOP chair; and Harris, a businessman known for bailing out of jail the Pierce County deputies held in connection with the death of Manuel Ellis in 2020 in Tacoma.
PDC filings show that Denson and Harris are two of the top four candidates in fundraising for any county council or commissioner seat in the state.
Also this fall
Also on the primary election ballot will be a bond request from Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One.
If voters approve the bond, proceeds would be used to build a new live-fire training facility adjacent to Station 58 and the district headquarters on Bujacich Road; to build a new Station 51 on Kimball Drive; and for major renovations to Station 58 and other aging GHFMO facilities like Station 53 on Fox Island, Station 57 on Crescent Valley Drive and Station 59 in Artondale.