Experience: Elected to the Senate in 2000, currently serving her third term. Serves on five Senate committees and is a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Prior to serving in the Senate, Cantwell was an executive in the
high-tech industry in the state.
Comments: Cantwell’s political experience,
positions on key Senate committees, reliability in voting
with Democrats, and many of her positions on key issues
— pro-choice; addressing the opioid epidemic; and
protecting the Affordable Care Act, the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, and immigrants, among others — are
reasons to keep her in the Senate.
Susan Hutchison (R)
Experience: Chair of the Washington State Republican Party, 2013-2018, adjunct professor at Seattle Pacific University, 2003-2008, and television news anchor at KIRO TV, Seattle, 1981-2002.
Comments: Hutchison is a strong supporter of Donald Trump who favors his views on issues including immigration, healthcare, and tax cuts. She said Trump’s “pussy-grabbing” remarks were insignificant because he was a Democrat at the time he said them.
Experience: Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for District 6 in 2012, and served as a senator in the Washington State Senate, 2006-2012, a representative in the State House, 2004-2006. Kilmer was a former vice president of the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County and a former management consultant for McKinsey & Company. He is on the House Appropriations Committee and co-chairs the Bipartisan Working Group.
Comments: Kilmer is pro-choice, and supports the ACA (but not yet a single-payer system), strong public schools, veterans and military families, small businesses and economic development, clean air and water, Medicare and Social Security, and protection of voter rights. He votes with his party about 94% of the time and is responsive to constituents through townhall meetings, mail, and an accessible staff. Kilmer has raised $1.8 million, 50% of it from PACs.
Douglas Dightman (R)
Experience: Has never held elected office. Currently a family physician at Mason General Hospital and Family of Clinics; formerly a family physician at Forks Hospital District, and an epidemiologist at Benton Franklin Health District. Graduate of University of Washington School of Medicine.
Comments: Believes life begins at conception but that first-term abortions are acceptable. Supports a border wall, a strong military and increased intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts, government funding for the development of renewable energy, and repeal of the ACA. Opposes gun control legislation, federal debt, regulation of greenhouse emissions. Also opposes “all programs that primarily act as methods of income redistribution” (VoteSmart.org).
Experience: Elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 2017 (Assistant Majority Whip). Four-term Clallam County Commissioner, District 2. Also worked as a police sergeant and a U.S. customs inspector, and earned the Exceptional Service Award for capturing the Millennial Bomber.
Comments: Voted for full funding of schools, secured transportation funding for a new Hwy 101 Elwha River Bridge, and sponsored bi-partisan legislation creating private-public partnerships offering college scholarships for job skills training for rural residents. Chapman portrays himself as a moderate and is proud to be supported by both environmentalists and builders/realtors. His views, however, do largely reflect those of Indivisible Sequim members on issues such as the environment, gun safety, single-payer health care, and the corrupting effects of money in politics.
Jodi Wilke (R)
Experience: Has never held elected office. Precinct Committee Officer and Vice Chair, Jefferson County Republican Party. Currently works as a licensed practical nurse and has held a wide variety of jobs.
Comments: Jodi Wilke’s views tend to the extreme right on gun safety (she supports armed teachers and “resource officers” in schools), the climate/environment , economic inequality (she blames economic disparity on “motivational disparity”), and health care (she opposes both single-payer care and the Affordable Care Act). She is a supporter of Donald Trump.
Experience: Elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 2010. Chairs the Capital Budget Committee, co-chairs the Joint Legislative Executive Committee on Aging and Disabilities, and also serves on the Appropriations Committee and the Health and Wellness Committee. Three-term Clallam County Commissioner, 2000 to 2012. Owner of a small wood products business.
Comments: Tharinger points to his success in increasing access to medical services in his district. His positions are basically in agreement with those of Indivisible Sequim. He is pragmatic, given the area he represents (e.g., in his views on incremental adoption of single-payer healthcare), but he supports education, parks, sensible gun regulation, and energy sources other than fossil fuels, women’s rights, and creating more living wage jobs.
Jim McEntire (R)
Experience: Former Clallam County Commissioner and Port of Port Angeles Commissioner; member of the State Board of Natural Resources. Served in the U.S. Coast Guard for 28 years and worked for six years in the Departments of Transportation, Labor, and Homeland Security. Ran unsuccessfully for the same position in 2010, also against Steve Tharinger.
Comments: Jim McEntire’s background and views on semi-automatic weapons run counter to Indivisible Sequim values: he chaired the Northwest Peninsula Committee of the Friends of the National Rifle Association; and he stated at a candidate forum that semi-automatic rifles are “sporting weapons.” McEntire is quite conservative, both socially and fiscally, especially in areas of taxation, housing, healthcare, the environment, land use/development, and the promulgation of “rural values.” He said in a candidate forum that climate change models were “too imprecise” to guide legislative policies.
Experience: Washington Supreme Court Justice since 2012. Ten years as King County Superior Court Judge; former Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting terrorism, organized crime, and hate crime cases; Domestic Violence Prosecutor for Seattle; and business lawyer.
Comments: Rated “Exceptionally Well Qualified” by many Washington bar associations, and was named “Outstanding Judge of the Year” by several organizations, including the Washington State Bar. While in private practice, he regularly provided pro bono representation to people without the means to pay for a lawyer.
Nathan Choi
Experience: Practicing attorney since 1999, currently in Bellevue. Ran unsuccessfully for Washington Court of Appeals in 2017 and was an Appointed Arbitrator for the Hawaii Supreme Court, 2003-2009. Choi earned his JD and an MBA from the University of Hawaii.
Comments: Earlier this year, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit against Choi for campaign-finance violations during his 2017 run for state Court of Appeals. The lawsuit alleged that Choi never filed required records of campaign contributions and spending. During the same campaign, the King County Bar Association admonished Choi for running a potentially misleading ad in the Seattle Times. No contributions, expenditures, loans, or any other reports have yet been made to the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) in connection with the current campaign.
Indivisible Sequim 