State Rep. Joel McEntire, R-Cathlamet, said he was surprised when he found out he would be challenged by two Democrats in his race for re-election to the state House of Representatives. When filing week started on May 16, he had been surprised to see his seatmate, Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, had received an opponent while he hadn’t.
“Usually the newer guy is challenged (rather than the more senior state representative),” McEntire said in a video he posted on his Facebook page last month.
As the end of the week approached and the deadline to file for the race closed in, McEntire thought he wouldn’t be facing a challenger. Then Thursday morning came and McEntire had an opponent, Jon-Erik Hegstad, a Democrat from Longview who stated his party preference as “Progressive Dem” on his candidate filing. A few hours later, McEntire received his second Democratic opponent, Cara Cusack, of Chehalis.
“The Democrats really tried to find good people to run and they couldn’t do it,” McEntire said regarding Hegstad and Cusack. “Anyone who had any name recognition, anyone who had elected experience who could run as a Democrat said ‘heck no’ because they knew they couldn’t win.”
McEntire spoke about his lack of familiarity with his opponents before taking aim at Hegstad and the importance of party preference when filing for office.
“(Party preference) is important because you begin from a platform from a preexisting party that exists and you use that as your platform,” McEntire said. “This guy Jon-Erik put down progressive Dem. That’s not a party. There’s no progressive Dem party … He made a statement for the kind of area he’s coming from. He’s a very, very left-wing person. He is a big Bernie Sanders supporter, socialist cloth-cutout type of character.”
McEntire then moved on to criticizing Hegstad more generally.
“He’s known in Longview for some pretty eccentric antics that he’s pulled,” McEntire told his Facebook audience.
McEntire speculated about the ways the primary could go between the two Democrats.
“Either Jon-Erik is going to go home because people aren’t going to look at him, they’re going to write him off as a joke, or Cara Cusack isn’t going to make it because she’s not going to say anything and the only one willing to say anything is a socialist, a Bernie bro,” McEntire said.
From McEntire’s perspective, what he views as two weak Democratic opponents is an indication the Democratic Party has “given up” on Southwest Washington, something he believes will allow Southwest Washington Republicans to begin helping other Republicans throughout the state rather than having to receive help themselves.
McEntire said he also views this year's election as a chance to send a message about how the public views certain ideologies.
“I don’t want to win by a few votes. I don’t want to win by a few percent. This is an election where we should be making a statement that these bad ideologies from Bernie Sanders and socialism need to absolutely be repudiated,” McEntire said.
McEntire also challenged his opponents to debate him.
“I challenge them to meet me on the battlefield of ideas, and if a debate comes up, which it should, there should be several opportunities for us to meet up on the stage, I welcome them to show up with or without masks,” McEntire said.
Before ending his video on Facebook, McEntire made one last attack on Hegstad.
“Jon-Erik is a mask fanatic. He wears masks in the shower and weird stuff like that,” McEntire said tongue-in-cheek, while also apologizing for promising earlier in the video “not to use this video as a beatdown.”
“(Hegstad) is one of those people that had their brain fried by COVID propaganda, so he worships Jay Inslee and his emergency powers,” McEntire added.
But Hegstad sees things differently.
While recognizing the 19th Legislative District’s recent history of electing Republicans and the historical trend of voters favoring the party out of the White House in midterm elections, Hegstad said he is optimistic the public will come out and vote for him based on the issues.
“I hope that’s not true. I hope people start to realize what’s going on. As odd as it sounds, I guess I’m inherently optimistic that people are going to pay attention,” Hegstad told The Chronicle. “I think people are realizing that by not participating in our democracy there are going to be major problems across the board. I think people are going to see a progressive voice out there and they're going to say, ‘Yeah we need a change because what’s been going on hasn’t been working.’”
Late last month, Hegstad said he was working on his campaign against McEntire full time. A graduate of Southern Oregon University with a bachelor’s degree in theater arts, Hegstad said he’s a fifth generation resident of the area and would be the best Democrat to challenge McEntire because of his understanding of the area and his breadth of experience.
“I’ve lived here my entire life besides when I went to undergrad and when I lived up in Seattle. I know what the problems are,” Hegstad said. “I’m a typical Southwest Washington guy, but I also did theater, I also have an arts background. I have a spectrum of experiences.”
Hegstad said his three biggest issues are climate change, universal health care and taxes.
In Hegstad’s view, solutions to climate change are connected to other issues such as marijuana and what he views as a housing crisis facing the area.
“As many Americans celebrate 4/20 by smoking female cannabis buds, let's take a moment to realize the male form of the cannabis plant could be the best way to combat climate change,” Hegstad recently tweeted.
When asked by The Chronicle to expand on the idea he expressed in his tweet, Hegstad discussed the potential construction uses of hemp.
“In the male version of the plant, there’s trace amounts of THC (and it can be used to create) hemp-crete,” he said. “You're essentially taking the rock out of the concrete mix. It’s fireproof. Its thermal properties keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It moderates the humidity levels in the home. What happens over time is that structure gets stronger and stronger. It's also been found to be six times stronger than concrete because of its elastic abilities. And when wildfires come through, it won’t burn down. Hemp can be a viable product. It’s just better across the board. It means we can stop cutting down our forests … all sorts of different stuff.”
Hegstad connected the use of hemp-crete as a construction material to solving the housing crisis.
“I think this is part of the hemp-crete thing. What Australia is doing is 3D printing hemp-crete homes. This takes about three days. This is effectively sequestering carbon in your home,” said Hegstad. “(You can) kill a few birds with the same stone.”
Hegstad continued by connecting the issue of how people currently live to climate change.
“Urban sprawl is a contributor to climate change. What the climatologists are saying we need to do to change our tax systems to incentivize. Instead of sprawling out across the land we need to start bringing it in so we’re not spending as many resources getting to places,” Hegstad said.
“We cannot be putting new developments right next to the ocean. Right now the tax structure is used to promote the idea of one family in one unit … the sprawling suburbs.”
According to Hegstad, scientists have said society needs to begin considering multi-family housing instead of living in predominantly single-family houses that contribute to suburban sprawl. He said changes need to be made to facilitate greater use of multi-family housing.
“In our area it’s more about allowing the use of multi-family housing structures. The idea is that we get away from the individualized fossil fuel paradigm we’ve been living in for half a century,” Hegstad said.
For universal health care, Hegstad said he supports I-1471. The ballot initiative seeks to create a single-payer healthcare insurance system in Washington state. Whole Washington, the group running the campaign for I-1471, said the group’s “ultimate goal is a national, single payer system. We endorse, organize for, and champion Medicare for All,” and described the initiative as being “as close to single payer as possible at the state level.”
Hegstad said he supports changing our tax in a way that will “Better benefit our people and invest in our community.”
He said part of the changes he wants to the tax system are about replacing the current system of school funding in Washington with one that would ensure students throughout the state have equal access to education.
Hegstad also said he wants to start changing the tax system so that corporations that, in his view, aren’t paying taxes will start being required to.
“We need to start taxing the ultra-wealthy,” Hegstad added.
Beyond his three core issues of climate change, universal health care and taxes, Hegstad takes positions on many other issues as well.
Hegstad he believes abortion is a human right.
“Everyone has a right to their own body, especially when it doesn’t effect other people,” Hegstad said, “An abortion does not effect the life of anyone else.”
Hegstad also took a moment to specify that mask requirements are acceptable because, during the COVID-19 pandemic, by not wearing a mask an individual puts other people’s lives at risk.
Hegstad also expressed support for canceling all student debt, adding he believes education should be free.
“One of my core stances is education, every student in our state should have access to education, and right now that’s not the case. I definitely support free education as far as they want to pursue it,” Hegstad said.
When asked about a tweet in which he implied Republicans were “ignorant racist traitors,” Hegstad said he believes that to be the case for Republicans who currently support former president Donald Trump.
“I think anyone who supports the Republican Party now (I believe meets that description). What I mean is people who still support Donald Trump to this day, the red hatters,” said Hegstad. “I forgive people who voted for Donald Trump in 2016. I don’t forgive people who supported Donald Trump in 2020. It’s hard to deny that you are accepting of racism. I believe in the United States of America to my core, that’s one of the reasons I'm running.”
Hegstad also told The Chronicle he believes anyone with an America First sign in their yard is a racist, adding he believed the same was true for individuals with Trump and Joe Kent signs in their yards, though he said he did not believe people who have signs for Jaime Herrera Beutler in their yard were racist.
“America First has been a racist trope in our country for over 100 years,” Hegstad said.
Hegstad also has a potential policy proposal for his campaign, though he said it’s currently just an idea and hasn’t been fully developed. He calls it the Trans State Migration Protection Agency.
“What we’ve been noticing is different minority groups have been targeted across the country, specifically the trans community. This is kind of a way to predict what MAGA hat Republican states are going to do in the future, so if they’re going to play the game of infringing on people’s rights then we have to ensure we protect those rights. What can we do? We can move them to a state where their gender identity or whatever minority group there is in the future has a safe place to reside,” Hegstad said.
“One way to ensure that people have a place to stay in Washington … in providing a safe place for these Americans to migrate to,” Hegstad added. “Within the agency there will be mechanisms to help people move to where they desire to move.”
Cara Cusack told The Chronicle she doesn't think Hegstad can win against McEntire. She said she decided to run against McEntire, in part, because of her doubts about Hegstad’s candidacy.
“There was already a woman running against Walsh and the only person running against McEntire was a Progressive Dem which I don’t think can win and I think we need someone who can work across the aisle,” Cusack said.
“(My candidacy is) kind of a culmination of things I guess. I have eight children and 10 grandchildren and one of the things that has always been a topic of conversation has been things like women’s rights and gay rights. I always taught them to stand up for what they believe in,” Cusack said.
According to Cusack, one day her son asked her, “Why do you need someone else to be your voice when you can be your own?”
Cusack, who described herself as having been “a mom, grandmother, small farmer and entrepreneur,” said she’d never considered running for office before.
She said her big issues are voting rights, women’s rights and gay rights. Cusack also described herself as a moderate.
“I believe in the second amendment but I do think there should be reasonable gun measures in place,” Cusack said.
Cusack emphasized the important role human rights played in her views and thought it was important to protect them.
“I don’t think religion should be controlling our politics,” Cusack added.
The primary election for the 19th Legislative District’s state representative Position 2 will be held on Aug. 2. The two candidates with the most votes will move on to the general election in November.
