Happy election season, Lewis County. As your ballot arrives, and we all hunker down to make our decisions, I’d like to talk to you about an idea called the rural-urban divide. It's a name for the difference in worldviews between rural citizens and our city-dwelling counterparts.
The gap was small in the 90s, but it has grown to a chasm over the past 30 years as rural people began to feel that national politics, media, and the economy were completely dominated by urban elites. This "us versus them" identity has become a powerful force. In our political sphere as rural Washingtonians, it shows up most strongly in the balance of power in Olympia.
When I say "rural people," you might assume I'm talking about Republicans. I'm not.
Many Democrats in rural areas feel the divide, too. And while Olympia’s priorities might be good for the big blue cities, they can mean nothing to us, or worse, actively damage our livelihoods. The divide also means that, as a rural community, our representatives are almost always in the minority while the majority writes the budgets and chairs the committees.
That's why I’m urging you this year to vote for people who increase our rural power. People who are willing to use their influence within the majority to fight for things that actually matter to us. Like preserving our rights, standing up for working people, and getting government out of the way of progress.
Luckily, this year, the Democratic candidates running for the state Legislature are not the kind of Democrats who will rubber stamp a Seattle agenda. All four are running to represent the people of their district in a way that pushes against the broken status quo.
Andy Zahn, running for Legislative District 20, Position 1, wants to prioritize struggling farmers, revitalize crumbling small-town infrastructure, and add more destination parks to our community. Growing up as a farmhand in Toutle, his connection to Southwest Washington and its natural beauty is what inspired him to step up to protect it for the rest of us.
While Andy is a clean energy proponent, he opposes utility-scale solar and wind projects on undeveloped land, along with new dams and transmission lines, because he doesn't believe clean energy should come at the cost of our fields and forests. And unlike his opponent Peter Abbarno, who voted against ending tax breaks for data centers, Andy has been campaigning on restricting their construction.
Evan Jones, running for LD 20, Position 2, wants "Less Olympia. More paychecks." He's a tradesman, an Army veteran, and a Port of Longview commissioner who drives 110 miles to work every morning because the family-wage jobs aren't here. He's focused on bringing those jobs back to the district.
Evan understands that when Olympia gets it wrong, our district needs someone fighting back to protect us. He says of urban lawmakers that “a lot of their policies don't make sense in rural communities.” He's a firearm enthusiast who opposes Washington's assault weapons ban, permit-to-purchase requirement, and 10-day waiting period, arguing that laws like these “only serve to punish those who are doing the right thing.”
His opponent, Ed Orcutt, is now in his 12th term and has become out of step with his constituents. This year he sponsored HB 2335, which would have given corporations earning more than $250 million a year, and tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon, a tax cut at the expense of revenue meant for education and job-training programs.
Kevin Moynihan is running for Position 1 in Legislative District 19, which covers the west end of Lewis County. He currently serves on the Aberdeen City Council and is running to focus on people over partisan politics. Kevin has vowed to crack down on unfair price hikes and push to build more housing so working families can afford to live where they work. When it comes to our timber industry, he stands firmly “against state-level policies that seek to lock up harvestable public lands.”
His opponent, Washington GOP Chair Jim Walsh, spends much of his time on statewide party politics instead of representing his district. He reportedly declined to debate Kevin this fall, avoiding questions his constituents have about his priorities.
Running for Position 2 in the 19th is Terry Carlson. He is stepping up to give voice to the thousands of working people in his district who are tired of division and culture war. As president of the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council and a fourth-generation logger, Terry has a history of getting results for working families. He wants reforms to our state’s climate policies, saying "instead of penalizing industries we should be working with them to make them as clean as possible."
The incumbent, Joel McEntire, has a thin record as a lawmaker and a long trail of disqualifying behavior. He was recently fined by the Legislative Ethics Board for suggesting he could look up a constituent’s confidential information and, in a separate incident, ordered by a judge to stop harassing a woman online.
I talked to many conservatives while I was running for office earlier this year. They told me how exhausted they are by the partisanship and the political bickering. What I told them is that they can help turn the page on all that by voting for their interests instead of choosing based on party loyalty.
Legislative districts 19 and 20 are districts that need representatives who care deeply about lifting up working families and preserving the traditions and beauty of rural life. The four challengers in these races aren't Democrats from big blue cities. They are from right here in your community. They represent those of us who are tired of Olympia's constant dysfunction and are looking to bridge the rural/urban divide that holds rural places back.
Remember, nobody knows which bubbles you fill on your ballot. Every one of these four statehouse races is a choice between more of the same or a path to greater rural prosperity. You don't have to donate or go to rallies or even say a single word to anyone about who you pick. Which means it's easy to allow yourself to make a different choice.
It's time we start sending legislators to Olympia who will represent rural interests and have the power to actually do something about it. Find Andy Zahn and Evan Jones, or Kevin Moynihan and Terry Carlson, on your ballot and vote for them by Nov. 3. Let's take rural power back from those setting the rules without us.
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Zac Eckstein is chairman of the Lewis County Democrats.
