Washington

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

I will restrict data centers in Washinton. Between the power and water usage, to the noise. They have shown they are more of a community eye sore than something that will bring jobs and prosperity to an area. One resource I used was uchicago.edu. I have also seen interviews with families living near data centers and the constant hum, the higher electricity bills and contamination of the water supply, or the lack of water pressure. Washington residence deserve better. Data centers do not provide good paying jobs, environmental rewards, or income to communities. In Texas and Utah, data centers have been awarded tax breaks. Billionaires do not need tax breaks.

KEYWORDS: High Risk, pollution, community problems

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

While the use of AI feels inevitable these days, as a scientist and engineer I think intentional forethought to both protect our freedoms/rights and jobs is important. I like technology and know we all survived the global adoption of cell phones but AI feels larger. The energy consumption on already stretched grids is worrisome. While data centers are needed, I believe we need to put an accurate cost to humanity/resources on them to capture their true usage. I read a lot of the New York Times and am an avid NPR listener that further researchers topics I hear that are of interest to me. As someone with little kids, I don’t want to give away their rights or their planet while we should be the responsible adults protecting both of those.

KEYWORDS: Advanced, worrisome, unwieldy, potential, fear

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

Artificial intelligence isn’t going away. The federal government has largely stepped back and taken a hands-off approach, even though the scientists who understand this technology best have raised real warnings. That leaves it to states like Washington to get this right.

Data centers have an obvious appeal. They show up promising jobs and tax revenue. During construction that’s true. They generate good, family-wage building trades work. But once construction wraps, what’s left is a massive building that runs around the clock. It pulls enormous amounts of power off our grid. It uses a lot of water for cooling. And in many cases it drives up utility rates for everyone else on that system. Communities are increasingly finding that the long-term footprint doesn’t match the short-term sales pitch.

I’ve gone back and forth on whether this is a decision that belongs with individual communities or with the state legislature. My instinct is that local communities should have real say over what gets built where they live. But I also know that small towns and counties are often the ones being courted hardest by these projects, and they don’t always have the resources to independently verify the promises being made to them about jobs, water use, or grid impact. A company with a slick presentation and a big number on a slide can be tough to push back on without outside expertise.

That’s where I think the state has a role to play. Not to override local decisions, but to make sure those decisions are informed ones. The state should require full and transparent accounting of water use, grid impact, and effect on ratepayers before a project moves forward. Independent, verified numbers, not projections from industry. Right now too many of these approvals are happening on hope and conjecture instead of facts, and that needs to change.

KEYWORDS: local input, tax incentives, responsible growth, accountability, grid capacity, ratepayer protection, water usage

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

We should reduce barriers that prevent people from u sing AI and computers to improve their productivity. There is nothing wrong with doing things manually but higher quality and easier learning are a great thing for everyone.

KEYWORDS: Exegesis Role Context Prompt Examples”Think Carefully/ Reason rigerous”

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

I support whistleblower protections for employees of AI companies; mandatory kill switches for AI programs and agents; and state sales taxes on AI services and products. Ultimately I believe states are not capable of providing the regulatory oversight that AI requires and I hope for Congress to pass a national regulatory package. As far as data centers, I believe they should be required to be powered by clean electricity, that other ratepayers should be protected from capital costs that are necessitated by data centers’ increase electrical loads, and that grid-provided power supplies to data centers should be interruptible (requiring them to utilize electricity stored in batteries) in case of electricity shortages.

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

I think AI is going to be a huge part of our future, and Washington should absolutely be a place where innovation can happen. But that doesn’t mean communities should be expected to write a blank check for it.

My biggest concern with data centers is their impact on the people who already live here. What happens to our power rates? How much water will they use? What infrastructure will be needed? Who pays for it? Those questions need honest answers before projects move forward.

I support local control and full transparency. Local residents should have a meaningful voice, and there shouldn’t be backroom deals between government and large corporations.

We also need to increase reliable energy production, including looking seriously at advanced nuclear technology, if we’re going to meet growing demand without driving up costs for families.

My position comes from looking at resource demands, infrastructure needs, utility impacts, security concerns, and listening to the communities that will actually live with these decisions.

KEYWORDS: Local Control • Transparency • Innovation

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

AI is a double-edged sword. It represents huge risks and huge potential rewards. Data centers must never be subsidized by any level of government. They should not create noise problems, nor increase electricity bills in communities. Ideally, they would come with their own power generation. And they should not be located in areas where there is a higher use for the land. But as long as they cause no harm, they should not be prohibited.

KEYWORDS: No Subsidies Risks

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

My position on data centers is that we need to have a hard look at balancing the benefits and the harm. Yes, some new jobs are created while these data centers are being built, but after construction, they don’t provide a lot of jobs. And because they disproportionately take up water and electricity, they need to be regulated and pay their fair share for those extra costs. I listen to and learn from the Labor unions and the building trades.

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

AI innovation is real and happening quickly right now, but Washington families should not pay the price for it. Data centers are driving the largest surge in electricity demand in decades, and they consume enormous amounts of water and land. Treaty violations and harm to workers or the environment are not acceptable trade-offs for the jobs some advocates promise. I do not believe ratepayers and communities should absorb higher utility bills and hidden environmental costs while corporations take the profits. I support transparency requirements, public disclosure of water and energy use, and fair cost-sharing so data centers pay for the infrastructure they demand. That is the direction of legislation like HB 2515, which I would support in Olympia. On AI more broadly, I want strong protections around data privacy, ownership, and security as these tools expand. My positions are informed by my environmental science background, utility and ratepayer data, and direct work with my community.

KEYWORDS: Ratepayers, Transparency, Accountability

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. This is the 4th Amendment to our US Constitution and part of the original Bill of Rights. (Enacted Dec. 15, 1791) These are interesting times we are living in. I am often impressed with the forethought of our founding fathers. Where they may not have had any concept of the threats we are now having to contemplate regarding Artificial Intelligence, they very well understood the harm that can happen when the government infringes on our fundamental rights to privacy. I believe that the direction our government and the corporations that so many of our elected officials serve are infringing on those constitutional rights and this must not be allowed to continue. This is the only way that we can guarantee our country remains as a shining example to the world in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” And with that I have to take the position that the continued progression of Data Centers across America must stop until there can be put in place laws that guarantee our constitutional protections of our right to privacy and also that there is accurate research on the environmental harms and the true costs that they incur.

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

AI should be built and used in America, with clear rules on privacy, child safety, and critical infrastructure — not a new bureaucracy that pushes the industry overseas. Data centers are welcome if they pay their own costs. Permits should measure water, land, grid capacity, and ratepayer impact before approval. Households must not subsidize private power and water loads. New large loads need real generation, including hydro and natural gas, not only intermittent sources that raise bills. Evidence: utility load data, water limits, and what happens to rates when big loads hit a tight grid. Cost is part of the evidence.

KEYWORDS: ratepayer protection, reliable power, practical rules

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

We need to repeal tax breaks for existing and new datacenters. We need to attach requirements to datacenter permitting to better reflect the cost of externalities and to help fund the infrastructure to transition to clean energy. This should include upgrades to our electrical grid to facilitate the significant increase in demand for capacity and transmission from these projects. In terms of evidence, while I was at the Federal Trade Commission I was involved in two non-public investigations related to building datacenters which led to a number of industry interviews and data submissions. In addition, I participated in a 6-month fellowship on excellence in government AI that looked at application, risk, bias, and promise in emerging AI uses. Datacenters are one area, but the environmental impact from AI is much larger than that. I carefully reviewed NYU Stern School of Business report on the state-level approaches to setting regulations, incentives in datacenter construction and other AI ventures, and it offered several insights that would help me build coalitions and proposals to make sure AI technology works for all of us and doesn’t leave our communities and environment worse off.

KEYWORDS: guardrails, balance, science

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

Artificial intelligence presents both tremendous opportunity and real challenges. I understand why people are concerned about its effects on jobs, education, privacy, and security. Those concerns deserve thoughtful public policy, not dismissal.

AI is also driving unprecedented demand for data centers. Simply saying “no” will not stop that demand—it will only move investment somewhere else. My priority is ensuring communities receive real benefits if these facilities are built. That means protecting existing ratepayers, requiring responsible use of water and land, and ensuring companies invest in local infrastructure, schools, emergency services, and the community tax base.

The state also has a role to play. Smaller communities often lack the legal, technical, and negotiating resources needed to evaluate complex projects on equal footing. Washington should provide model agreements, technical expertise, and independent support so every community can negotiate from a position of strength.

This demand also creates an opportunity to accelerate advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors. My perspective is informed by conversations with local residents, utilities, farmers, educators, and technology leaders. We should embrace innovation while ensuring it strengthens—not overwhelms—the communities that host it.

KEYWORDS: Community benefit, Transparency, Energy abundance, Community impact mitigation

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

I believe strongly in real and enforceable guardrails for AI. You do not need to be an AI expert to know that this technology has great potential to both be a threat to jobs, data privacy, the economy, and even our communities and yet it could provide such amazing advances in sciences like a cure to cancer or even climate change mitigation. We cannot unlock the true potential of AI without adequate guardrails and adequate enforcement.

AI has the potential to amplify biases and discrimination simply based on the developers’ biases being programmed into the AI from the beginning. We must also be aware of this potential as we develop the guardrails for this technology.

Data centers also need guardrails and regulations. Rep Beth Doglio is working on a bill that will provide such regulations from water use (environmental concerns) to what kind of energy production they use when the grid cannot provide the energy to run them. A bill that is also addressing concerns of the native American Tribes of our state. A bill that would require that data centers pay for their energy use and not the utility payers.

Lastly, I firmly believe that the state or all the state should not be giving tax incentives or breaks to any of the builders of Data Centers. If we cannot achieve these regulatory goals, I am for a short-term moratorium on data centers until we can provide such regulations and policy.

KEYWORDS: Guardrails, accountability, regulations, equity, jobs

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

After reviewing the ongoing complaints and impact issues from other states that have allowed the construction of data centers I support proper moratoriums to delay construction until their impact can be properly studied and regulations to protect the environment and community have been enacted. Eastern Washington is an incredible environmental resource, and this needs to be protected. Our community is essential, and needs to be given the chance to know the ongoing impact that a data center will have on their quality of life. I support delaying any discussion of building data centers in my district until further information is available.

KEYWORDS: Delay, protect, impact

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

I am deeply concerned by the construction of data centers that strain our electricity and water supply. I support legislation that regulates large energy use facilities, protects affordability, and continues progress toward climate goals.

In the 2026 session, I supported the removal of the sales tax exemption for data center equipment replacement and legislation to mandate emissions free-power and sustainability reports. I look forward to continuing this work in future sessions.

With artificial intelligence, I am proud that our state has become a national leader in establishing responsible safeguards for this technology. In the 2026 session, I co-sponsored the Senate companion to HB 2225, which establishes new guardrails for AI chatbots that act like friends or companions. This bill protects underage users by preventing AI from providing information about suicide or self-harm while preventing manipulative engagement techniques and sexually explicit conversations. I also voted for HB 1170, which cracks down on AI-generated misinformation.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve lives and solve challenging problems, but it also presents serious risks that demand oversight. I am committed to ensuring that our state maximizes the benefits of this emerging technology while protecting the public from harm.

KEYWORDS: Sustainability Safety Oversight

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

I support Washington’s growing AI economy, but growth must not come at the expense of ratepayers, our water, or a reliable transition to cleaner energy. Four priorities:

Growth should pay for new power. New hyperscale data centers should fund enough new clean generation to serve their electricity demand rather than simply relying on existing hydropower and increasing pressure for new fossil generation.

No cross-subsidization. Large AI loads belong in a dedicated rate class bearing the full cost of the generation, transmission, and water infrastructure they require, backed by take-or-pay contracts. PSE rates are already up roughly 45% in two years. Households should never subsidize hyperscale demand.

Transparency. Data centers should publicly report facility-level energy and water use annually. You cannot manage what you do not measure.

End remaining subsidies. The Legislature repealed the sales-tax exemption for replacement server equipment but left the exemption for new construction. I would finish the job. Good Jobs First has documented that these programs cost states hundreds of millions annually while often delivering weak returns.

Sources: JLARC tax preference reviews, UTC rate filings, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s U.S. Data Center Energy Usage Reports, Good Jobs First subsidy research, and ProPublica’s reporting on Washington’s data center subsidies.

KEYWORDS: Ratepayer Protection, Transparency, Accountability

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

I chair the WA State House Technology, Economic Development and Veterans Committee and co-chair National Council of State Legislators’ Technology and Communications Standing Committee. AI regulatory policies are needed for key issues such as the role of data minimization in privacy regulatory frameworks, data broker registration and deletion requirements, algorithmic personalization in young people’s digital lives, chatbot laws, and “AgeTech” impacts on America’s aging population.

We must recognize opportunities for data centers to contribute to grid stability and resiliency while mitigating their impacts on ratepayers and communities, and protect local consumers’ need for power when disruptions limit the amount of available power.

We need state-level Data Center Policies in coordination with Utility Operators and National participation to: Establish guidance and oversight of sustainability practices, including reducing emissions; mitigating onsite water consumption, and reducing noise pollution; Encourage regional planning for power generation, including building national infrastructure in a way that makes sense for states and localities, nuclear power generation and valuing the grid as a national asset; and Promote best-practice cybersecurity, physical security, and supply-chain security measures to protect U.S. data center operations from foreign adversary access or compromise.

KEYWORDS: regulatory, impacts, opportunities

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

As a leader in the New Democrat Coalition, I contribute to the Innovation & Technology Working Group, which guides policy on responsible AI innovation. I support the ethical development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to advance scientific innovation and economic development, and am focused on ensuring inclusion and equity for minorities in the STEM industry through my work leading the Congressional Caucus on Black Innovation. As co- Chair of the Grid Innovation Caucus, I lead efforts to support the reliability and access of our nation’s electrical grid while balancing responsible database infrastructure development.

KEYWORDS: Responsible, democratic, equitable

Q1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?

I live in a part of Washington served by Chelan County PUD, and rural communities in the 12th District are already being approached to host data centers. That is where my thinking starts. The demand is real and growing fast. Left unmanaged, it can crowd out farms and families on the same grid and push everyone’s rates up.

I support requiring large new users like data centers to show a credible clean energy supply before they connect. They should not lean on the clean power Washington already built while adding stress to the grid. I want ratepayer protections so existing homes and small businesses do not pay for the infrastructure that serves an industrial load. And I want transparency, so regulators and the public can see demand, water use, and rate impacts in real time.

The evidence that shaped this is close to home: utility load data from the PUD, the water and land tradeoffs communities are being asked to accept, and the people who would carry the cost. Any community weighing a data center deserves clear, enforceable standards on energy, water, and rates, written with them at the table.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Fire management is a citizen issue as much as a political issue. First, we need to have crews in high-risk areas cleaning out debris and dead logs that will ignite easily. Second, we need strict laws for prosecuting those responsible for causing the fires. Third, we need to prevent fireworks and firearms in heavily wooded areas, with heavy fines being imposed. Lastly we need to have fire planes at the ready for fire season to combat flames quickly.

KEYWORDS: Rangers, no fireworks, cleaning crews

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I feel like it’s two part - using some of the historical prescribed burn practices along with modern technology is key. Recreating responsibly (as a former REI employee) is a must. Building more fire resistant housing or installing more fire resistant upgrades will help. In the cities impacted by the air, looking at filtering solutions is a must but bet the r fire management and mitigation are absolute necessities.

KEYWORDS: Needed, multi-faceted, tech forward, Native American-led, mitigate-able.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

The Bear Gulch Fire is a warning we can’t ignore. It burned over 20,000 acres and caused $42 million in damage, the worst fire on the Olympic Peninsula in nearly 75 years, in a year with close to 2,000 recorded fires statewide.

Here’s what’s frustrating: we know what works. Since 2020, our state’s wildfire program has added 151 firefighters, foresters, and forest health workers, restored nearly 89,000 acres of forest, and kept over 93% of fires to ten acres or less since 2022.

And in 2025, the legislature cut $60 million from that exact program, right as the federal government eliminated $182 million in wildfire, flood, and landslide prevention funding for Washington. That’s two levels of government pulling back at the same time our fire seasons are getting worse. The state restored its funding this year, but only through June 2027. That’s not a real commitment, that’s a countdown clock.

I also think we have to be smarter about how timber and forest management fit into this conversation. A well-managed, actively thinned forest isn’t just a revenue source, it’s a wildfire mitigation tool. Overgrown, unmanaged forests are the ones that burn hottest and fastest. My approach is to maximize sustainable timber revenue and active forest management together, not treat forestry and fire prevention as separate conversations. Done right, smart forest management pays for itself while directly reducing the fuel that turns a small fire into another Bear Gulch.

KEYWORDS: wildfire prevention funding, forest health management, sustainable timber harvest, federal budget cuts, fuel reduction

Q6 In 2021, the WA legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which has helped to reduce carbon pollution, but puts extra economic burden on farmers and agricultural distributors in the state. What policies would you support, if any, for helping farmers and distributors balance these costs while maintaining Washington’s commitment to environmental sustainability?

When we pass big policy like the Climate Commitment Act, there are sometimes unintended consequences, and this is one of them. Our farmers and our agricultural lands are a prized resource, and we need to be better stewards of helping the people who grow our food actually succeed.

I’d support eliminating any additional fuel charges on farmers, full stop. That exemption already exists in law, it’s just not being honored the way it should be, with some fuel distributors charging surcharges up to 70 cents a gallon anyway. That needs to be fixed at the point of sale, not through a rebate program farmers have to chase down after the fact.

Here’s the bigger point I want to make. Farmers are the first environmentalists. Nobody has a bigger stake in healthy soil, clean water, and sustainable land than the people whose livelihood depends on it working for the next generation, too. We might need to work with them, nudge things along, and help them adopt more sustainable practices over time. But we shouldn’t be making it harder or more expensive for farmers to do their jobs. We should be finding ways to make it easier, so we can keep our commitment to sustainability without treating our farmers like the problem.

KEYWORDS: farm fuel exemption, Climate Commitment Act, point-of-sale enforcement, sustainable stewardship, agricultural affordability

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Fires are part of the forest life cycle. We need to prosecute arson and do yearly controlled burns and timber harvesting to to control insects and reduce larger wildfires.

Protect people and water

KEYWORDS: Forest management independent ownership water management trail and road maintenance

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I have successfully advocated for Climate Commitment Act dollars to be invested in wildfire prevention, suppression, and response, and I prime sponsored legislation to facilitate wildfire prevention by making prescribed burns easier to permit. We should continue to invest in prevention, which is much cheaper than suppression.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Living in Eastern Washington, wildfire isn’t an abstract issue. We see the smoke, evacuations, property damage, and devastation that fires can bring.

I believe we need to spend more time preventing catastrophic fires instead of simply spending more money fighting them after they’ve started.

That means actively managing our forests: thinning overcrowded areas, removing dead and diseased material, maintaining firebreaks and access roads, and responsibly using prescribed burns when appropriate.

We also need better cooperation between state, federal, tribal, county, and private landowners. A fire doesn’t care which government agency owns the land.

Healthy forests require active management. Allowing dangerous fuel loads to build year after year isn’t good for our communities, wildlife, watersheds, or air quality.

I’d rather invest taxpayer dollars in prevention and forest health today than spend far more responding to another catastrophic fire tomorrow.

KEYWORDS: Prevention • Forest Health • Cooperation

Q6 In 2021, the WA legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which has helped to reduce carbon pollution, but puts extra economic burden on farmers and agricultural distributors in the state. What policies would you support, if any, for helping farmers and distributors balance these costs while maintaining Washington’s commitment to environmental sustainability?

Agriculture isn’t just another industry in our part of Washington. It’s part of who we are, and I think Olympia sometimes forgets that.

I have serious concerns with the Climate Commitment Act because families, farmers, and businesses ultimately feel those increased costs. Farmers already operate on tight margins, and increasing fuel, transportation, and operating costs eventually affects everybody at the grocery store.

I believe we can protect our environment without putting Washington agriculture at a competitive disadvantage.

I’d protect legitimate agricultural fuel exemptions, invest in water and irrigation infrastructure, support voluntary conservation programs and new technology, and reduce unnecessary regulations that increase costs without producing meaningful environmental benefits.

Most importantly, I’d actually bring farmers into the conversation before policies affecting them are written.

Farmers depend on healthy soil, clean water, and productive land for their livelihoods. They aren’t the enemy of environmental stewardship—they’re some of our most important partners.

KEYWORDS: Farmers • Affordability • Stewardship

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Forests should be managed instead of left in neglect. Controlled burns to remove accumulated branches and deadfalls will prevent or reduce wildfires. Those who set fires should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Forest management can be compatible with wild habitat and recreation.

KEYWORDS: Manage forests wisely

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

We need to do better. These forest fires are very costly in both financial and physical damages. We need to invest more in managing the forests, removing the dead trees and the underbrush so we can manage the density of forests and mitigate the spread of fires.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Wildfire is now a statewide threat, not just an eastside one. The Bear Gulch Fire on the Olympic Peninsula shows that even our wetter forests are burning. The Legislature has committed millions for wildfire response, forest health, and community resilience, but recent budgets have fallen short and our top public lands officials warn this puts prevention at risk. I will fight to protect and restore that funding. My priorities are prevention and preparedness; forest health and thinning, prescribed and cultural burning done in partnership with Tribes who have managed these lands with fire for generations, protecting the wildland-urban interface where homes meet forest, and strong firefighter capacity and workforce investment. I also prioritize smoke and public health planning, since wildfire smoke harms vulnerable residents far from the flames. My approach is guided by science, experts, Tribes, and climate projections showing longer, more severe fire seasons.

KEYWORDS: Protection, Prevention, Tribes

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I believe that our best protection from fire is to allow increases in our old growth forests. These forests already know how to protect themselves from fire. We need to get out of their way.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Prevention first. A forest packed with fuel is not “protected.” It is waiting to burn. Thin, harvest, maintain roads and access, harden homes, clear defensible space, and fund year-round local capacity — not only after the fire starts. Prescribed and cultural burning where it is controlled and appropriate.

Treat fire as land management, not a speech. Track acres treated near towns, response times, and whether money actually cut risk. Smoke and evacuation plans matter for working families. Healthy woods are used and renewed. Neglect is not conservation.

KEYWORDS: forest thinning, prevention, working forests

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

After more than 2,000 fires last year, Washington needs a proactive, evidence-based approach to fire risk. I support the Insurance Commissioner’s push for stronger data and transparency, including wildfire risk score disclosure, so the state can better mitigate, and homeowners can better understand their risk. Not all of the fire risk bills passed last session, and we need to move them in the next session. Additionally, we should invest in prevention tools, including responsible use of emerging AI to monitor changing conditions and guide rapid response and prevention interventions in real time. Some scientists have argued we are entering a Pyrocene, or age characterized by fire, I am in favor of significant evidence-led investments to protect the environment, ecosystems, and humans.

KEYWORDS: data, innovation, collective-action

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Wildfire policy should be guided by science and updated as our understanding improves. One of the most valuable lessons I took from studying natural resource management was that forest management practices evolve, and public policy should evolve with them.

My priorities are to reduce wildfire risk before fires start, strengthen community preparedness, and support rapid response when they do occur. That means investing in strategic thinning, prescribed burns where appropriate, fuel reduction, and restoring forests to conditions that are more resilient to wildfire. It also means improving early detection, supporting firefighters, helping communities create defensible space, and ensuring local governments have the resources to plan for emergencies.

Success requires partnership between state agencies, tribes, private landowners, local governments, and the forest products industry. Healthy forests, resilient communities, and sustainable timber markets are complementary goals, not competing ones.

Good wildfire policy isn’t static. We should continually evaluate new research and adopt best practices that reduce risk while protecting Washington’s people, forests, and economy.

KEYWORDS: Resilience, Prevention, Preparedness

Q6 In 2021, the WA legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which has helped to reduce carbon pollution, but puts extra economic burden on farmers and agricultural distributors in the state. What policies would you support, if any, for helping farmers and distributors balance these costs while maintaining Washington’s commitment to environmental sustainability?

Washington’s farmers are under pressure from every direction—volatile commodity markets, tariffs, workforce shortages, rising input costs, and increasing regulatory complexity. As we pursue environmental goals, we have to recognize the cumulative impact these challenges have on an industry that feeds our state and our country.

I support maintaining our commitment to environmental stewardship, but we should prioritize policies that help producers remain competitive. That includes investing in water infrastructure, expanding agricultural research through institutions like WSU, supporting precision agriculture that reduces costs and emissions, and ensuring climate policies are regularly evaluated for their real-world impacts on family farms.

Farmers don’t want to rely on subsidies—they want the opportunity to compete, innovate, and earn a living from the land. Government should provide predictable regulations, remove unnecessary barriers, and reinvest a meaningful share of climate revenues into projects that directly benefit rural communities and agriculture.

We can protect our natural resources while ensuring the next generation can afford to keep farming in Washington.

KEYWORDS: Competitiveness, Empowerment, Innovation

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

The state must seek federal reimbursement for fires we fight that are on federal land (~44%), especially because of DOGE reducing the funding of the national forest service wildland fire fighting capacity. States in the west are facing a defense of federal forests without adequate compensation.

We must seek to provide adequate mitigation efforts on all state (and federal land). This would include thinning, where possible controlled burns, and removal of debris. We should allow the removed material to be used for resource generation or energy production, which would help provide private public partnerships to fund these mitigation projects.

I support the current Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) codes currently being worked on with DNR and the Building Code Council. When they come back with recommendations or codes the legislature should review them and pass any recommended policy that will help this work.

We should be providing training for all fire departments in the state of Washington on Wildland fire fighting as every city could face what Spokane did this summer.

I support the work that the Office of Insurance Commissioner and legislators are doing around fire insurance for community members.

We should be developing public health policies through the association of public health officials on air quality and health risks.

KEYWORDS: WUI, building code council, mitigation, public health, federal forests

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Eastern Washington is seeing higher and longer risk times for wildfire every year. This ongoing issue is tied to global climate change as well as forest management. While acknowledging and respecting that private property should be the purview of the owner; I feel that ongoing enforcement of proper land management is essential to offsetting the factors for high fire risk that we can’t control. Making sure that there is proper funding, training and equipment provided to our fire departments is also essential. Prevention should be the goal, but we need to be properly equipped to handle fires when they do happen. I also support recent legislation that set development guidelines when building in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).

KEYWORDS: Risk, prevention, guidelines

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I backpacked Staircase three years ago with my sons and love hiking in the Olympics, so the Bear Gulch Fire hit too close to home. Washington faces growing threats from extreme heat and wildfires, and these are no longer confined to central and Eastern Washington. I support legislation that prevents wildfires and ensures forest health, builds resilient communities; and strengthens the state’s ability to respond quickly to wildfires..

In the 2021 session, I voted for HB 1168, which created a historic $500 million commitment in wildfire prevention, preparedness, and protection. In the most recent session, I was proud to support the restoration of $60 million in funding to continue this critical work, which became law. I also voted for legislation to establish a wildfire mitigation grant program and increase transparency by requiring insurance companies disclose wildfire risk scores to customers. While these bills did not receive action in the House, I remain committed to advancing similar legislation to protect communities from wildfires and other challenges brought by climate change.

KEYWORDS: Response Preparedness Adaptation

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Wildfire policy should focus on prevention, preparedness, and measurable results—not simply larger emergency budgets after fires begin.

First, fund prevention consistently. In 2021 the Legislature unanimously committed $500 million over eight years to forest health and wildfire preparedness (HB 1168)—and it worked, measurably reducing damage where fuels were treated. Yet in 2025 lawmakers cut that funding roughly in half—the year Bear Gulch burned—then restored it under public pressure, and only through mid-2027. Independent analysis shows prevention returns roughly $8 per $1 spent. That commitment should be protected, not an annual political fight.

Second, expand science-based forest management: strategic thinning, prescribed burning where appropriate, and fuel reduction near communities—guided by local ecological conditions and the best available science.

Third, prepare Western Washington, where roughly 40% of last year’s fires started: early-detection networks, defensible space, home-hardening, and evacuation planning.

Fourth, treat smoke as a public health emergency: clean-air shelters, school filtration, and forecasting—smoke harms far more people than flames.

Every program should report acres treated, risk reduced, and cost-effectiveness. My approach is informed by the U.S. Forest Service, National Interagency Fire Center, and Washington DNR.

KEYWORDS: Prevention, Forest Management, Accountability

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Diaster Preparedness and Resiliency is within the jurisdiction of my committee. After a 1.5 year Office of the Insurance Commissioner task force work, I proposed establishment of an Office of Resiliency. While it did not pass, we have been steadily passing policies to be more resilient, adopt wildfire/urban interface standards, and increase investments in high tech spotting of wildfires to optimize fire fighter response. We increased the rate of pay of our National Guard members when they respond to wild fires. Unfortunately, under the current administration, our funding for resiliency planning at the Military Department has been cut. When our state’s budget outlook improves. We’re facing a 3rd year of shortfalls next year because our state has the 2nd most regressive tax system. It is especially dire with FEMA reducing its reimbursements of our major disaster response costs. In the meantime, we’re working with the OIC and insurance companies to make sure we have healthy options for property and liability insurance coverage. Commercial insurance availability and rates are still concerns, especially for schools and non-profits.

KEYWORDS: Diaster Prepardness Resiliency

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I have long supported fire prevention investments as well as funding for our firefighters and their equipment and expanding the grants available to local and state-based firefighters to combat wildfires. Just in the past year, I am proud to have brought back over $5 million to the district, to help replace fire engines in Tacoma, and the first phase to replace a 70-year seismically unsafe Fire Station at JBLM.

KEYWORDS: Cooperation, prevention, preparation

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I live in the mountains above Lake Chelan, in a district that has lived through some of the worst fire seasons in Washington history. The Carlton Complex, the Chelan fires of 2015, and the long smoky seasons since. The Bear Gulch Fire on the Olympic Peninsula is one more reminder that no corner of this state is out of reach.

My approach is prevention first. I would fund forest health work, prescribed burns, and defensible space programs in high-risk communities. Prevention costs a fraction of fighting a megafire, and it puts rural people to work. I would make sure that money reaches communities before the next fire, not just after it.

I would also fund the smoke response side. Air quality closures cost farmworkers their wages and keep kids inside for weeks. Small businesses that rely on tourism struggle. That is a public health problem, not only a forestry one.

Wildfire is one issue where real bipartisan support exists, because every community in the 12th District has been burned or choked by smoke. I would build that coalition and treat prevention funding as the investment it is.

Q6 In 2021, the WA legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which has helped to reduce carbon pollution, but puts extra economic burden on farmers and agricultural distributors in the state. What policies would you support, if any, for helping farmers and distributors balance these costs while maintaining Washington’s commitment to environmental sustainability?

Puget Sound and the coast are changing fast, and the Southern Resident orcas are the clearest warning. Their decline tracks the collapse of Chinook salmon. Salmon recovery is the single most direct thing we can do for them, and it matters for Tribal Nations whose treaty rights and traditional practices are tied to these fish.

I would fund the science first. Monitoring of water temperature, acidification, and fish populations, so policy rests on data instead of on whoever pushes hardest. I would prioritize habitat and cold-water refuge work in the rivers that feed the Sound, because you cannot rebuild a salmon run without the water and habitat it depends on.

Where the data supports it, I would support targeted, science-driven restrictions on specific high-impact fishing methods and seasons, built with Tribal Nations and fishing communities at the table, not handed down over their objections.

Communities that depend on these waters need help adapting too. I would back state investment that helps fishing families and coastal towns weather the shifts already underway. Get the science right, keep the Tribes central, and fund the work.

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

Top priorities would be to first, re-establish the emissions testing for cars and trucks. We need to remove old smog emitting vehicles off the roads. Second would be to impose harsher punishments for companies polluting our air and water ways. Lastly, I want to fix the broken levy’s and help flood risk areas.

KEYWORDS: testing, pollution, water ways

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Fire management is a citizen issue as much as a political issue. First, we need to have crews in high-risk areas cleaning out debris and dead logs that will ignite easily. Second, we need strict laws for prosecuting those responsible for causing the fires. Third, we need to prevent fireworks and firearms in heavily wooded areas, with heavy fines being imposed. Lastly we need to have fire planes at the ready for fire season to combat flames quickly.

KEYWORDS: Rangers, no fireworks, cleaning crews

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

The start I would like to see is not punishing companies that are polluting but shutting them down until they comply with new standards. Fining large companies does not incentivize anyone to change, removing the ability to operate will force their hands. Cleaner air and water ways will start to heal what is struggling. Second, forest management. Logging and urban development is forcing changes in nature with catastrophic results. Displacing animals and changing ecological zones alter the way nature functions. Third, we need to ensure the survival of our native fish population. We can do that by cleaning up the rivers and the sound and keeping our salmon ladders fictional. Lastly To help communities, we need to fix the levys to prevent flooding which leads to more pollution in our water ways, and destruction in our cities.

KEYWORDS: salmon ladder, pollution management, levy fix

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

Climate change and wildfire management are huge. Advancing our grid to be more renewable and more robust. Empowering more household solar and less utility usage as needed. As someone who renovates home, incentivizing green upgrades and lasting solutions is key to minimizing rework and excuses demand of utilities. I’m an Ev person continuing to identify charging solutions, especially for non single family dwelling drivers. I think our kids are growing up more environmentally aware than even my generation so that gives me hope.

KEYWORDS: Possibility, protection, responsibility, beauty, conservation

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I feel like it’s two part - using some of the historical prescribed burn practices along with modern technology is key. Recreating responsibly (as a former REI employee) is a must. Building more fire resistant housing or installing more fire resistant upgrades will help. In the cities impacted by the air, looking at filtering solutions is a must but bet the r fire management and mitigation are absolute necessities.

KEYWORDS: Needed, multi-faceted, tech forward, Native American-led, mitigate-able.

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

Every year seems to bring new challenges for our waterways. We’re in the salmon run area and await promising numbers every year. This year the gray whale deaths are awful. We’ve got to address our dependence on carbon and minimize the pollution to keep our temps down. We have to contour novel research to help species adapt when possible. We need to support our environments and those that were here before us - boat traffic, run off, sewer overflows (from aging infrastructure) - we can address these and have to do so.

KEYWORDS: Nature, pollution, adapting, food source, starvation, urbanization/sprawl

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

My top priority is continuing to invest in green energy, wind, hydro, and geothermal, especially now that the federal government has largely checked out on climate policy. States have to fill that gap. I don’t think everyone agrees on exactly when fossil fuels become scarce or obsolete, but we all know that day is coming, and Washington should be positioning itself now rather than playing catch-up later.

Skamania and Klickitat counties are well suited for this kind of investment. They have the geography for it, and green energy development can bring real family-wage jobs to parts of our district that don’t always get that opportunity. I want to see the state continue funding and incentivizing that kind of development in rural Southwest Washington specifically.

I want to keep pushing those projects forward. That means staying on the cutting edge of energy production while also delivering good, family wage jobs to our communities. This is a place where clean energy and rural economic opportunity can grow together, and I think our district should lead on that, not follow.

KEYWORDS: green energy, wind, hydro, geothermal, carbon credits, timber revenue

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

The Bear Gulch Fire is a warning we can’t ignore. It burned over 20,000 acres and caused $42 million in damage, the worst fire on the Olympic Peninsula in nearly 75 years, in a year with close to 2,000 recorded fires statewide.

Here’s what’s frustrating: we know what works. Since 2020, our state’s wildfire program has added 151 firefighters, foresters, and forest health workers, restored nearly 89,000 acres of forest, and kept over 93% of fires to ten acres or less since 2022.

And in 2025, the legislature cut $60 million from that exact program, right as the federal government eliminated $182 million in wildfire, flood, and landslide prevention funding for Washington. That’s two levels of government pulling back at the same time our fire seasons are getting worse. The state restored its funding this year, but only through June 2027. That’s not a real commitment, that’s a countdown clock.

I also think we have to be smarter about how timber and forest management fit into this conversation. A well-managed, actively thinned forest isn’t just a revenue source, it’s a wildfire mitigation tool. Overgrown, unmanaged forests are the ones that burn hottest and fastest. My approach is to maximize sustainable timber revenue and active forest management together, not treat forestry and fire prevention as separate conversations. Done right, smart forest management pays for itself while directly reducing the fuel that turns a small fire into another Bear Gulch.

KEYWORDS: wildfire prevention funding, forest health management, sustainable timber harvest, federal budget cuts, fuel reduction

Q6 In 2021, the WA legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which has helped to reduce carbon pollution, but puts extra economic burden on farmers and agricultural distributors in the state. What policies would you support, if any, for helping farmers and distributors balance these costs while maintaining Washington’s commitment to environmental sustainability?

When we pass big policy like the Climate Commitment Act, there are sometimes unintended consequences, and this is one of them. Our farmers and our agricultural lands are a prized resource, and we need to be better stewards of helping the people who grow our food actually succeed.

I’d support eliminating any additional fuel charges on farmers, full stop. That exemption already exists in law, it’s just not being honored the way it should be, with some fuel distributors charging surcharges up to 70 cents a gallon anyway. That needs to be fixed at the point of sale, not through a rebate program farmers have to chase down after the fact.

Here’s the bigger point I want to make. Farmers are the first environmentalists. Nobody has a bigger stake in healthy soil, clean water, and sustainable land than the people whose livelihood depends on it working for the next generation, too. We might need to work with them, nudge things along, and help them adopt more sustainable practices over time. But we shouldn’t be making it harder or more expensive for farmers to do their jobs. We should be finding ways to make it easier, so we can keep our commitment to sustainability without treating our farmers like the problem.

KEYWORDS: farm fuel exemption, Climate Commitment Act, point-of-sale enforcement, sustainable stewardship, agricultural affordability

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

Build more nuclear power plants to provide more reliable power and less expensive energy for more people. Our economy and lives depend on this.

KEYWORDS: Oceans Life Oxygen Forests Rain Quiet Wild

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Fires are part of the forest life cycle. We need to prosecute arson and do yearly controlled burns and timber harvesting to to control insects and reduce larger wildfires.

Protect people and water

KEYWORDS: Forest management independent ownership water management trail and road maintenance

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

Enforcement of fish pouching laws to prevent foreign fleets from poaching and overfishing our coasts

KEYWORDS: International treaties poaching factory fishing creation protection noise offshore “wind farm prohibitions”

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

My top priorities for investing Climate Commitment Act dollars are to prioritize programs and projects that directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, like electric vehicle incentives (for both passenger vehicles and freight vehicles), heat pump incentives, and decarbonizing large state buildings with district energy, geothermal, and other innovative strategies. I also support investing CCA dollars in natural climate solutions, like carbon sequestration in forests, wetlands, grasslands, and aquatic lands.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I have successfully advocated for Climate Commitment Act dollars to be invested in wildfire prevention, suppression, and response, and I prime sponsored legislation to facilitate wildfire prevention by making prescribed burns easier to permit. We should continue to invest in prevention, which is much cheaper than suppression.

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

Scientific monitoring of fisheries has taken deep cuts in recent years because of where the Department of Fish & Wildlife has allocated across-the-board cuts they received from the Legislature. We should work in upcoming budgets to re-prioritize monitoring so DFW can do this work. Ultimately, staying ahead of warming waters and ocean acidification requires us to follow through on our commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and showing other jurisdictions how this can be done.

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

I believe we can protect our environment without making it harder for families, farmers, and businesses to survive.

For me, environmental stewardship means taking care of what we have and actually getting results. I’d prioritize clean and reliable water, healthier forests, wildfire prevention, responsible wildlife management, and projects that protect our agricultural and natural resources.

I also think we need to listen to the people closest to these issues. Farmers, ranchers, foresters, tribes, sportsmen, conservation groups, and local communities often understand what’s happening on the ground better than someone sitting behind a desk in Olympia.

When we’re spending taxpayer dollars, there should be measurable goals. Did the project improve water quality? Reduce wildfire risk? Restore habitat? Solve an actual problem?

Protecting Washington’s natural resources matters to me. I just believe we should do it through good science, local input, common sense, and accountability—not one-size-fits-all mandates.

KEYWORDS: Stewardship • Local Input • Accountability

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Living in Eastern Washington, wildfire isn’t an abstract issue. We see the smoke, evacuations, property damage, and devastation that fires can bring.

I believe we need to spend more time preventing catastrophic fires instead of simply spending more money fighting them after they’ve started.

That means actively managing our forests: thinning overcrowded areas, removing dead and diseased material, maintaining firebreaks and access roads, and responsibly using prescribed burns when appropriate.

We also need better cooperation between state, federal, tribal, county, and private landowners. A fire doesn’t care which government agency owns the land.

Healthy forests require active management. Allowing dangerous fuel loads to build year after year isn’t good for our communities, wildlife, watersheds, or air quality.

I’d rather invest taxpayer dollars in prevention and forest health today than spend far more responding to another catastrophic fire tomorrow.

KEYWORDS: Prevention • Forest Health • Cooperation

Q6 In 2021, the WA legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which has helped to reduce carbon pollution, but puts extra economic burden on farmers and agricultural distributors in the state. What policies would you support, if any, for helping farmers and distributors balance these costs while maintaining Washington’s commitment to environmental sustainability?

Agriculture isn’t just another industry in our part of Washington. It’s part of who we are, and I think Olympia sometimes forgets that.

I have serious concerns with the Climate Commitment Act because families, farmers, and businesses ultimately feel those increased costs. Farmers already operate on tight margins, and increasing fuel, transportation, and operating costs eventually affects everybody at the grocery store.

I believe we can protect our environment without putting Washington agriculture at a competitive disadvantage.

I’d protect legitimate agricultural fuel exemptions, invest in water and irrigation infrastructure, support voluntary conservation programs and new technology, and reduce unnecessary regulations that increase costs without producing meaningful environmental benefits.

Most importantly, I’d actually bring farmers into the conversation before policies affecting them are written.

Farmers depend on healthy soil, clean water, and productive land for their livelihoods. They aren’t the enemy of environmental stewardship—they’re some of our most important partners.

KEYWORDS: Farmers • Affordability • Stewardship

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

The tragedy of the commons is when property is held collectively, no one has an incentive to conserve it. Land stewardship is better under private non profits like the Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited or the Sierra Club than it is under state or federal bureaucrats, who face no real disincentives when land is mismanaged. Sell land to private non-profits who have a better track record of good land stewardship.

KEYWORDS: Privatize Land Stewardship

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Forests should be managed instead of left in neglect. Controlled burns to remove accumulated branches and deadfalls will prevent or reduce wildfires. Those who set fires should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Forest management can be compatible with wild habitat and recreation.

KEYWORDS: Manage forests wisely

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

Dams that are producing hydroelectric power should not be breached. Instead, fish ladders should be built around them and trees should be planted along banks to provide shade.

KEYWORDS: hydroelectric with fish

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

I will prioritize more battery storage. For clean energy that is intermittent, like solar or wind, we need to have the proper storage for when the sun isn’t shining or the wind not blowing. We also need more transmission lines, especially since the biggest source of energy is in Eastern WA but biggest need is in Western WA. I also support funding new technology like carbon capture and storage.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

We need to do better. These forest fires are very costly in both financial and physical damages. We need to invest more in managing the forests, removing the dead trees and the underbrush so we can manage the density of forests and mitigate the spread of fires.

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

I would prioritize funding that focuses on climate control admissions that destroy the ozone and cause global warming. I support the enforcement of making polluters accountable for the pollution they cause. Smokestacks put out harmful particles that cause acid rains. We need to address pollution in the air, water, and streams, we need to respect the fisheries. I support policies that invest in our fisheries to ensure that fish can migrate to where they need to do, like fish ladders.

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

My approach to environmental funding is grounded in my background in environmental science and my record on Vancouver City Council. I will fight to restore and defend Climate Commitment Act funding rather than let it be raided to patch budget shortfalls, since it is one of our most important tools for cutting climate pollution and is supported by the voters; it is a promise to voters of this state. On Council, I helped lead our Climate Action Framework, secured a moratorium on bulk fossil fuel storage that impacted what could happen at our port, and pushed for PFAS accountability and drinking water filtration before the state required it. When setting priorities I use a science-based approach that puts overburdened and frontline communities first and that respects Tribal co-management and treaty rights. We need to make sure we are using the most up to date science for decision making and to ensure the largest greenhouse gas emitters, manufacturers of products and fossil fuels, and other environmental polluters pick up the bill, not the public.

KEYWORDS: science, justice, accountability

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Wildfire is now a statewide threat, not just an eastside one. The Bear Gulch Fire on the Olympic Peninsula shows that even our wetter forests are burning. The Legislature has committed millions for wildfire response, forest health, and community resilience, but recent budgets have fallen short and our top public lands officials warn this puts prevention at risk. I will fight to protect and restore that funding. My priorities are prevention and preparedness; forest health and thinning, prescribed and cultural burning done in partnership with Tribes who have managed these lands with fire for generations, protecting the wildland-urban interface where homes meet forest, and strong firefighter capacity and workforce investment. I also prioritize smoke and public health planning, since wildfire smoke harms vulnerable residents far from the flames. My approach is guided by science, experts, Tribes, and climate projections showing longer, more severe fire seasons.

KEYWORDS: Protection, Prevention, Tribes

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

Puget Sound and our coast are changing fast. Fish, shellfish, and the fishing communities and Tribes that depend on them are already feeling it. I would prioritize funding salmon and habitat recovery, including removing fish passage barriers and culverts the state is obligated to fix under treaties, and protecting the cold, clean water salmon need as rivers warm. Ocean acidification is a direct threat to our shellfish, and I support sustained scientific monitoring and acting on the recommendations the state has developed to address it. Recovery has to be done in genuine partnership with Tribes, whose treaty fishing rights and co-management authority make them essential leaders, not just stakeholders to check a box. I would also support helping coastal and Sound communities adapt as ecosystems shift. My environmental science background tells me that monitoring and long-term data are not optional. I even did a summer course off campus to study marine ecosystems. The data, quantitative and qualitative, are how we make good decisions and I will protect that funding rather than treat science as expendable when budgets tighten.

KEYWORDS: Tribes, Monitoring, Adaption

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

I believe that until we can discover how we as humans can effectively draw down C02 levels that we must reduce our timber harvests and let the trees do what they do best. Our job then will be to incentivize companies to diversify their building products and techniques to use more sustainable crops like industrial Hemp and Bamboo which can be harvested every six months instead of relying on a crop that can only be harvested every 20 years. We can also use methods like timber thinning instead of clear cutting to lessen the impact on our forests by our human needs.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I believe that our best protection from fire is to allow increases in our old growth forests. These forests already know how to protect themselves from fire. We need to get out of their way.

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

I have to admit that while I understand medical studies as that is my area of expertise, I am not an expert on these issues. I depend on the scientists who study these issues to offer proposed solutions to these problems. Then we need to enact those solutions and evaluate their effectiveness.

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

Nature is not a museum. People live in it, work in it, and are responsible for it. Stewardship means use, care, and improvement — not locking land up and calling neglect “conservation.”

A forest left to choke on fuel is not preserved. It is degraded, then it burns. Healthy woods are thinned, harvested, and renewed. Rivers should produce fish and support working communities, not only reports. Clean water, salmon habitat that actually yields fish, stormwater, culverts, and cutting wildfire and flood risk near people come first.

I fund projects with a result and a maintenance plan. Score spending by risk reduced per dollar, local benefit, and whether the work lasts after the ribbon-cutting. Use universities, tribes, ports, utilities, and the people who already manage land. Stop programs that cannot show results.

KEYWORDS: working landscapes, forest health, measurable results

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Prevention first. A forest packed with fuel is not “protected.” It is waiting to burn. Thin, harvest, maintain roads and access, harden homes, clear defensible space, and fund year-round local capacity — not only after the fire starts. Prescribed and cultural burning where it is controlled and appropriate.

Treat fire as land management, not a speech. Track acres treated near towns, response times, and whether money actually cut risk. Smoke and evacuation plans matter for working families. Healthy woods are used and renewed. Neglect is not conservation.

KEYWORDS: forest thinning, prevention, working forests

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

I care about fish that come back, not plans that pile up. Spend first on what changes the water: open blocked streams, fix the runoff that hits the Sound, and keep counts that captains and managers can actually use. If a program does not put more salmon in the river or cleaner water in the bay, it should not keep the money.

The Sound is for living and working, not for a handful of locked gates. The water itself is public. People should be able to reach it — street ends, public beaches, ramps — without a membership. I will not support selling off more shoreline or letting new development wall the public off the water. A house on the bluff can stay a house. The tide line should not become a private club.

Protect the resource and the people on it. That is recovery. Paperwork is not.

KEYWORDS: salmon returns, public access, working coast

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

My top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state are to fully re-fund the Climate Commitment Act dollars and prevent the legislature from raiding that money in the future for non-CCA uses.

Second, I want to help find creative sources to fund the transition our transition to clean energy, for example, from the companies that are most interested in building new datacenters. This includes upgrades to our energy grid by those companies placing the significant newest demands through increased capacity for transmission lines, distribution, and facilities for clean energy integration. In addition, new legal theories are being tried to bring the externalized costs of industry into the business incentives of the companies creating environmental burdens. For example, Right of Nature legal theories could allow standing for species like orcas to better protect their ecosystems.

Finally, as the daughter of two scientists, I believe it is important to ensure we provide ample funding for education and research at our universities, especially in light of federal cuts. We cannot let our future be charted by billionaires alone.

KEYWORDS: restore, responsibility, reinvestment

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

After more than 2,000 fires last year, Washington needs a proactive, evidence-based approach to fire risk. I support the Insurance Commissioner’s push for stronger data and transparency, including wildfire risk score disclosure, so the state can better mitigate, and homeowners can better understand their risk. Not all of the fire risk bills passed last session, and we need to move them in the next session. Additionally, we should invest in prevention tools, including responsible use of emerging AI to monitor changing conditions and guide rapid response and prevention interventions in real time. Some scientists have argued we are entering a Pyrocene, or age characterized by fire, I am in favor of significant evidence-led investments to protect the environment, ecosystems, and humans.

KEYWORDS: data, innovation, collective-action

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

Scientific monitoring is a top priority, including expanded data collection and responsible use of new tools like AI to better track fish populations and ecosystem changes. Effective fisheries management also requires structural collaboration with stakeholders including commercial and recreational fishers and tribal co-managers. We should invest in these partnerships and ensure decisions reflect both scientific expertise and lived experience. In the long-term, the future health of our fisheries depends on addressing climate change. Reducing carbon emissions is essential to prevent large-scale ecosystem collapse and protect our fisheries.

KEYWORDS: partnership, decarbonization, monitoring

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

Washington’s environmental investments should focus on projects that deliver measurable, long-term benefits for both our natural resources and our communities. My priorities include protecting water resources, improving watershed health, reducing wildfire risk through better forest management, and supporting research into advanced nuclear energy and other technologies that provide reliable, low-carbon power.

As our state grows, we must also invest in water infrastructure and conservation so agriculture, communities, and new industries can thrive together. Environmental stewardship and economic development should not be competing goals.

When setting priorities, I believe decisions should be driven by sound science, local expertise, and measurable outcomes—not politics. We should fund programs that demonstrate real results, regularly evaluate their effectiveness, and be willing to adjust when they are not meeting expectations.

The Mid-Columbia is uniquely positioned to lead in clean energy innovation, agriculture, and environmental research. If we make smart investments today, we can leave future generations cleaner water, a more reliable energy system, stronger natural resources, and an economy that continues to provide opportunity.

KEYWORDS: Sustainability, Innovation, Accountability

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Wildfire policy should be guided by science and updated as our understanding improves. One of the most valuable lessons I took from studying natural resource management was that forest management practices evolve, and public policy should evolve with them.

My priorities are to reduce wildfire risk before fires start, strengthen community preparedness, and support rapid response when they do occur. That means investing in strategic thinning, prescribed burns where appropriate, fuel reduction, and restoring forests to conditions that are more resilient to wildfire. It also means improving early detection, supporting firefighters, helping communities create defensible space, and ensuring local governments have the resources to plan for emergencies.

Success requires partnership between state agencies, tribes, private landowners, local governments, and the forest products industry. Healthy forests, resilient communities, and sustainable timber markets are complementary goals, not competing ones.

Good wildfire policy isn’t static. We should continually evaluate new research and adopt best practices that reduce risk while protecting Washington’s people, forests, and economy.

KEYWORDS: Resilience, Prevention, Preparedness

Q6 In 2021, the WA legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which has helped to reduce carbon pollution, but puts extra economic burden on farmers and agricultural distributors in the state. What policies would you support, if any, for helping farmers and distributors balance these costs while maintaining Washington’s commitment to environmental sustainability?

Washington’s farmers are under pressure from every direction—volatile commodity markets, tariffs, workforce shortages, rising input costs, and increasing regulatory complexity. As we pursue environmental goals, we have to recognize the cumulative impact these challenges have on an industry that feeds our state and our country.

I support maintaining our commitment to environmental stewardship, but we should prioritize policies that help producers remain competitive. That includes investing in water infrastructure, expanding agricultural research through institutions like WSU, supporting precision agriculture that reduces costs and emissions, and ensuring climate policies are regularly evaluated for their real-world impacts on family farms.

Farmers don’t want to rely on subsidies—they want the opportunity to compete, innovate, and earn a living from the land. Government should provide predictable regulations, remove unnecessary barriers, and reinvest a meaningful share of climate revenues into projects that directly benefit rural communities and agriculture.

We can protect our natural resources while ensuring the next generation can afford to keep farming in Washington.

KEYWORDS: Competitiveness, Empowerment, Innovation

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

I believe we must accept the enviable process of climate change has begun and the resulting impacts on our region, state, and local communities. We must channel our funding priorities using CCA dollars to develop sustainable climate adaptation to our infrastructure. By ensuring the use of state money on these projects we will also create and grow green jobs.

We need to use state funding to explore alternative and innovative energy supplies while improving our transmission of energy. We need to look into distributive energy districts and using the renewable energy district models to develop public/private partnerships which include local jurisdictions, state campuses (including state buildings), and private energy companies.

Water quality and access to water will become critical in the future with summer draughts and winter rains without large amounts of snowpack. We as a state must fund research, pilot studies, and projects that will allow access to water for our communities while protecting stream and river flows, and the health of the Puget Sound. Once again, our infrastructure might be an avenue of water reuse in a circular economy fashion.

Food production and safety while improving our environment and limiting our climate impact is a critical need now and in the future. We will need to fund research into providing adequate food while reducing the entry of forever chemicals into our agricultural settings through fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides. We will also in light of DOGE look to our states food safety through ensuring adequate oversight of food production and harvesting.

Water quality of the Puget Sound must be a priority to improve the health of our marine mammals, fish populations, and crustaceans. One such possible way is truly enforcing and incentivizing the Puget Sound General Discharge Permit for wastewater plants. Without this general permit wastewater discharge into Puget Sound (and eventually the ocean) increases human origin contaminants (such as hormones and drugs).

Water quality of the southern Puget Sound could be dramatically improved through removing the dam on Capital Lake and restoring the Deschutes Estuary. Currently, the capital lake is contributing ~63% of the poor water quality in Budd Inlet and consequently the entire southern Puget Sound every time the tide changes.

KEYWORDS: Climate change, forever chemicals, water, water quality, CCA

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

The state must seek federal reimbursement for fires we fight that are on federal land (~44%), especially because of DOGE reducing the funding of the national forest service wildland fire fighting capacity. States in the west are facing a defense of federal forests without adequate compensation.

We must seek to provide adequate mitigation efforts on all state (and federal land). This would include thinning, where possible controlled burns, and removal of debris. We should allow the removed material to be used for resource generation or energy production, which would help provide private public partnerships to fund these mitigation projects.

I support the current Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) codes currently being worked on with DNR and the Building Code Council. When they come back with recommendations or codes the legislature should review them and pass any recommended policy that will help this work.

We should be providing training for all fire departments in the state of Washington on Wildland fire fighting as every city could face what Spokane did this summer.

I support the work that the Office of Insurance Commissioner and legislators are doing around fire insurance for community members.

We should be developing public health policies through the association of public health officials on air quality and health risks.

KEYWORDS: WUI, building code council, mitigation, public health, federal forests

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

I support and would see more work toward restoration of estuaries, daylighting creek and stream, and the continued effort for culvert removal and conversion. See my comments about Capital Lake dam removal in the Environment questions, this could seriously improve the entire southern Puget Sound water quality (proof is the Dept of Ecology TMDL 2023 report).

We need to do a serious census of pinnipeds; cataloging both native and California transplants. This census would be an important companion for research already performed that catalogs the impact of an overpopulation of pinnipeds on salmon recovery in the Puget Sound and Columbia River. We should then convene a study group to have a very hard and painful conversation about how we remove or reduce the population of non-native pinnipeds from these waterways (trap and release has failed). It is such hard conversation, but we must recognize it is us humans that have unbalanced the ecosystem to a point where over population of one species (pinnipeds) is causing decimation of another species (salmon).

We need to work with wastewater plants to help them see that water is a vital resource that they can produce for their communities. These plants can produce potable water (class A+) and reclaimed water (Class B or A)). Reclaimed water has already been shown to be a safe way to recharge aquifers and support stream/river health during dry summers. I refer to the reclaimed water study performed by the LOTT Water Alliance, a 6 year and 6 million dollars study that won national awards. With such information we should be working with all the state’s wastewater plants to incentivize and encourage development of this water resource.

We need to get the Public Works board to develop a grant process that would encourage and allow our wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to perform pilot studies on innovative water reuse. Such a grant process could help these infrastructure systems become a circular economy providing water as well as processing water.

In Arizona they are working with Solar powered water collection devices, that reclaim water directly from the air. These are being tried for areas without consistent water. Even in these deserts environs there can be quarts or gallons of water captured per device (depending on weather and location). Now I know this seems out there, but we may need this technology in the future (especially in eastern Washington).

KEYWORDS: Water, water reclamation, reclaimed water, public works board

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

I do not have specific priorities on environmental stewardship at this time. I do acknowledge that our region is strongly rooted in agriculture and environmental tourism and these things need to be protected and properly managed. My approach to questions about things I don’t have prior knowledge of is to reach out to the organizations in my district that focus on these things and to allow the experts to educate me and direct my understanding of what is needed. Organizations that I trust on these issues include Futurwise, 350 Spokane, and the Spokane Riverkeeper.

KEYWORDS: Stweardship, agriculture, experts

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Eastern Washington is seeing higher and longer risk times for wildfire every year. This ongoing issue is tied to global climate change as well as forest management. While acknowledging and respecting that private property should be the purview of the owner; I feel that ongoing enforcement of proper land management is essential to offsetting the factors for high fire risk that we can’t control. Making sure that there is proper funding, training and equipment provided to our fire departments is also essential. Prevention should be the goal, but we need to be properly equipped to handle fires when they do happen. I also support recent legislation that set development guidelines when building in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).

KEYWORDS: Risk, prevention, guidelines

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

Climate change is an issue that is caused by and felt by the whole world. As a state we can do our part by reducing our carbon footprint; but we can’t make the changes all on our own. I will support reasonable and realistic solutions towards the goal of encouraging use of renewable energy so that the cost of that can become more reasonable and minimize the financial burden. I will also support appropriate policies that assist our farmers and distributors to offset the cost of changing processes to become more environmentally friendly. I support local, sustainable, and thoughtful solutions that will help to protect our climate.

KEYWORDS: Realistic, renewable, sustainable

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

My top environmental priority is supporting legislation that strengthens the Climate Commitment Act (CCA). This year, we advanced a bill to address the long-term stability of the CCA. SB 5982 ensures that emissions-intensive, trade-exposed entities have greater direction and accountability in reducing emissions, as these industries face the greatest challenges in reducing pollution.

We also made changes in our transportation sector, our state’s highest source of greenhouse gas emissions. I voted to pass HB 2215, which lowers the carbon emissions threshold for fuel suppliers under the CCA from 25,000 to 500 metric tons. Finally, SB 5036 improves the CCA by improving data collection and requiring annual reports on emissions that will include the most recent data available. These steps are critical to driving reductions, and I remain committed to advancing similar measures.

Beyond the CCA, our state can leverage multiple tools to protect our environment. Since 2023, the Department of Ecology has implemented the Clean Fuels Program, limiting greenhouse gas emissions for vehicles. Recently, we passed HB 1409, which increases pollution reductions and reinvestments to support clean transportation.

I will continue to support efforts that strengthen these policies, decrease our carbon footprint, and meet our climate goals.

KEYWORDS: Strengthening Protection Clean Energy

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I backpacked Staircase three years ago with my sons and love hiking in the Olympics, so the Bear Gulch Fire hit too close to home. Washington faces growing threats from extreme heat and wildfires, and these are no longer confined to central and Eastern Washington. I support legislation that prevents wildfires and ensures forest health, builds resilient communities; and strengthens the state’s ability to respond quickly to wildfires..

In the 2021 session, I voted for HB 1168, which created a historic $500 million commitment in wildfire prevention, preparedness, and protection. In the most recent session, I was proud to support the restoration of $60 million in funding to continue this critical work, which became law. I also voted for legislation to establish a wildfire mitigation grant program and increase transparency by requiring insurance companies disclose wildfire risk scores to customers. While these bills did not receive action in the House, I remain committed to advancing similar legislation to protect communities from wildfires and other challenges brought by climate change.

KEYWORDS: Response Preparedness Adaptation

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

While the ecological shift in the Puget Sound and Washington coast is concerning, my current priority is meeting Washington’s court-mandated obligation to remove culverts blocking the migration of salmon.

In 2013, a federal judge ruled that our state violated tribes’ treaty fishing rights by failing to address these barriers. While the initial goal was to open 90% of blocked habitat by 2030, our state’s budget challenges make this difficult. In the 2025 session, I served as a co-sponsor of SB 5804. This bill would allow our state to issue up to $5 billion in bonds over 15 years, while diverting revenue from a tax on electric utilities. This funding would go toward projects that improve fish recovery, habitat restoration, and mitigate the impact of barriers. While this legislation did not receive action in the House, I support it and similar bills that address this issue.

Beyond culvert removal, I will continue supporting the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s work with tribes, the federal government, and other stakeholders to adapt and support our natural resources. As our environment continues to change, I am committed to advancing policies to preserve Washington’s ecosystem for future generations.

KEYWORDS: Recovery Conservation Collaboration

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

Environmental stewardship requires more than spending money—it requires measuring results. My funding priorities are accountability-driven.

First, make Climate Commitment Act dollars deliver measurable outcomes. Washington has invested billions through the Climate Commitment Act, yet recent emissions reductions remain well below the pace needed to meet our statutory goals. Funding should prioritize projects with the greatest verified emissions reductions per dollar, require independent performance reviews, and redirect money from programs that cannot demonstrate results.

Second, remove the barriers to clean energy deployment. An investigation by ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting found our state ranked dead last in renewable energy growth. Transmission, interconnection, and permitting have failed to keep pace, so I would prioritize funding for transmission upgrades, interconnection reform, and permitting capacity so clean-energy projects can actually be built.

Third, protect Puget Sound. Fund stormwater projects targeting 6PPD-quinone—the tire-wear chemical University of Washington researchers found is highly toxic to coho salmon—along with culvert replacement, habitat restoration, and microplastics research. I also support strengthening, fully implementing, and enforcing Washington’s Recycling Reform Act.

Across every program, I would require transparent, public reporting of measurable outcomes. Good stewardship means knowing what every environmental dollar actually accomplished.

KEYWORDS: Accountability, Puget Sound, Measurable Results

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Wildfire policy should focus on prevention, preparedness, and measurable results—not simply larger emergency budgets after fires begin.

First, fund prevention consistently. In 2021 the Legislature unanimously committed $500 million over eight years to forest health and wildfire preparedness (HB 1168)—and it worked, measurably reducing damage where fuels were treated. Yet in 2025 lawmakers cut that funding roughly in half—the year Bear Gulch burned—then restored it under public pressure, and only through mid-2027. Independent analysis shows prevention returns roughly $8 per $1 spent. That commitment should be protected, not an annual political fight.

Second, expand science-based forest management: strategic thinning, prescribed burning where appropriate, and fuel reduction near communities—guided by local ecological conditions and the best available science.

Third, prepare Western Washington, where roughly 40% of last year’s fires started: early-detection networks, defensible space, home-hardening, and evacuation planning.

Fourth, treat smoke as a public health emergency: clean-air shelters, school filtration, and forecasting—smoke harms far more people than flames.

Every program should report acres treated, risk reduced, and cost-effectiveness. My approach is informed by the U.S. Forest Service, National Interagency Fire Center, and Washington DNR.

KEYWORDS: Prevention, Forest Management, Accountability

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

Washington’s fisheries policy should be guided by science and adapt as conditions change while protecting ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.

First, invest in continuous scientific monitoring. Our shellfish industry adapted to ocean acidification because monitoring detected corrosive water early enough for hatcheries to respond—proof that monitoring pays. Expand measurement of ocean temperature, acidity, dissolved oxygen, stream flows, and species abundance. Make the data public and provide practical forecasts for fisheries, tribes, and shellfish growers.

Second, restore habitat with measurable biological benefits—and finish what we’ve started. Washington is under a federal treaty-rights injunction to replace salmon-blocking culverts by 2030, has invested billions, and remains behind schedule. Prioritize the highest-benefit projects, alongside estuary restoration and stormwater treatment that reduces 6PPD-quinone, the tire-derived chemical shown to kill coho salmon.

Third, manage adaptively. Harvest decisions should respond quickly to changing populations using the best available science and co-management with tribal nations, protecting long-term fisheries while avoiding restrictions unsupported by current data.

Finally, help communities adapt through port infrastructure, selective fishing technology, workforce retraining, and aquaculture research.

Washington has world-class scientific institutions. Our challenge is turning their research into faster decisions, measurable recovery, and better outcomes for fishing communities.

KEYWORDS: Scientific monitoring, Salmon recovery, Adaptive management

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

To build a healthier and a more sustainable future, we must continue our leadership in Climate Action, Clean Energy, and Environmental protection.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to make our clean energy transition to electrification equitable, we must improve grid reliability, reduce climate pollution, and help families afford their energy bills.

We must protect Climate Commitent Act funds.

KEYWORDS: Action, Protection, Equitable

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

Diaster Preparedness and Resiliency is within the jurisdiction of my committee. After a 1.5 year Office of the Insurance Commissioner task force work, I proposed establishment of an Office of Resiliency. While it did not pass, we have been steadily passing policies to be more resilient, adopt wildfire/urban interface standards, and increase investments in high tech spotting of wildfires to optimize fire fighter response. We increased the rate of pay of our National Guard members when they respond to wild fires. Unfortunately, under the current administration, our funding for resiliency planning at the Military Department has been cut. When our state’s budget outlook improves. We’re facing a 3rd year of shortfalls next year because our state has the 2nd most regressive tax system. It is especially dire with FEMA reducing its reimbursements of our major disaster response costs. In the meantime, we’re working with the OIC and insurance companies to make sure we have healthy options for property and liability insurance coverage. Commercial insurance availability and rates are still concerns, especially for schools and non-profits.

KEYWORDS: Diaster Prepardness Resiliency

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

I have always supported Washington’s ability to address abandoned and derelict vessels by expanding and streamlining the removal process to protect waterways, reduce environmental risks, and prevent costly cleanups by allowing faster action when vessels threaten public safety or marine ecosystems. I support our state’s co-management system with tribal nations that focuses on wild stock protection, habitat restoration, and transitioning aquaculture toward sustainable practices. We must balance economic viability with the recovery of endangered salmon and orca populations. At both local and state government, I have supported removal of culverts to open up upstream habitats. Washington state has a robust shelfish aquaculture, and so with the threats of burrowing shrimps, we have been able to get bipartisan support for economic reasons, if not environmental values. I understand the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife needs more support so I look forward to working on fisheries management using advancing science and technology.

KEYWORDS: risks, co-management, restoration

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

I am proud to co-Chair the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus. I have convened stakeholders and introduced legislation on tackling toxic tire runoff that is killing our salmon, and legislation to plant more trees along key corridors. I have also been instrumental in securing federal grant funding to restore the Nisqually and Deschutes Estuary. I am proudly endorsed by LCV and Sierra Club.

KEYWORDS: Conservation, investment, climate-friendly policy

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I have long supported fire prevention investments as well as funding for our firefighters and their equipment and expanding the grants available to local and state-based firefighters to combat wildfires. Just in the past year, I am proud to have brought back over $5 million to the district, to help replace fire engines in Tacoma, and the first phase to replace a 70-year seismically unsafe Fire Station at JBLM.

KEYWORDS: Cooperation, prevention, preparation

Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?

As co-chair of the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus, I am leading the work in Congress to support a healthy Puget Sound. I have secured over $200 million in appropriations for Puget Sound and Fisheries management, delegating these to NOAA, salmon recovery groups, and fisheries infrastructure. Most recently, I introduced the Nisqually Clear Creek Hatchery Land Transfer Act of 2026 to support Nisqually Indian Tribe’s ownership over their ancestral fishing waters and to provide expanded access to federal grants.

KEYWORDS: Mitigation, protection, native sovereignty

Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?

My top funding priority is wildfire and forest health. Prevention work like forest thinning, prescribed burns, and defensible space costs far less than fighting the next megafire, and it keeps rural people working. That is where I would put money first.

Second is water. The Cascades snowpack feeds the rivers, the lakes, and the orchards and farms that hold the 12th District together. I would fund snowpack and water supply planning, water storage, and agricultural conservation so growers are not left guessing.

Third is monitoring and data. Communities cannot adapt to what they cannot measure. I would fund the state’s climate and environmental monitoring systems so local decisions rest on real information.

Fund the work that protects the people who bear the cost when we get it wrong. In this district, that is farmworkers, growers, and families living next to fire-prone forest. I would bring scientists, Tribal Nations, and local communities to the table early, and let the evidence and the people closest to the risk shape where the dollars go.

Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?

I live in the mountains above Lake Chelan, in a district that has lived through some of the worst fire seasons in Washington history. The Carlton Complex, the Chelan fires of 2015, and the long smoky seasons since. The Bear Gulch Fire on the Olympic Peninsula is one more reminder that no corner of this state is out of reach.

My approach is prevention first. I would fund forest health work, prescribed burns, and defensible space programs in high-risk communities. Prevention costs a fraction of fighting a megafire, and it puts rural people to work. I would make sure that money reaches communities before the next fire, not just after it.

I would also fund the smoke response side. Air quality closures cost farmworkers their wages and keep kids inside for weeks. Small businesses that rely on tourism struggle. That is a public health problem, not only a forestry one.

Wildfire is one issue where real bipartisan support exists, because every community in the 12th District has been burned or choked by smoke. I would build that coalition and treat prevention funding as the investment it is.

Q6 In 2021, the WA legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which has helped to reduce carbon pollution, but puts extra economic burden on farmers and agricultural distributors in the state. What policies would you support, if any, for helping farmers and distributors balance these costs while maintaining Washington’s commitment to environmental sustainability?

Puget Sound and the coast are changing fast, and the Southern Resident orcas are the clearest warning. Their decline tracks the collapse of Chinook salmon. Salmon recovery is the single most direct thing we can do for them, and it matters for Tribal Nations whose treaty rights and traditional practices are tied to these fish.

I would fund the science first. Monitoring of water temperature, acidification, and fish populations, so policy rests on data instead of on whoever pushes hardest. I would prioritize habitat and cold-water refuge work in the rivers that feed the Sound, because you cannot rebuild a salmon run without the water and habitat it depends on.

Where the data supports it, I would support targeted, science-driven restrictions on specific high-impact fishing methods and seasons, built with Tribal Nations and fishing communities at the table, not handed down over their objections.

Communities that depend on these waters need help adapting too. I would back state investment that helps fishing families and coastal towns weather the shifts already underway. Get the science right, keep the Tribes central, and fund the work.

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Science is currently being attacked by this administration. Putting in doubt all the hard work educated professionals have put in. A major issue with the way science is being presented to kids in school is that it is a secondary education tool like PE or Music. It does not have a current place in core curriculum. Development of an earlier curriculum will reach kids at a younger level and not in JR high or High school when other electives become more of a priority.

KEYWORDS: K-12, Core curriculum, younger

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

As a female scientist who has long done STEM outreach, I think we don’t have great scientific literacy. As a mom of little kids I’m realizing that general literacy is key to then open up kids to math, science etc. Without solid reading it’s tough to get deep on other subjects. But kids inherently love the experimental nature of science, my middle child could experiment all day. But why don’t we have a science fair at our Seattle elementary school? I always had one in my small rural school in NY and it got me hooked into a problem solving and hypothesis building mindset. Sprinkling science in early to entice kids is great but once they have that solid grasp on reading, helping them build experiments and see that science is in everything is the best way to hook them in. I haven’t met many scientists on staff at any schools so having a scientist on staff prior to middle school would help. And engaging with local outreach programs. I love what Junior Achievement does for financial literacy - could we have something similar for science at each grade level.

KEYWORDS: Opportunity, future, broken, test based, expensive, necessary

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Science literacy in this country has a real gap, and it’s worth being honest about it. Only about half of American adults can correctly identify what a scientific hypothesis even is. At the same time, a strong majority of people still trust scientists to act in the public’s best interest. That tells me the problem isn’t that people distrust science, it’s that we’re not teaching people how science actually works, how a hypothesis gets tested, how evidence gets weighed, how conclusions get revised when new data comes in.

That’s the piece I’d want to strengthen in our K-12 standards. Less memorizing facts to pass a test, more hands-on, inquiry-based learning where kids actually run an experiment, get it wrong sometimes, and learn why the process still worked. That builds real scientific thinking, not just recall, and it sticks with people long after they leave the classroom.

I’d also want to make sure rural schools have the same access to lab equipment, outdoor learning opportunities, and qualified science teachers that schools in wealthier districts already have. A kid in Skamania County deserves the same shot at a real science education as a kid anywhere else in this state.

As someone who spent years in nursing relying on evidence and data to make life or death decisions, I know firsthand how much it matters that people trust and understand the process behind scientific conclusions, not just the conclusions themselves. That’s what I’d want our schools to be teaching.

KEYWORDS: evidence based, scientific literacy, critical thinking

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Science literacy has tremendous potential now that everyone has access to AI to learn and patiently teach them basic abstract mathematics and history There is no reason that special relativity should be an abstract remote concept anymore.

KEYWORDS: Deep learning engagement practice egalitarian everyday everyone

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

I support incorporating up-to-date science standards, including climate science, in our K-12 curricula and standards.

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Serving on a school board has reinforced something I believe strongly: our job is to teach kids how to think, not what to think.

Science education should give students a strong foundation in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, technology, and the scientific method. Just as importantly, students should learn how to ask questions, evaluate evidence, challenge assumptions, and come to their own conclusions.

I’d also like to see much more hands-on learning. Science doesn’t have to live in a textbook. Agriculture, engineering, computer science, manufacturing, health sciences, and other career and technical programs can connect what students learn in the classroom with real jobs in their community.

Parents should also know what their children are being taught, and local school boards should have a meaningful role in education.

If we want better science literacy, let’s get kids excited about discovering how the world works rather than turning science classrooms into political classrooms.

KEYWORDS: Critical Thinking • Hands-On Learning • Local Control

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Scores for 10th graders in Math, Science and Writing have all declined over the last ten years. Competition would improve school performance. This can be achieved through school choice, vouchers and privatization. Private schools achieve better results at lower tuition costs than we currently spend per student because they specialize and compete. Allow government schools to do that, too.

KEYWORDS: Competition, Vouchers, Privatization

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

I think we need more science literacy and the best way to teach school kids is to provide more hands-on and interactive lessons, where kids can experience science instead of just reading about it. We need to invest in more class fieldtrips to science centers, farms, labs, recycling facilities, aquariums, etc. These kinds of immersive experiences stick with growing minds and can spark a kid’s interests.

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Science literacy is essential to a more fair and just society, and too many students leave school without the tools to evaluate evidence, understand climate change, or separate fact from growing misinformation. I support fully funding science literacy, and good science education is hands-on, where students investigate and figure things out instead of just memorizing. I want that learning connected to the places students live, so the science is relevant and connects them to their community. It takes real investment, and it must be equitable in access, so every school and not just wealthy districts can have it. If you allow me to nerd out a second, I love to tell people about one of the only optimistic sci-fis where the future Earth is a utopia, Star Trek, and remind people how they got there. It was by becoming a society that took science seriously, and embraced reason and inclusion. This topic is also personal for me because I earned my college degree in environmental science, and I visit local students to talk about public service and how a science background led to my career.

KEYWORDS: Access, Standards, Future

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

I am old and don’t have many small children around, but I hope that children are far more literate in science than their parents are. I think that if anything COVID showed us just how illiterate too many grown adults are when it comes to science. I’m not sure how best to address this problem. Possibly, if we can incentivize people to continue their education after high school we can improve our residents understanding of science. If we don’t do something different, we’re doomed.

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Science literacy is uneven. Too many students can repeat slogans and cannot measure, calculate, or tell a strong study from a weak one. Standards should teach method: hypothesis, data, error, and trade-offs. More labs, shop and STEM pathways, basic statistics, and local problems — water, energy, buildings, engines. Teachers need materials and time, not another political curriculum. Kids should see science as a way to work with the world, not as a sermon.

KEYWORDS: hands-on STEM, data literacy, trade-offs

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Literacy, let alone science literacy is at nearly crisis levels in Washington K-12. Currently, 70% of our students are reading well below grade level and comprehension is plummeting year after year. As a fellow at the UW Center for an Informed Public working on misinformation and its effects on markets and our democracy, I am convinced media literacy is essential, but science literacy is a necessary component too often left out. Our schools need space to have different points of view but should be able to build trust around a shared baseline of facts. One way to invest in relationship building early in education is minimizing the time K-5 students engage in screen-based learning to maximize peer-to-peer interactions and experimenting and exploring the natural world. I have spent a lot of time thinking about AI and the future of education, I believe an analog education, especially in the first six grades, will help foster curious students who don’t rely on shortcuts. Above all, Washington can no longer allow the quality of a child’s education to depend on zip code, we need all our students to have the opportunity to build a solid foundation for education including basic reading, writing, math, and science. I am committed to fully funding public education at all levels as one of my key priorities in the legislature.

KEYWORDS: analong, curious, well-funded

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Science literacy today is uneven. Students have more access to information than ever before, but AI and social media make it increasingly difficult to distinguish credible evidence from misinformation. That makes scientific literacy more important than ever.

K-12 education should emphasize not only scientific knowledge, but the scientific process—asking questions, testing ideas, evaluating evidence, and changing conclusions when new information emerges. Those habits build critical thinkers, not just good test takers.

We should also be thoughtful about who shapes educational priorities. Industry partnerships are valuable, but public education should prepare students for lifelong success, not simply today’s workforce demands. As AI rapidly changes the job market, we should prioritize durable skills like reasoning, communication, adaptability, and digital literacy over training for any single technology.

Students build trust in science by doing science. Partnerships with researchers, agriculture, healthcare, and energy organizations can connect classroom learning to real-world challenges and inspire the next generation of innovators.

KEYWORDS: Scientific Literacy, Critical Thinking, Adaptability

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

I believe in all K-12 students getting science education every year. An education that expands on the previous grade’s curriculum. As student show aptitude for science, they should be given access to STEM courses and encouraged and incentivized to pursue further education beyond 12th grade in a STEM field.

Science education should be funded fully by OSPI. Science education should be a graduation requirement from high school, with at least one basic science course.

Science provides critical thinking skills. It allows students to learn how to question the world around them whether that be questioning science, history, civics, or politics. It teaches the difference between facts and truth; facts are derived from research and testing whereas truth can be based on personal beliefs and experiences.

KEYWORDS: science, graduation requirements, funding.

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

As a mom and foster mom, making sure that the kids in my care receive a complete education is a priority. At this time our schools have to beg for money for needed improvements and our teachers are not compensated for their time or expertise. Our ability to educate our future generations in the essential disciplines like science, math and technology suffer from the struggle. I will focus on asking the education professionals what it is that they need from me to help mitigate these shortfalls. I will push for more funding for education if I am elected to the legislature.

KEYWORDS: Improvements, professionals, shortfalls

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

While our state has made progress in increasing science literacy, there is always room for improvement. I believe the best way to build on our progress is by creating a fully funded, world-class education system from early learning through higher education. This is my top priority. As a parent of four children in Seattle Public Schools, I believe Washington should be the best place in the country to grow up and get an education.

I will continue to fight for better-funded classrooms, with up-to-date textbooks, supplies, and resources for teachers and students; increased support for special education, including more staff to serve students with individualized education plans; safer, more reliable school transportation; and expanded access to extracurriculars and enrichment opportunities. By increasing resources for schools, students have a greater opportunity to develop their scientific literacy and use that knowledge to benefit our state.

Investing in education is investing in our future, and I am committed to delivering on that promise. That was my primary motivation for sponsoring the Millionaires Tax, which will bring in roughly $3.5 billion per year and give us an opportunity to make significant investments in public schools.

KEYWORDS: Education Resources Opportunity

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

Science literacy is not just knowing scientific facts—it is understanding how scientific knowledge is built, tested, and challenged. In an age of AI, social media, and misinformation, students need to know how to evaluate evidence, recognize uncertainty, and distinguish high-quality research from opinion. Right now, too many graduates leave school without those tools.

Washington should continue strengthening STEM education while placing greater emphasis on the scientific method, statistics, data literacy, and critical thinking across K–12. Students should learn how to read graphs, interpret risk, identify common biases, evaluate sources, and understand why replication and peer review matter. Classroom learning should include more hands-on experiments and partnerships with Washington’s universities, research institutions, technology industries, and local watershed and salmon-recovery projects, so students experience science as a process of discovery rather than memorization—and build a relationship with science in their own community.

As a Washington-licensed nutritionist and attorney, I’ve seen how poor scientific reasoning can lead to costly mistakes in both health and public policy. My goal is not to teach students what to think, but how to evaluate evidence and reach sound conclusions. That is the foundation of both good science and a healthy democracy.

KEYWORDS: Evidence evaluation, Critical thinking, Hands-on science

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

I received a BS in Microbiology and an MBA in Operations Management and I am one of the few in the Washington state Legislature with a science background, especially when combined with business experience. Science- and Data Science-curriculum are in high demand in post-secondary institutions since they have the highest potential for better paying jobs, and so we must make sure girls and kiddos of color have an equitable access to science curriculum and trainers in K-12. I am a fan of Science on Wheels provided by the Pacific Science Center.

KEYWORDS: equitable science potential

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

I know that our students succeed when we include robust science, technology, arts, math, and social sciences in our curriculum. To that end, I recently launched a first of its kind STEM competition for local middle and high school students to promote science literacy in younger generations. Additionally, I’ve pushed back against President Trump’s cuts to the Department of Education, NIH, and all of our scientific institutions and researchers. Previously, I’ve also introduced legislation to get more underrepresented populations into STEM fields and education.

KEYWORDS: Funding, diversification, expansion

Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?

What I know about rural schools I learned from families in Chelan, Wenatchee, and the smaller towns of the 12th District, and from my brother, his wife, and my daughter-in-law, who all teach.

Here is what I believe. Science literacy starts with schools that are actually funded. When districts scramble every year for special education dollars, and rural schools run on less technology and weaker internet than their urban neighbors, science education is the first thing squeezed. I would fully fund K-12, close the rural connectivity gap so a student can finish a lab or homework at home, and protect the staff who keep science classrooms running.

On standards themselves, I want to hear from the educators who teach this every day before I claim to know the fix. Good standards build curiosity and the habit of following evidence, and they reach every kid, including students of color, students with disabilities, and English language learners.