3 candidates face off for Position 1 District 39 primary
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, July 14, 2026
EVERETT — A Republican incumbent in the state House of Representatives is facing two challengers in the upcoming August primary.
Kathryn Lewandowsky, a Democrat, and Dusty Wisniew, a Republican, are facing off against incumbent Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, who is seeking his third term in this District 39, Position 1 seat.
Legislative District 39 covers almost all of north Snohomish County and all of western Skagit County. Its boundaries include Lake Stevens, Granite Falls, Darrington, some of Marysville and Sedro-Woolley in Skagit.
House representatives earn $72,494 per year.
The primary election is Aug. 4. The top two candidates will advance to the November general election.
Kathryn Lewandowsky
Lewandowsky, 67, worked for 40 years as a nurse, she said in a May 29 interview. She is now semi-retired but still works one or two days a week at a wound care clinic in her hometown of Arlington.
She began running for elected positions in 2020 because there was “not a whole lot of choice of who you can vote for” in her area, Lewandowsky said.
She liked the process.
“I really loved hearing, talking with the organizations and hearing their problems,” she said. “I was active in my union more for staffing and that kind of stuff, but really trying to help people who need help, you know, and standing up for each other.”
If elected, her main focus would be healthcare reform, Lewandowsky said.
She supports a universal and publicly accountable healthcare system that provides comprehensive care for all Washingtonians.
“You have no idea how much waste we have in our American healthcare system,” Lewandowsky said. “There’s so much potential for saving and doing better. The whole rest of the developed world has proven that.”
The United States is the only developed country in the world that does not guarantee universal healthcare.
Universal healthcare would help save the state money, Lewandowsky said. So, more could go into affordable housing, education and other necessities, she said.
To make housing more affordable, Lewandowsky supports the production of more social housing, she said.
Social housing is owned by the residents, a public entity or a nonprofit and rent is fixed at 30% of each resident’s income.
“You’ve got the opportunity to get stable, to finish your education, to get stable, to get savings, to be able to get in whatever other home situation you like,” Lewandowsky said.
On the environment, Lewandowsky said we need to take bold steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“I think we should just stop harvesting trees. We just need to stop; not forever,” she said. “Maybe we just only take the downfall and use that. Maybe we put incentives into using, into encouraging other products that can be harvested more frequently, rather than a tree that is really good at soaking up current CO2.”
Without making bold changes now, it will become an emergency later, Lewandowsky said.
When it comes to transportation infrastructure, Lewandowsky said the state should continue investing in light rail and remain open to new technologies.
And on public safety, she said police “need to earn the respect of their communities back” and change the public’s minds.
“You can tell if someone is safe to be around,” Lewandowsky said. “When a police officer or anybody is coming up to you and they’re offering their help or wanting information, you can feel it. And the feeling that often, I think, they try to project onto people is a feeling of power, and they’re going to have to bring that down a little bit to earn that trust back.”
Lewandowsky is endorsed by the Snohomish County Democrats, Skagit County Democrats, Washington State Stonewall Democrats and Alliance for Gun Responsibility Victory Fund, along with other organizations.
As of Monday, Lewandowsky has raised $2,336 in campaign contributions.
Sam Low
Low, 56, is a Lake Stevens resident. He was first elected to the District 39 Position 1 House seat in 2022. He is also serving his third and final term on the Snohomish County Council.
If reelected, Low’s biggest priority would be the U.S. 2 trestle, he said in a June 12 interview.
The “trestle” is a term used to refer to the series of bridges and structures that connect Everett to east Snohomish County cities like Lake Stevens, Monroe and Snohomish.
“I’ve been having conversations not only within the House transportation leadership; I’ve already been having discussions across into the Senate with Senate leaders,” Low said. “It’s how do you pay for it, and those details are going to come out. I’m not a big toll guy.”
Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, said during a U.S. 2 meeting on May 26 that the state has begun to rely on tolls to fund major projects. Liias is the state Senate Transportation Committee chair.
“I’ve shared with him a couple of ideas that are not tolling. He’s been intrigued by them,” Low said. “We’re going to have some more conversations on that this fall. I suspect we’ll probably have some sort of bill — a joint bill, companion bill. One in the Senate, one in the House.”
On the state’s budget challenges, Low said the state should reduce its spending and stop increasing taxes. However, Republicans don’t have much say, he said.
“The Republicans are locked out of that budget,” Low said. “We get 24 hours to look at it. One thousand four hundred pages; no way to get through 1,400 pages in 24 hours.”
The Republicans don’t usually vote for the operating budget because they aren’t involved in its creation, he said.
On public safety, Low said more work can be done to help immigrants feel safe, Low said.
“I know across the county there’s a lot of concerns about that. People need to feel safe in their homes; they need to feel safe in their communities,” Low said. “I know they feel safe in Lake Stevens. Our Lake Stevens police officers are great, our community is great.”
Low said he wants to raise special education funding, particularly for more rural areas in the district.
“In our rural areas — Concrete, Sedro-Woolley, even Granite Falls — the need is 18%, 22%, even 23%,” he said. “The state was only funding at about 13.5%. We’ve been able to bump that up to 15%.”
Districts are having to find funding elsewhere and “that needs to be addressed,” Low said.
Finally, regarding the environment, Low said western Washington should be more prepared for potential forest fires.
“I know that our emergency management is planning for those wildfires,” he said. “We’re more prepared for blackouts than other areas of the state, too. That’s something else that my constituents need to prepare for.”
Low is endorsed by current state Rep. Carolyn Eslick, R-Sultan, and Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, along with many other local and state elected officials. He is also endorsed by the Snohomish County Deputy Sheriffs Association, the Washington Council for Police & Sheriffs, the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, and the Associated General Contractors of America Washington Chapter, among other organizations.
As of Tuesday, Low has raised $82,137 in campaign contributions.
Dusty Wisniew
Wisniew, 41, is a master electrician and small business owner who lives in Granite Falls.
He is running to represent District 39 because he recently lost his job as an electrical foreman, Wisniew said during a July 2 interview.
“I feel I got taxed out of my job,” Wisniew said. “The mandatory housing affordability fees in Seattle and around other places around the state raised the cost of building.”
Construction jobs in the Puget Sound area are down by about 8,000 compared to last year, and the number of housing permits is at a 10-year low, according to KING 5 News. While inflation and a slowing economy are contributing to rising construction costs, developers are calling on Seattle to cut building fees.
“I’ve spent most of my career building mixed-use mid-rises in and around Seattle, and now the city I couldn’t afford to live in but was helping to build, builders can’t afford to build in,” Wisniew said.
Wisniew’s top priority, if elected, would be to reduce government regulations, he said.
“I think, in a lot of ways, our laws are actually supposed to be regulating the government,” Wisniew said. “Not so much the people. Other than protecting people and property, obviously.”
Reducing regulations would bring down housing costs, he said, and make it easier to start a new business. The creation of new businesses would also help with the state’s budget challenges, Wisniew said.
Wisniew recently started his own business as an independent electrician.
“I’m discovering all sorts of new and inventive and creative ways to get taxed,” he said. “We have to stop penalizing businesses. It’s incredibly difficult and intimidating to start a business in this state.”
Wisniew also said he wants to reduce state spending.
“We need to tighten our belts as a state and be realistic at the outset,” he said. “We’re not going to have more money than we did last year.”
To help keep communities safe, Wisniew said, “Enforcing the laws we have is very important.”
People should be held accountable for the laws they break, he said.
“Not allowing the catch-and-release trend to continue,” Wisniew said.
Since 2020, Washington changed some laws to reduce the number of incarcerated people in the state. For example, the Supreme Court decriminalized simple drug possession in 2021. Also, the state amended its three-strikes law in 2022 so individuals found guilty of second-degree robbery would no longer receive a life sentence if it was their third conviction.
The prison population in Washington peaked in 2017 at 19,656. Currently, the state has 12,682 incarcerated people, according to the Department of Corrections.
On education, Wisniew said families should have more options. In public schools, teachers should focus on reading, math and science, not on social indoctrination, he said.
Finally, Wisniew said the changing climate is a problem that can’t be solved.
“Will we ever make the climate stop changing? I don’t think so,” he said. “Now on the note of taking care of the environment, I think that’s a responsible thing to do. It makes me sad to hear about an island of plastic in the ocean. That’s irresponsible and not right.”
Wisniew is endorsed by the Skagit County Republican Party, Snohomish County Republican Party and the Legislative District 39 Republicans.
As of Tuesday, Wisniew has raised $3,266 in campaign contributions.
Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay
