Seven candidates seek District 1 Congressional seat

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 15, 2026

EVERETT — Six challengers are looking to earn a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives against an established incumbent in Washington’s 1st Congressional District.

District 1, which encompasses parts of east King County and large parts of Snohomish County, has seven candidates on the crowded primary ballot this year. Most are Democrats — the district has been consistently blue for decades — though an independent and a Republican have also joined the race.

U.S. representatives earn $174,000 per year.

The primary election is Aug. 4. The top two candidates will advance to the November general election.

Suzan DelBene

DelBene, 64, is a Democrat and has served in the House of Representatives since 2012. She lives in Medina.

Her top priorities include addressing the cost of living, building more affordable housing and rolling back recent Republican policies like implementing tariffs and cuts to Affordable Care Act tax credits, she said in a June 30 interview.

On housing, DelBene said that expanding access to low-income housing tax credits is key. She is a cosponsor to a bill that would increase the allocations states get for the housing tax credits and increase the credits available for projects that serve extremely low-income households. DelBene touted her support of a recent housing bill that passed the House and Senate and went into law Friday.

“This is important bipartisan work that I’ve helped push on and lead on as well, and we need to do more,” she said.

To improve healthcare coverage, DelBene said that she would work to undo cuts made to Affordable Care Act tax credits while also increasing investment in public health agencies to grow medical research.

“We’ve gone in a terrible direction under this administration, and I’ve been fighting against that,” she said. “I think it’s critically important that we make investments that protect our communities and that lead to future cures and breakthroughs.

To improve the economy, DelBene said she would work to roll back tariffs that President Donald Trump has implemented during his second term in office, which she said had contributed to economic uncertainty and harmed industries like agriculture and manufacturing. She also said she would work to increase investments to advance renewable energy and a “hydrogen hub” in the Pacific Northwest that would create jobs while also reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

To address climate change, DelBene said she would continue work to sustain federal lands, clean air and clean water, along with increased investments in renewable energy. She said she has also proposed legislation to prevent companies from producing goods outside the country in an environmentally unsustainable way and undercutting domestic products.

On immigration, DelBene said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, needs reforms and accountability to ensure the agency is following laws related to body cameras, identification and warrant standards.

“It’s also critically important, and something I’ve been fighting for since I got to Congress, that we have immigration reform and make sure we have an immigration system that is working across our country and upholds people’s constitutional rights,” DelBene said.

DelBene has been endorsed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, Sen. Patty Murray, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, State Sen. Marko Liias, State Reps. Strom Peterson, Mary Fosse, April Berg and Brandy Donaghy, as well as Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, among others. She has also been endorsed by the Snohomish County Democrats, Snohomish County Indivisible, the Washington State Labor Council and the state employees union, among other groups.

As of Monday, she has reported about $2.74 million in campaign contributions, federal filings show.

James Etzkorn

Etzkorn, 41, has previously worked as an engineer and serves as a school board member in the Monroe School District. He lives in unincorporated Snohomish and is running as an independent.

His top priorities include shrinking government bureaucracy, improving affordability and combating the growth in the national debt, he said in a May 29 interview.

Etzkorn said he would work to set clearer goals when allocating spending and continually analyze government programs to ensure they are remaining efficient.

“It’s about focus, setting clear goals, Etzkorn said. “Measuring the results, not dollars spent, and really having that mindset of ‘How do we get this done?’”

On affordability, Etzkorn said he would work to reduce the cost of housing and healthcare while growing wages for workers. To address housing, he said he could tie federal funding to rezoning to allow for more development, or offer low interest loans to builders.

To reduce the cost of healthcare, he said he would enforce new standard medical records technology to cut back on data entry needs and require hospitals to post prices.

To grow wages, Etzkorn said he would work to harness the recent growth in the construction of data centers and support the construction of them, while requiring companies that build data centers to construct power plants to provide electricity to the centers. Etzkorn also said he would consider providing tax incentives to encourage more advanced manufacturing businesses in the country.

“Increase the number of well-paying jobs, and that will increase the demand for labor, and therefore wages will go up,” Etzkorn said.

He also said the country needs to address its rising national debt. To do so, he said decreased government spending, an increase in the country’s GDP and a closing of tax loopholes would address the issue.

“We need to stop kicking the can down the road for the next generation to solve,” Etzkorn said. “We just need to be honest about how we are going to solve it, and the only viable option, one that doesn’t end in disaster, is to grow our way out.”

On immigration, Etzkorn said the country needs both a strong border and immigration reform, though he said he is against President Trump’s current ICE enforcement policies.

To address climate change, he said he would incentivize clean energy projects through relaxed permitting.

Etzkorn has reported $2,656 in campaign contributions as of Monday, according to FEC filings. His campaign website and social media accounts list no endorsements.

Hunter Gordon

Gordon, 28, is a home care aide. He lives in Redmond and is running as a Democrat.

His top priorities include addressing the cost of living, impeaching Donald Trump and halting U.S. funding and aid to Israel, he said in a June 16 interview.

To address affordability, Gordon said he would work to increase the federal minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009, and work to implement a publicly funded universal healthcare system.

“We can’t just be fighting to simply restore these cuts that Donald Trump has done,” he said. “We need to make it clear that people were struggling before Trump as well.”

Gordon also called for a complete cessation of U.S. funding and military aid to Israel, citing the country’s actions during the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, where Hamas militants killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and took hundreds of hostages. The World Health Organization estimated that subsequent Israeli military actions have killed approximately 73,223 people in Gaza during the conflict. Reports from the United Nations and the International Association of Genocide Scholars have stated that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

“Should any state that is enacting a genocide upon people be getting our aid? I say no,” Gordon said.

On immigration, Gordon said that the country needs to abolish ICE, stating that the current immigration system is “ridiculous” and “punitive.”

“Right now, we need to be pushing toward humane immigration that understands these are human people, that so many of these people are fleeing persecution from their countries, and that everybody is just trying to make good for themselves,” Gordon said.

Gordon also said he would pursue another impeachment of President Donald Trump (he was impeached twice in his first term and acquitted both times), citing the growth in the president’s personal finances during his second term in office. According to financial filings, the president made more than $2 billion in 2025, largely through his family’s cryptocurrency businesses, The New York Times reported.

To address climate change, Gordon said he would work toward investing in clean energy projects and build more interstate rail and public transportation networks.

On housing, Gordon said he would prohibit investment groups from purchasing homes as a speculative investment while building affordable housing.

To help fund his proposed programs, Gordon said he would reduce spending on wars and increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans to “tax the billionaire class out of existence,” he said.

“Nobody should have that much money,” he said. “We need to draw the line somewhere.”

Gordon has been endorsed by AIPAC Tracker, an organization that opposes candidates who receive funding from pro-Israel groups, as well as the Voice of the Mountain, a progressive community newspaper in Marysville that began publishing last year.

As of Monday, Gordon has reported $68,972 in campaign contributions, federal election filings show.

Catherine Hildebrand

Hildebrand, 34, is a travel agent. She lives in Mountlake Terrace and is running as a Democrat.

Her top issues include addressing climate change, improving urbanization, increasing access to affordable housing and implementing universal health care, she said in a June 10 interview.

To address climate change, Hildebrand said she would increase funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and increase the amount of protected land across the country. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Hildebrand said she would support increased spending on public transportation and interstate train travel.

“I think we could probably look at the Interstate Highway system and realize we could say it’s complete,” Hildebrand said. “We’ve constructed the highways, and yes, we still need to spend money to maintain them, but we don’t need to keep expanding them. We could be creating a new project like an interstate rail system.”

To address housing shortages, she said she would support providing federal funds to build subsidized housing. Hildebrand would also support the implementation of a universal health care system.

On affordability, Hildebrand said she would support government-run grocery stores, as well as the expansion of food programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, sometimes referred to as food stamps.

To pay for the increases in services, Hildebrand said that the country is spending “way too much” on the military and would support defunding its budget.

“Our budget is so bloated for the military, and it’s not going towards anything that’s actually helping anybody in the world,” she said. “It’s either going toward killing people, which is pretty terrible, or it’s going toward inflated contracts for the sake of fluffing up private equity firms. That’s not helping anybody, that’s not helping our veterans.”

On immigration, Hildebrand said she disagrees with the country’s current immigration enforcement, calling it “barbaric.”

“I don’t think we should be kidnapping people off the street and disappearing them to other places,” she said.

Hildebrand also said she supports implementing term limits for representatives and senators.

Hildebrand’s campaign website lists no endorsements, and as of Monday, she has not reported any campaign contributions.

Benjamin Kincaid

Kincaid, a Democrat, declined to be interviewed. He is a “working American with a blue collar job,” he wrote in his ballot statement, and has also worked as an author, according to Ballotpedia. His campaign P.O. box is located in Seattle.

Kincaid’s top priorities include reforming the tax code, implementing healthcare reforms and addressing homelessness, he wrote on his website.

To reform the tax code, Kincaid wrote that he would work to eliminate all federal income taxes for those that earn less than $61,000 per year. To fund the proposal, he would restore tax rates on earnings over $400,000 to rates that existed prior to tax cuts that were implemented in 2017, along with phasing out loopholes exploited for capital gains taxes, he wrote.

On healthcare, Kincaid proposed implementing a universal healthcare pilot by building a federally operated hospital in Alaska and purchasing a hospital somewhere in the country on the verge of closure.

“If a federally built hospital and a federally rescued hospital can deliver care well and sustainably alongside the private system. The program expands and the same two needs scale with it,” he wrote on his website.

To address homelessness, Kincaid wrote that he would create long-term rehabilitation centers for those in addiction. For those with severe mental illness, he proposed creating “permanent humane care” centers, where individuals would be committed to by a judge and clinicians if they were deemed to be not able to live on their own safely. Other ways he would address homelessness would be adding short-term housing opportunities, job training and rental support to individuals, he wrote.

Kincaid opposes allowing transgender girls and women to participate in sports teams that align with their gender identity. He also wrote that he would support legislation that defines a woman as “a person without male genitalia” and only allow women in certain gender-specific spaces like spas, religious spaces or spaces for “intimate personal care,” he wrote.

“I also don’t give a damn if a man is gay or if a woman is a lesbian. Most people just don’t care. But men should not be on women’s sports teams. Men should not be in women’s locker rooms. Men should not be in women’s prisons. Common sense is not transphobic,” Kincaid wrote in a May 16 email. “It might put my life in danger to say this, but that is the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

On immigration, Kincaid wrote that he opposes efforts to undertake mass deportation in the country. He would create a guest worker system that “matches labor supply with actual demand” while working to “restore respect for the law not through mass roundups and spectacle,” he wrote.

To address climate change, Kincaid wrote that he would provide apprenticeship programs linking workers displaced by artificial intelligence-related layoffs to solar and wind energy projects. He also wrote that he would support increased public transit investment and stronger enforcement against industrial polluters.

His campaign website and social media accounts list no endorsements. As of Monday, Kincaid has not reported any campaign contributions.

Bryce Nickel

Nickel, 41, is a paraeducator. He lives in Marysville and is running as a Democrat.

His top priorities include addressing homelessness, building more affordable housing and better representing individuals with disabilities, he said in a June 22 interview.

To combat homelessness, Nickel said he would increase funding to housing programs like Section 8 while looking for ways to get more housing developed across the country. He said he would consider reducing taxes and fees to cut red tape for builders.

“Right now, we’ve very underdeveloped when it comes to housing,” Nickel said. “… We have the opportunity, but still lacking development.”

Nickel, who has developmental disabilities, wants to increase funding for support personnel like paraeducators and remove income caps for social security disability income. He also said he would advocate for increasing federal matching funds for in-home caretakers, and said the U.S. should transition to a universal healthcare model.

To fund his proposed programs, he said he would increase taxing on automation and artificial intelligence companies, as well as raise the corporate tax rate.

Regarding immigration, Nickel said ICE is “extremely overfunded” and that the country should fully support immigrants and protect them when they arrive.

“I want to support immigration as much as possible while still policing criminal activity,” Nickel said.

On climate change, Nickel said that represented a longer-term priority, but said he would support proposals that would come forward to add more environmental regulations and work with international organizations that advance climate action. He also said that disabled and low-income families should have access to air conditioning.

His campaign social media accounts list no endorsements. As of Monday, he had not yet filed a financial report with the FEC.

Mary Silva

Silva, 46, is an audiologist. She lives in Everett and is running as a Republican.

Her top priorities include addressing the rising cost of living and bringing cyber technology and manufacturing industries to the United States, she said in a July 1 interview.

To improve affordability, Silva said she would look to implement tax incentives for small and medium-sized businesses to grow the economy and get more competition. She said she would also pressure states like Washington to revamp their tax systems and reduce the overall tax burden.

To bring technology back to Washington, Silva also said she would use tax incentives to attract companies while also implementing new, stricter security rules to prevent cyber attacks and sabotage.

“If you’re going to be a giant multinational corporation, there’s going to be rules if you want U.S. taxpayer contracts,” Silva said.

She said she would consult with economic and national security experts to develop the constraints.

On healthcare, Silva said that she would consider breaking up large corporations like United Health Group, because she said companies offering both insurance and healthcare coverage amounted to monopolizing. Silva also said she would be a proponent of individual choice when it comes to public health decisions, citing government policies from the COVID-19 pandemic she saw as “unconscionable.”

“It was absolutely ridiculous what they put people through,” Silva said. “The level of anxiety, the unhappiness that happened as a result, and it was basically for, you know, a strong flu.”

About 1.2 million people have died from COVID-19 since the start of 2020, according to CDC data.

Regarding immigration, Silva said the country benefits from hard-working immigrants but it also needs to protect its borders.

“I am not against immigrants,” Silva said. “What I have a problem with is opening the borders to let anyone and everyone through who may or may not benefit us, and in some cases, they harm us.”

On the environment, Silva said she is “not a big believer in the climate change narrative that we’ve been sold,” but she said that she would support policies that maintain the land and forests in Washington.

“It’s good to be good stewards of the land, but as far as capitalizing off of people’s fears about what’s happening with climate change and things like that, we need to consider, I think, the reality a little bit more and just do our best not to destroy where we’re living,” Silva said.

Nearly all scientists studying the Earth’s climate believe that the human burning of fossil fuels has warmed the Earth’s surface and is impacting its climate through more frequent and severe extreme weather events.

Other priorities Silva would hope to undertake if elected include addressing money laundering from the sale of illegal drugs, ending mail-in voting, auditing the Pentagon and opening another investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, she wrote in a July 2 email.

In a 2024 Ballotpedia statement, Silva wrote that she was educated by a number of writers, some of which have espoused various conspiracy theories. Among the writers that inspired her were Christopher Bollyn, William Cooper and G. Edward Griffin, she wrote in her 2024 Ballotpedia survey.

Bollyn’s writings, which have been criticized as antisemitic, state that he believes the American media and government are controlled by a “Jewish faction” and that the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were “an Israeli-produced false-flag terror spectacle.” (They were not).

Cooper, at one point, had claimed that a U.S. President signed a treaty with aliens, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Sheriff’s deputies in Arizona killed him during a shootout with law enforcement after he spent years on the run for tax evasion, the LA Times reported in 2001.

In a recorded interview, Cooper stated his belief that HIV/AIDS was a man-made disease “implemented into the population as a population control.” (That is false. Research has shown the likely origins of HIV emerging from chimpanzees and gorillas in west central Africa).

Griffin is the founder of the Red Pill Expo, a gathering with noted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones listed as a speaker during the 2026 event. According to MediaMatters, Griffin stated that there “isn’t even such a thing as HIV” on a 2010 radio broadcast, referring to the disease that killed an estimated 630,000 people in 2024.

In response to follow-up questions about the listed authors, Silva wrote in an email Tuesday that the authors have produced “sincere documented evidence over the years” but she does not agree with everything they have said and done.

On Bollyn, Silva wrote that he had produced “the most well-referenced work on 911 you could hope to find.”

“He revealed the motivations and the networks behind Mossad’s involvement in 911,” Silva wrote. “Anyone who calls him names simply has not read the information because he referenced mainstream articles and traced widely documented connections.”

Regarding Cooper, Silva wrote that he had influenced her to be “vigilant in seeking the truth and to defend and uphold the Constitution of this country in any way we can.”

“He had some wild theories, sure, but he also made me question everything and seek out information for myself,” Silva wrote.

On Griffin, Silva wrote that the author had informed her about plans between bankers to create the Federal Reserve in the early 1900s, and that large philanthropic foundations in the country were using their power to alter American education and public opinion toward a socialist, unified world government.

She wrote that she sought out other sources due to her mistrust of the mainstream media.

“Do you watch Fox News? Or other mainstream sources? These organizations make a mockery of the truth 300 times a day. The American people are sick of it,” Silva wrote.

Silva has been endorsed by the King County Republican Party and Stand for Health Freedom, an organization that opposes public health measures like vaccine mandates, school health centers and the fluoridation of water. As of Monday, Silva has reported $94 in campaign contributions.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.