Four candidates vie for open District 39 seat in primary

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 17, 2026

EVERETT — Four people are looking to fill the vacant District 39, Position 2 seat in the state House of Representatives.

On March 31, Carolyn Eslick of Sultan announced her intent to not seek reelection. Steve Ewing, Lacey Sauvageau and Robert Sutherland, all Republicans, and Democrat Ida Keeley will be on the ballot on Aug. 4.

Legislative District 39 includes most of north Snohomish County and all of west Skagit County, including Lake Stevens, Granite Falls, Darrington, some of Marysville and Sedro-Woolley.

House representatives earn $72,494 per year.

The top two vote-getters from the Aug. 4 primary will move to the November general election.

Steve Ewing

Ewing, 51, is an administrative hearings officer for the Washington State Department of Corrections. He lives in Lake Stevens and served on the City Council for six years, but lost the seat in last year’s election.

Ewing announced his campaign the same day Eslick released her intent to not seek reelection.

“I felt like my skill set was a good fit for the 39th district,” he said in a June 15 interview. “I would challenge any of the other three people to compare resumes and say, ‘Hey, who’s involved in the community.’”

If elected, Ewing’s priorities would include education, public safety, public roadways and reducing state spending.

On education, Ewing supports more research into the potential harm electronic devices pose to students and making sure kids are held accountable through standardized testing, he said.

“That the teaching time to be focused on education and not on other things that sometimes take up classroom time,” Ewing said. “I would want to make sure that they are prioritizing the basics like reading, writing, math and science.”

Also, more emphasis should be put on the trades and vocational training, he said.

To improve public safety, there needs to be a balance between accountability and getting people the help they need, Ewing said.

“People need to have access to mental health treatment and chemical dependency treatment at the prison,” he said. “Incarceration isn’t necessarily the solution, but when you look at some of the bails for some of the crimes that are out there, I think we can do better.”

On transportation, Ewing would focus on the U.S. 2 trestle replacement and support local mayors in creating a coalition to secure the needed funding, he said.

“We can unite in one voice,” Ewing said. “We have really capable mayors in our district. We just need to make sure that they’re working together with our state and federal delegation to address that.”

On the state’s budget challenges, Ewing said the state has a spending problem and the budget has grown in an unsustainable way.

“We cannot continue to grow,” he said. Core services should be funded first “before we pay money for other things that might be nice but not necessary. The core services would be like public safety, they would be education, transportation, mental health.”

On climate issues, Ewing would like to audit how Climate Commitment Act money is used, he said.

“Making sure that those resources are being allocated properly and making sure that we’re using our money effectively,” Ewing said.

The Climate Commitment Act caps and reduces greenhouse gas emissions in Washington while also charging the state’s largest industrial polluters emissions allowances. The funds are then used to help achieve the state’s goal to eliminate almost all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

To help with housing affordability, Ewing wants to relieve building restrictions, he said.

“We need to look at our regulations and our taxes and fees and see the extent to which those are impacting our ability to build,” Ewing said.

Ewing is endorsed by Eslick, Rep. Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, and Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, from District 39. He is also endorsed by 11 local elected officials, the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs, the Skagit County Republican Party and the Washington State Labor Council, among other organizations.

As of Friday, Ewing had raised $58,857 toward his campaign, according to state filings.

Ida Keeley

Keeley, 49, is the founder of Engage LLC and works as a leadership and strategic planning consultant, living in Lake Stevens. She is also a founding team member at Dawson’s Place Child Advocacy Center, which serves child victims of abuse.

“I come from lived experience of the systems I worked for, so the child welfare and juvenile justice system, and I feel like, especially the victim voice is missing from the representation that’s happening right now,” Keeley said in a June 4 interview. “Legislators are supposed to represent the voice of the people and some of that’s been missing with all the fighting and the polarization.”

If elected, Keeley’s priorities would include protecting children and families, affordability, fully funding education and public safety.

To make things more affordable, Keeley would want to “look within the budget first” and reform the state’s regressive tax system, she said.

“How do we audit ourselves?” Keeley said. “This is taxpayer money, it’s not our money.”

The state can’t just make blanket cuts, she said. Legislators have to look through everything and separate the nice-to-haves from the necessities.

“How do we be strategic about what the Legislature is able to do?” Keeley said. “I think there’s a lot of ways we can look at different things in terms of affordability.”

To help improve education, the whole system needs to be fully funded, Keeley said.

“Not just around teachers,” she said. “Supporting our paras, supporting our bus drivers, supporting our, you know, everything that surrounds education.”

Keeley comes from a family of educators, she said.

“My husband’s a teacher. My son is getting his graduate degree in teaching,” Keeley said. Also, her daughter has special needs, so she understands the importance of fully funding special education, she said.

On public safety, it’s not just about police, Keeley said.

“That’s absolutely one part of it, but it’s community safety too,” she said. “How do we support each other and look out for each other?”

“Safe” means something different for different people, Keeley said. Lawmakers need to have honest conversations about what that looks like, she said.

“Two things can be true at once,” Keeley said. “We can fund law enforcement, we can fund the justice system, and we can fund community resources and mutual aid.”

On transportation, the U.S. 2 trestle is the most important project for the district, Keeley said, but there are opportunities to support people in other areas.

“We should be doing so much more if we think about our kids and our seniors, and multimodal transportation, and our rural communities,” she said. “My campaign is centered on people because I think too much focus gets centered on the businesses and the corporate.”

Multimodal transportation is an approach to transport that incorporates all modes people use to get around, including public transportation, walking, biking and driving. Generally, it considers how people may use multiple modes of transportation in a single trip.

Keeley is endorsed by Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, Rep. Clyde Shavers, D-Oak Harbor, and U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, among other state and local elected officials.

She is also endorsed by about a dozen organizations, including the Snohomish County Democratic Central Committee, the Washington State Labor Council, Skagit County Democrats and the Washington Stonewall Democrats.

As of Friday, Keeley had raised $39,304 toward her campaign, according to state filings.

Lacey Sauvageau

Sauvageau, 32, is a transportation specialist with the Washington State Department of Transportation and lives in Lake Stevens. She did not respond to requests for an interview.

For a 2020 primary, in which she ran as a Democrat, Sauvageau completed an online survey. At the time, her priorities included education, healthcare and public safety.

On the survey, she said the healthcare “marketplace” should stop.

“Provide healthcare that is equal and meets our healthcare needs,” Sauvageau said.

To help balance a governmental budget, she would reduce outdated and duplicate programs, Sauvageau said.

“Terminate corporate welfare and use it for business tax cuts,” she said. “Turn local programs back to the states. Remove procedural barriers to save taxpayer dollars.

“Government is essential to protect individuals from being harmed by others,” Sauvageau said. “However, the government can also pose a threat to liberty. We need to protect individual liberty and our freedom.”

Sauvageau opted for “mini reporting,” meaning she does not need to report campaign contributions if she receives and spends no more than $7,000.

Robert Sutherland

Sutherland, 66, is a retired biochemist and lives in Granite Falls. He served two terms representing District 39 in the Position 1 seat, losing reelection in 2022 to Republican Sam Low of Lake Stevens. Sutherland ran against Low again in 2024 and lost 59% to 40%.

In March, Sutherland announced on social media his move to Idaho, stating he and his wife had purchased a house across the state line. On April 16, after Eslick announced her retirement as state representative, Sutherland edited the post to say he was no longer leaving.

“On the way back from a 2-week road trip we ended up buying a house in Idaho,” Sutherland said in a June 23 interview. “Our plan was to continue in Washington, and slowly fix up, remodel, maybe move stuff over, and you know, and taking our time —and that’s what we are doing.”

The Sutherlands bought the Idaho house in 2025.

The sale of their Granite Falls house was “already rolling” when he decided to run for the District 39, Position 2 seat, he said. Sutherland now lives in a Granite Falls rental while they continue working on the house in Idaho.

“My wife and I are both renting. She still works; I don’t,” Sutherland said. “Probably close to two more years, a minimum of a year — but then if I’m [elected] she’d probably just put another year in —and then at that point, we probably, not probably, we’re going to retire in Idaho.”

Candidates must be registered to vote in the district that they are running, which Sutherland is, according to the Washington Voter Registration Database.

If elected, Sutherland’s priorities would include public safety, affordability, relieving traffic congestion and giving more power to parents.

To help keep communities safe, Sutherland would first prioritize fully funding law enforcement, he said. Also, he would hope to help create a stronger bond between officers and the public. He described an event in Granite Falls as an example.

“Once a year, everyone’s invited to come on out,” Sutherland said. “Local law enforcement, they’re out in force, shaking hands, meeting people, and I think when there’s a bond between law enforcement and the community that funds them, the stronger the bond, the better off we’ll be as a community.”

Sutherland would help promote respect for law enforcement to younger people, he said.

“There’s a lot we can do to bring up the next generation to have them respect our law enforcement, respect teachers, respect parents,” Sutherland said. “That I believe would go a long way toward reducing crime in our neighborhoods.”

To improve affordability, Sutherland would promote eliminating taxes and lowering government fees, he said.

“I’m for reducing, if not eliminating, the state level portion of our property taxes,” Sutherland said. “I still fight for the $30 car tabs; I think that’s a priority. We should not be having to pay more than $30.”

On transportation, Sutherland would prioritize projects that relieve traffic congestion, he said.

“Traffic congestion in the 39th is at times horrendous,” Sutherland said. “They’re not adding additional lane capacity to help relieve the traffic.”

U.S. 2, Highway 522 and Highway 9 all need to be fixed, he said.

To help improve education in the state, Sutherland would promote more school options so parents can choose where their children learn, he said.

“Homeschooling is not for everyone, so maybe a charter school would be better, or maybe a public school different than the one that their children are in,” he said. “Let the parents decide where their kids can go to school to get the education they want.”

Parents should choose their children’s education and their healthcare, “not government,” Sutherland said.

“Medical decisions should be between the patient and their doctor,” he said. “We saw during COVID the push to force people to do things they didn’t want to do, they didn’t believe in.”

As a state representative, Sutherland refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine and so was not allowed in the House chambers, he said.

While Sutherland supports caring for the environment, he said there is little that can be done to “change the climate.”

“Washington state could shut down every carbon-producing everything and it wouldn’t make one iota of a difference in our climate,” Sutherland said. “Do I want to just go out and pollute? No. I want the most efficient automobiles we can have that are not spewing out pollutants.”

Sutherland is endorsed by the 39th Legislative District Republican Party and the Snohomish County Republican Party.

As of Friday, Sutherland had raised $6,955 toward his campaign, according to state filings.

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; Bluesky: @btayokay.bsky.social