Larsen faces 7 challengers to represent Everett in Congress

EVERETT — Looking to clinch a 13th term in Congress, Rep. Rick Larsen faces seven challengers in August’s primary election.

Larsen, a Democrat from Everett, prides himself on keeping local issues at the forefront of his campaign, unlike some of his opponents, in his estimation.

The 2nd Congressional District stretches from Edmonds up to the Canadian border, encompassing parts of Snohomish County and all of Island, San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom counties.

Over the past 10 years, Larsen has won re-election with at least 60% of the vote in each general election. In the primary, Larsen typically takes about 50%.

U.S. Representatives make $174,000 per year and are up for election every two years.

Ballots for the primary election are due Aug. 6. The top two vote-getters will advance to the general election, regardless of party.

Josh Binda

Binda, 24, is a current Lynnwood City Council member and the youngest African American elected to public office in Washington. Binda, then 21, was elected to the council in 2021.

He previously worked for aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin as an engineer.

If elected, he would be the youngest member of Congress in U.S. history.

Despite only serving three years on the Lynnwood council, Binda said he is ready to make the jump to the federal level.

“I see service as the same at all levels of government,” he said. “I think it’s going in there and being a voice to the community and making sure the needs of our district is being met.”

Binda, a Democrat, supports policies like “Medicare for All,” a national assault weapons ban and codifying Roe v. Wade.

Larsen has been in office for about as long as Binda has been alive, he noted. Binda thinks Washington D.C. needs more young, fresh perspectives.

“We have leadership in power for that long, sometimes they aren’t representing and reflective of their communities, they’re more reflective of their corporate donors,” he said.

Despite heralding progressive policies, Binda said he has no problem working across the aisle.

“You have to start somewhere,” he said. “I’ll be able to build bridges and slowly roll that out and get to the point where we can actually get the goal we’re looking for.”

Earlier this year, Binda avoided an effort to recall him from his council post. The recall campaign came after an investigation found Binda used nearly $3,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses and used City Council chambers to film a video promoting his speaking tour, violating city code.

The recall campaign failed to garner enough signatures to appear on the ballot.

As of Monday, Binda had reported no campaign contributions to the Federal Election Commission. This month, however, Binda said his campaign had raised more than the $5,000 threshold requiring candidates to submit statements, but has yet to file the receipts.

Jason Call

Call, 53, is making his third run for the congressional seat, this time under the Green Party. In his past two races, he ran as a Democrat.

In 2022, the Marysville resident came in third place in the primary, garnering nearly 15% of the vote.

Call, a former public school teacher in the Marysville School District, said he is a lifelong anti-war activist who vehemently opposes sending federal aid to “endless wars” overseas, particularly with the United States’ support of Israel.

Shrinking the U.S. military, halting all aid to Israel and reforming the national defense budget are a few of Call’s priorities.

Call, who manages Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s 2024 presidential campaign, is also an advocate for universal healthcare, tuition-free college, canceling student debt and the Green New Deal.

Call thinks large investments in these programs would pay off in the long run as health care and education become more accessible.

“Progressive policies pay for themselves,” he said.

If elected, he pledged to donate 30% of his salary to strike funds and mutual aid organizations.

Call has reported $69,499 in campaign contributions.

Cody Hart

Like Call, this is also Hart’s third time running for Congress. In 2022, he finished behind Call in the primary, garnering 10% of the vote.

A civil engineer and Navy veteran from Sedro-Woolley, Hart said he has an intimate understanding of the transportation and construction system that he considers beneficial for lawmaking.

Hart is running under the label “MAGA Republican.” He said adding “MAGA” to his party title shows voters he won’t just vote with the Republican Party, but will vote “with the belief system that we have problems.”

“I’m a Republican, but I’m a pissed off Republican on the direction things are headed,” he said.

For Hart, the most pressing issues in the district are illegal immigration, election integrity and inflation.

“We have an immigration issue,” he said. “There is not an American I know that believes we should have an open borders policy.”

Hart said he isn’t an advocate of unprovoked wars, but the country needs to maintain a strong military as a deterrent.

“There’s a lot of bad people in the world and we have to be prepared for that,” he said.

He said he believes in “the rights of the unborn child” and the Second Amendment right to bear firearms.

Hart hasn’t reported any campaign contributions.

Devin Hermanson

Hermanson, 58, is the founder of MOYO Media Lab, an organization that helps nonprofits grow their influence. Before that, he worked for the nonprofit World Vision, which works to combat poverty around the world.

Hermanson lives in Seattle but plans to move to Edmonds.

With Donald Trump potentially retaking the White House, the country is “in danger of losing our democracy,” Hermanson said.

Hermanson thinks it is critical Democrats win this year, especially with plans like Project 2025 looking to “dismantle the government as we know it,” he said. Project 2025 is a “presidential transition project” written by conservative think tanks, laying out major reforms if Trump wins. One main objective of the plan is to place all federal agencies under direct presidential control.

“[Trump] will weaponize the government against people who oppose him,” he said.

In the case that Democrats take control of the Senate, House and the presidency this year, Hermanson laid out a two-year plan to enact massive change.

By the end of 2026, Hermanson hopes to expand the Supreme Court to 13 members, grant statehood to Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, impose a national assault weapons ban, end tax cuts for the wealthy, create easier pathways to citizenship and more.

“Imagine an America where instead of those decades of tax breaks we’ve given corporations and the wealthy, that instead we’re investing in people, in their communities,” he said.

As of Monday, Hermanson had reported $22,855 in campaign contributions.

Leif Johnson

An engineer, Johnson, 55, said his career is based around fixing problems and processes.

He said he is running for Congress as a Republican because Washington D.C. is lacking problem-solvers like himself.

Johnson, who lives on Whidbey Island, sees inflation and the southern border as the biggest problems for the 2nd District.

Though the 2nd District is a thousand miles from the border with Mexico, it’s “affecting us in big ways,” Johnson said.

He believes the root of Washington’s drug, homelessness and crime crises comes from fentanyl shipped into the country from Mexico.

Meanwhile, inflation is only getting worse, Johnson said, and it’s caused by “crazy spending.”

“We need to stop sending all our money overseas, there’s no need for that,” he said. “All the money they’ve been sending to Ukraine, it just keeps going over there and there’s no stipulations on how they use it.”

Sending money to Israel for the war in Gaza is different, Johnson argued.

“We do have an obligation to Israel,” he said. “This is their 9/11, let them have it, let them do what they need to do.”

If elected, Johnson said he would support term limits and only serve three terms in Congress.

He thinks staying in Washington D.C. too long inevitably leads to representatives losing touch with constituents.

As of Monday, Johnson had raised $9,120 in campaign contributions.

Rick Larsen

Larsen, 59, has been in the House since 2001. He is the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Though he’s spent more than two decades in Congress, he said he still has work to do. Larsen’s main issues involve tackling fentanyl and delivering money for local infrastructure projects.

To combat fentanyl, Congress should bolster resources to border patrol and courts to convict drug traffickers, Larsen said. A bill doing that faced opposition from Republicans and didn’t pass, he said.

Larsen touts his work on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021 and wants to keep the measure’s money flowing into the 2nd District. Since it passed, Washington has gotten $9.9 billion for various transportation, energy and infrastructure projects. Last year, the law brought $2.9 million to deliver broadband to residents on Hat Island, a small island between Everett and Whidbey Island, for example.

“Transportation investment means jobs here in the Northwest,” he said. “We can’t have a big league economy with little league infrastructure.”

In the coming years, Larsen wants to reauthorize the law to build on the investments.

With challengers to his right and left on the political spectrum, Larsen believes most of his constituents aligns with his beliefs.

“Despite my longevity in Congress, I’m so focused on local accomplishments,” he said. “In spite of their criticism, my opponents aren’t focusing on local issues.”

If Democrats take back control of the House, top priorities for Larsen are passing a law protecting abortion rights nationwide and strengthening the Voting Rights Act.

Larsen’s campaign has raised over $1.9 million, according to Federal Elections Commission filings.

Gov. Jay Inslee and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers have endorsed him.

Daniel Miller

Miller, 54, is a former small business owner and actor from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Running as a Republican, Miller’s priorities are reducing inflation and slowing down illegal immigration.

“So far, the Bidenomics isn’t working,” he said. “We need an economy that works for us.”

To help working families, Miller said he would push to eliminate taxes on tips and gratuities for service employees.

Current lawmakers aren’t doing their job and they are unpopular with voters, Miller said.

“The popularity of congressmen I heard recently is down there with used car salesmen,” he said. “They keep fumbling on the economy, they keep fumbling on policies that are good for the American people.”

Miller hasn’t reported any campaign contributions.

Edwin Stickle

A family medicine doctor in Sedro-Woolley, medical insurance and Medicare are the biggest issues for Stickle.

Stickle, 59, said in his nearly three decades of experience in medicine, he’s noticed Congress fail to supervise the Medicare program the way it should.

“Most of them, they’re not people who’ve been nurses or doctors or other clinicians in the Medicare system,” he said. “So they don’t understand that perspective.”

Stickle doesn’t think the country has an appetite for a “Medicare for All” program, but “incremental changes can improve it,” he said.

One of those changes would be lowering the age to qualify for Medicare, from 65 to 62, when workers can begin getting retirement benefits.

“I’ve seen people die of cancer and stroke and heart attacks during those three years because they just won’t go to the hospital, wouldn’t go to the doctor, didn’t want the extra expense,” Stickle said.

Running as a Democrat, Stickle said his understanding of Medicare sets him apart from the other candidates.

Though he doesn’t support term limits, Stickle said the district is in need of new representation.

“When you’re gone half the time to Washington D.C., you inevitably lose touch with what’s going on,” he said.

As of Monday, Stickle had reported $2,000 in contributions.

Jenelle Baumbach: 360-352-8623; jenelle.baumbach@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jenelleclar.