By The Herald Editorial Board
Its three seats once reliably in Republican control, the 10th Legislative District — which includes all of Whidbey Island, Camano Island and Stanwood, and reaches into much of Arlington as well as the southwest corner of Skagit County — has in recent years become more of a swing district.
After years of Republican leadership in the district, Rep. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor, was first to flip a seat there in 2018, followed in 2022 by Rep. Clyde Shavers, D-Oak Harbor, who narrowly won his first campaign. Both Paul and Shavers now seek re-election, as does Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor, who was appointed in 2019 and successfully ran for a full term in 2020. (Muzzall’s endorsement was published in Tuesday’s Herald.)
House, Position 1
Shavers, a Navy veteran, faces two Republican challengers with connections to the Navy. One, Carrie Kennedy, as the wife of a Navy veteran with volunteer and civilian service to the military and its families; and the second, Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam, with nine years of service in the Navy as an electronics technician and as the wife of veteran.
Kennedy, who ran previously for the 2nd Congressional District, is a 37-year resident of Island County, has worked as an administrative assistant in the military and for organizations and companies and with a state developmental disabilities program. She has volunteered as a domestic violence victim advocate and as an omsbuds for a Navy family services program.
The daughter of a Navy helicopter pilot and wife of a Navy Seabee (Construction Battalion), Kennedy said she hoped to serve on the House’s veterans affairs committee and continue that service to veterans and military families. But Kennedy, an informal student of the state Legislature, said she expects that as a junior legislator she’d serve in whatever committees she’s assigned.
Kennedy says she’s an advocate for school choice, but also has larger concerns for public education and how it serves special education and gifted students as well as all students. She has concerns that children are not being prepared for success or resiliency and said she wants to use her life experience in those conversations.
“I do believe that parents have got to be able to have a say in what their kids learn and what they’re taught. Not just the educator,” she said.
Gallardo-Van Ornam met her husband in the Navy, and their last duty station was Naval Station Everett, after which they moved their family to Arlington.
Gallardo-Van Ornam currently serves on the Arlington City Council, and after consulting with 39th District Rep. Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, who also serves on the Snohomish County Council, said she intends to keep her seat on the city council if elected to the House seat, believing that each job can inform the other. She also has served on the Central Puget Sound Economic Development District board, Arlington’s planning commission, Arlington’s chamber and with the Snohomish County Arts Commission.
She said be interested in serving on the House veterans committee, but also expressed concerns for transportation in her district, regarding the ferries that serve its islands, but also the highways crucial to transportation in the Stillaguamish Valley and connecting Arlington and Darrington.
Having attended the Arlington Police Department’s citizens academy, she also said she’d like to focus on public safety.
“Public safety is a huge, huge personal issue for me, because I see the impact of what happens when we neglect mental health, when we neglect helping those with addiction, when we neglect our veterans, and why are they going through so much struggle and end up on the streets instead of getting the help that they deserve,” she said.
Shavers served eight years in the Navy, stationed in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, following graduation from Annapolis. Shavers serves as vice chair of the education committee and on the committees for the capital budget and the innovation, community and economic development and veterans committee.
Shavers’ election to the House two years ago was controversial. In interviews with the editorial board and other media prior to the election, Shavers misrepresented aspects of his military service, specifically that he had served aboard a nuclear submarine. He did not; he attended the Navy’s Nuclear Power School but later took an assignment in public affairs. After publication of a letter from his father that sought to correct the record, Shavers apologized to supporters “who felt misled by any statement I have made regarding my service record,” a statement that fell well short of accurately reflecting his record.
There also was opposition to Shavers’ appointment to the veterans committee.
Yet, Shavers served on that committee and the two others, and was the prime sponsor on several bills that won approval in Olympia and were signed into law. Among them, one created a panel to consider removal of barriers to apprenticeship programs; another that allows up to 25 percent of funding from the state to food banks be used for essential nonfood items, including diapers and hygiene products; and a third directed the state schools superintendent’s office to develop an allied health professions career and technical education program.
Two years ago, after news of Shavers’ misrepresentations were publicized, the editorial board pulled its earlier endorsement of Shavers. In its interview this year with Shavers, he attributed the incident to a disagreement with his father and told the board he did not believe he had misrepresented his record.
Despite his work in his first term, his semi-apology “to those who felt misled” misses the mark of accountability that voters should expect of lawmakers and what an endorsement requires.
Kennedy and Gallardo-Van Ornam both showed enthusiasm for working for the district’s communities and residents and an ability to apply what they learned during their careers and in raising families.
Kennedy has taken time to learn the workings of the Legislature and would offer a valuable perspective on the needs of military families and families in general.
Gallardo-Van Ornam, in addition to that perspective, offers broader work experience and perspective that can serve her district. As well, her outreach and consultation with fellow lawmakers, including Low and 39th District Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, point to an intention to work collaboratively in Olympia. The editorial board endorses Gallardo-Van Ornam.
House, Position 2
Rep. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor, is challenged by Republican Gary Wray of Coupeville. The endorsement in that race will be published prior to the Nov. 5 general election.
Election info
Along with editorial board’s endorsements, voters also are directed to their local voters’ pamphlet, the state’s online voters guide at www.vote.wa.gov and a series of recorded candidate forums available at the website of the Snohomish County League of Women Voters at lwvsnoho.org/candidate_forums.
The county voters’ pamphlet was mailed to registered voters on July 17; an online version is available at tinyurl.com/SnoCo2024Primary.
Ballots can be returned by mail or placed in one of several county election office drop boxes. Ballots must be postmarked or placed in a drop box before 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6. A list of locations for official drop boxes is available at tinyurl.com/SnoCoElexBox.
More information on voting, registering to vote and the primary and general elections is available at tinyurl.com/ElexSnoCo.
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