By The Herald Editorial Board
Two veteran House members, each seeking a sixth two-year term — Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, and Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo — each face two challengers in the 21st Legislative District in the Aug. 6 primary. The top-two candidates from each race will face each other in the Nov. 5 general election.
The 21st district stretches from Mukilteo to Edmonds and includes areas of south Everett and north Lynnwood, east toward Mill Creek’s western boundary.
House, Pos. 1
Challenging Peterson are Riaz Khan, a former Mukilteo City Council member who left a leadership position with the 21st District Democrats to run as a Republican in the race, and Jason Moon, a current Mukilteo City Council member, who is running as a Democrat.
Moon, working most recently in account management with Amazon and now with Microsoft, said one reason he is running is to offer voters the choice of someone not currently serving in more than one position. Peterson, already serving in the state Legislature, was appointed to the Snohomish County Council in 2022, then won election to that seat last year.
Moon, an American-born son of Korean immigrants, said that if he were to win the House seat he would step down from the city council to focus on the new position and allow someone else to serve Mukilteo..
“I think there are many qualified people out there who have great perspectives,” Moon said. “It’s still healthy to have that competition.”
While supportive of the Legislature’s focus on affordable housing issues, Moon said he didn’t support the state requiring “cookie-cutter” mandates on cities, removing decisions on density and zoning from local elected officials. Moon also said he was apposed to a proposal, supported by Peterson, to place a percentage cap on increases in rent, again doubting a statewide mandate was the best option for affordability.
Khan, a veteran Boeing employee who led a campaign to build a mosque in Mukilteo, has said he switched parties because the Democratic Party no longer reflected his values.
Khan, likewise agrees with the Legislature’s recent focus on issues of housing and public safety, if not the outcomes, but also has concern for bringing more jobs to the district and state. Khan also said he believes issues of zoning and density are best left to local officials, who are more attuned to the wishes of local residents. Regarding public safety, Khan said he wanted to see more work to better train and pay first responders.
Peterson defends his service in both the state House and the county council, noting that he has not missed a vote for either, has been able to handle the workload and believes that each position informs the other and provides a complementary perspective.
Peterson, chair of the House housing committee, said he’s pleased with what the Legislature has accomplished — much of it with bipartisan support — to improve affordability through policy to increase the supply of housing.
“I think we did some real, serious good work, that really led the nation and tackled issues with the supply side and dealing with historic racism,” he said. He now wants to take another attempt at providing relief to renters still dealing with significant housing costs.
Peterson supported a rent stabilization bill this year to place a cap on rental increases. It was approved by the House but didn’t advance in the Senate, but he thinks next year’s longer session and the head start it has with support in the House will aid its passage.
Peterson also plans to again push for passage of a housing bill that would require the state Department of Commerce to work to resolve disputes between a city and a housing project developer of supportive, transitional and emergency housing, improving options for housing those who are homeless or facing housing instability.
Peterson said he also intends to return with legislation that would prohibit use of deception by law enforcement officers in interrogation, noting that more agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. Marshals Service now hold that deceptive interrogation works against successful investigation and prosecution of cases. He also intends to refile legislation that would place restrictions on the use of solitary confinement at state correctional facilities.
Peterson has shown himself as able to work with both parties and both chambers on legislation, proving success at passing his own legislation and that of others, even where multiple attempts are necessary. His and the Legislature’s efforts on housing issues will take time to show improvement in housing availaility and affordability, but it represents promising changes to policy and investments.
As to his taking on more than one role in government, others — including fellow county council member Sam Low, who also is running for reelection to his House seat — are shouldering similar burdens without an obvious loss of effective representation. Peterson has proved himself, thus far, more than up to both jobs and to voters’ support.
House, Pos. 2
Challenging Ortiz-Self are Bruce Guthrie, running as a Libertarian, and Kristina Mitchell, with the Conservative Party. All three were scheduled for a joint online interview, however Mitchell did not attend.
Guthrie, retired from a sales and marketing career, but having embarked on a second career teaching math and science, most recently as a substitute at private schools, has led to his focus on issues of the state’s education system, which he believes, while not intentionally racist, is racist in effect and is not serving students. Guthrie advocates for school choice — allowing families to choose where the state funding for their children should go, be that private schools, charter schools or public schools. Ultimately, he supports the privatization of K-12 education.
“I’m a huge fan of home-schooling and huge fan of private schools,” he said. The advantage those programs have, he said, is that parents and students are treated as customers. “Government schooling is a failed social experiment,” he said.
Despite the Legislature’s past efforts through the McCleary reforms to better distribute state funding and end reliance on the use of local school levy support, Guthrie believes that measurable outcomes for student performance are still on the decline.
Ortiz-Self, who works for the Everett School District as a counselor, disagreed with Guthrie’s basic premises, including on student performance.
“Across the state,” Ortiz-Self said, “we have seen a lot of improvement. I get the reports. Is it at the level we want it? No.” But Ortiz-Self said the Legislature and educators are doing what they can to not only provide quality instruction but meet a range of social, emotional and health needs that private schools aren’t mandated to provide
Nor does Ortiz-Self see that a significant shift to private and charter schools would be helpful for all students; she has talked to many parents of students with learning disabilities, she said, who were encouraged to return to public schools because those students were affecting private schools’ overall test scores.
“I want to mandate that every child get a free and appropriate education, because that’s what’s in the state constitution,” she said.
Ortiz-Self, over her five terms in the House, has been an advocate for improvements to K-12 education. Among recent legislation for which she was primary sponsor, Ortiz-Self won approval of legislation that establishes grant programs in schools for dual-language and tribal language programs and provides literacy support for Indigenous students.
Outside education, she was the primary sponsor for successful bills that require the state to collect accurate data on foreign worker visas to assure those visas are being used as needed; relieved individuals who received over-payments on unemployment benefits from paying interest; and placed greater scrutiny on the treatment of those held in private detention facilities in the state.
Ortiz-Self’s tenure and leadership also is evident in her service as the chair of the House Majority Caucus, and her work on committees for education, labor and workplace standards and the Rules Committee.
Guthrie’s desire for a better and affordable education for all children is laudable, but his larger solution for privatizing K-12 education would require wholesale reforms that won’t find support among all parents or all residents. And while improvements in the current system are incremental, Ortiz-Self has proved herself knowledgeable and skilled in helping chose the paths that best address the diverse needs of all students.
Election info
Along with editorial board’s endorsements, voters also are directed to their local voters’ pamphlet — also mailed to registered voters — 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 will be mailed to registered voters on July 17, but an online version is now available at tinyurl.com/SnoCo2024Primary.
Ballots, which are scheduled to be mailed by July 18, 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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