Six political hopefuls decided the last minute was the perfect time to make election season in the 32nd District a little more interesting.
With a filing deadline of 5 p.m., Friday, July 28, six previously unannounced candidates filed that very day, most after 3 p.m. Three incumbents and one other newcomer had previously filed. Friday’s filings mean there will be a primary election in all three district races.
Two of the three Democrats who filed on Friday are co-founders of the Shoreline Solar Project and a third is the treasurer of the group. Each say their filing was not planned in conjunction with the organization or with one another.
“There was no preplanning or thought about that,” said the president of the group, Larry Owens, who is running against Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, for Pos. 2. “The three of us are actively involved in local organizations and it is usually the same people who stand up and take on responsibilities.”
Senate seat
Running for re-election is incumbent Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, who will be challenged in her bid for a fourth term by newcomer Chris Eggen in the primary.
A longtime Shoreline resident, Eggen, 60, said he decided to run against Fairley in the event she is unable to finish her campaign for health reasons. He said the selection of an alternate candidate would not be done in the district, but by the state Democratic Party. Fairley was treated for a noncancerous brain tumor last year.
“The main reason for filing was to ensure that we as a district had some interest if Darlene is not able to complete her campaign,” said Eggen, who works in a laboratory connected to University of Washington.
Fairley said she has no reason to drop out of the campaign. Of her health, Fairley said, “Everything is fine.
“I resent people thinking that I would drop out for health reasons,” Fairley, 63, said. “Ever since my brain tumor I’ve gone through a (legislative) session and passed six bills and gotten five awards.”
Eggen said he “certainly won’t campaign against Darlene.”
As treasurer of the Shoreline Solar Project, Eggen hopes to highlight some issues, such as renewable energy, while door belling his immediate neighborhood. He is married with two grown children.
Fairley was taken by surprise to learn that she will face a Democratic challenger. Many of the Democratic challengers who filed at the last minute are State Rep. “Maralyn Chase’s slate of candidates,” Fairley said.
There are two groups of Democrats in the 32nd District, she added, which have a “schism in spite of all attempts to make nice with each other.”
Fairley is chair of the Financial Institutions, Housing and Consumer Protection Committee and a ranking member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. She runs an antique business in Pioneer Square with her husband; the couple has one son.
The winner of the primary will face Kenmore resident David Baker, a Republican, in the general election. Baker, a first-term member of the Kenmore City Council and deputy mayor is owner of Vision Systems Engineering Ltd., an Internet-based circuit design company.
“I am feeling pretty positive,” Baker said about his campaign. He has doorbelled 3,000 houses and just last week organized an ice cream social.
House Pos. 1
As of Friday, three Democrats filed for Pos. 1, including incumbent Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds, and newcomers Maryn Wynne and Stacy Gillett. Gillett has since said that she intends to withdraw.
“When Chase filed at the last minute, it changed the race,” said Gillett, 44, who works as a paralegal. Chase filed in Olympia at the deadline. “I don’t have the resources to run against an incumbent Democrat in the district.”
The Shoreline resident said she was encouraged by friends in her first-time bid for office.
Wynne, another first-timer, will face Chase alone in the primary. A seven-year Shoreline resident, Wynne said her decision came after working with the local Democratic party to “create some real change in Shoreline.”
“It all happened at the last minute,” Wynne, 48, said. “I was the first to file in my position.”
She doesn’t look at herself as running against Chase, said Wynne, who is self-employed manufacturing costumes for pets. Married with one adult son, Wynne is co-founder of Shoreline Solar Project.
Attempts to contact Chase were unsuccessful by The Enterprise deadline.
The winner of the primary will face Shoreline resident Norine Federow in the general election. Federow’s political background includes running for state representative as a Republican in 1996. She also filed for and withdrew from the 2005 Shoreline City Council election.
Federow filed to run for office on Friday, saying there was no other Republican opposition.
“Everyone should have opposition,” said Federow, 60, who says she is an animal rescuer and gardener.
House Pos. 2
In the primary for Position 2 are incumbent Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, and newcomer Larry Owens, who filed on Friday along with Republican Steve Gibbs.
“I was surprised that both a Democrat and Republican filed,” said Kagi, who hopes to serve a fifth term and chairs the House Children and Family Services Committee.
Since learning she will face a challenger in the primary, Kagi said her campaign strategy has become more aggressive. Kagi has not faced a primary challenger since her first race, when she was running for an open seat, she said.
A 20-year resident of Lake Forest Park, Kagi said although her house was for sale last year, she and her husband, Mark, have decided to remain in their home. The couple has five children.
“The kickoff was at my house,” said Kagi, 60. “Part of the reason was to quiet rumors that I kept hearing that I am moving.”
Owens, president and co-founder of Shoreline Solar Project, said he is running to promote three key issues: renewable energy, public financing of elections and full funding of education. This is his first bid for public office.
“I have been thinking about it for years,” Owens, 54, said about running for office. He is employed at Northwest Mechanical as a solar specialist. He has lived in Shoreline since 1989 with his wife and daughter.
The winner will face Republican Steve Gibbs in the general election. A political newcomer, Gibbs, 42, said he is running to “get out some issues,” pertaining to transportation and schools. Gibbs was reared in Bellevue and moved to Shoreline about 10 years ago.
“I just saw (the Republican party) didn’t have a candidate running against Kagi and I thought we need to have more people running for office,” said Gibbs, who is taking a temporary leave from his work as a small businessman for a seafood products company. Gibbs is married with two young children and intends to run a grassroots campaign.
“I want to take the opportunity to meet my neighbors and get to know what they think,” Gibbs said.
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