Open 22nd Legislative District seat draws diverse candidates
The decision by incumbent state Rep. Beth Doglio to run for the 10th Congressional District being vacated by U.S. Rep Denny Heck opened the door for five candidates to represent the 22nd Legislative District in the state House of Representatives.
Doglio has held Position 2 in the 22nd District since 2017.
The people seeking office include: Olympia Mayor Pro-tem Jessica Bateman, social worker and Colville Tribes member Glenda Breiler, former Lacey Police Chief Dusty Pierpoint, nurse practitioner Mary Ellen Biggerstaff and wildlife biologist Anthony Novack.
Breiler held a slim lead in the fundraising tally at the end of last week, with $46,230 in reported campaign contributions, just more than the $45,167 raised for Bateman, according to filings on the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission website. Pierpoint has raised $17,523, ahead of Biggerstaff with $10,973 and Novack with $3,965.
The top two vote-getters in the Aug. 4 primary will advance to the general election held in November. Both candidates can be from the same party.
Glenda Breiler
Breiler works as a social worker and is the director of the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at The Evergreen State College. She previously served as deputy director of the Washington Indian Gaming Commission, where she worked with federally recognized tribes from across the state. The Washington Legislature recently passed a bill authorizing sports wagering at tribal casinos.
An enrolled member of the Colville Tribes with family roots in the Chehalis Tribes, she has made representation of indigenous people and other underrepresented groups a core tenant of her campaign. She counts recently retired state Sen. John McCoy, a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, among the first to endorse her.
“I decided to run because we need a voice from Thurston County that embodies those who have long been ignored,” Breiler said. “With the departure of (McCoy), an endorser, we will no longer have any tribal members in the state legislature, and I think that’s an important piece to remember. I believe that everyone needs to be represented.”
Breiler has raised more than $3,200 in small contributions as recorded by the PDC, more than any other candidate in the race. She also has received $7,000 combined from six tribal nations. Other key endorsements include those by Olympia City Council member Renata Rollins, the Children’s Campaign Fund, and seven current state legislators.
“I’ve worked regularly with many of our state legislators,” Breiler said. “Working with 26 tribes is like working with 26 different countries, so it takes a large amount of outreach to work with all those sovereign nations.”
Jessica Bateman
Bateman was elected to the Olympia City Council in 2015 and has served as Mayor Pro-tem since the beginning of 2019. She co-chaired the campaign to establish the Olympia Home Fund, a sales tax approved by voters in 2018 that raises around $2 million annually to address housing issues in the city.
Housing has been Bateman’s central focus during her tenure on the city council, which has seen the creation of the homeless response coordinator position on city staff and the downtown homeless mitigation site.
“When we talk about affordable housing, it’s a spectrum that encompasses a lot of different kinds of housing,” Bateman said. “I’ve worked with the city council on some examples of how local governments can leverage the property they own in order to create more affordable housing, like when we as a council carved off 10 acres from the LBA Woods land for workforce housing. We have about a 2 percent vacancy rate in Olympia and Thurston County. In Spokane, it’s at 1 percent, so it’s an issue being felt statewide.”
Heck and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal have endorsed Bateman, as have incumbent 22nd District Sen. Sam Hunt and State Rep. Laurie Dolan. Four of her fellow city council members have endorsed her, including Mayor Cheryl Selby.
Her three largest campaign contributions, all $2,000, have come from the Washington Multi-Family Housing Association PAC, the Washington Education Association PAC, and the Community Health Network of Washington. Bateman works as a health policy associate for the Washington Association for Community Health.
“I think it speaks to my experience in our community, my history here and the leadership I have exemplified,” Bateman said. “I have the most endorsements from leaders in Thurston County and the most organizational endorsements, including the Humane Voters of Washington.”
Dusty Pierpoint
Pierpoint served as chief of police in Lacey from 2005-2018, and is the lone Republican in the field of candidates. A graduate of The Evergreen State College, he points to his deep family ties to Thurston County as one reason why he is motivated to reenter the public sector.
- Well aware that he’s attempting to become the first Republican in many years to represent the 22nd District, Pierpoint emphasizes his shared goals with people across the political spectrum. Those include non-punitive ways of addressing the homeless crisis, such as working to connect people with services to help solve the issues contributing to their lack of housing.
“We’re spending a lot of money on the homelessness issue, and from much of what I’m seeing and reading and hearing, not much is getting better,” Pierpoint said. “If we’re going to implement a pilot program to help people, we can track the numbers and within a year or two, we need to see those numbers declining, or we’re not doing the right things. The headlines change, but the problems we’re dealing with are still there and still very real.”
Former Secretaries of State Sam Reed and Ralph Munro have each endorsed Pierpoint. So too have Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza and the State Farm Bureau PAC. His largest campaign contributions have come from the Washington Affordable Housing Council and The Reagan Fund.
“When you look at the people on my list of endorsements who are former leaders and former bosses of mine, many in non-partisan positions and from both sides of the aisle, I feel like it shows they know me, know my history, and know what I can do,” Pierpoint said.
Mary Ellen Biggerstaff
Biggerstaff touts her experience working with a wide array of people as a political strength. A nurse practitioner at Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma since 2009, she said she’s encountered many patients burdened by untreated substance abuse disorders and an unequal economic system. Those factors contributed to her support for the presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Medicare For All.
A self-identified Democratic Socialist with endorsements from the Democratic Socialists of America and the Washington State Progressive Caucus, she believes there is an appetite for her ideas across the 22nd District.
“There are certain neighborhoods in Olympia where you know that behind every door is a leftist, but in Lacey, I find many people are open to discussing the economic issues. I don’t think there are many people in Thurston County who haven’t been affected by the affordable healthcare and housing crisis.
“Being more leftist, it’s a great opportunity to talk about those issues and the basic human rights we need to place front and center.”
Biggerstaff has been endorsed by Olympia City Council member Clark Gilman and Jeff Sowers, chair of the 22nd District Democrats. Her campaign has raised more than $6,500 in cash and in-kind contributions solely from individuals, not counting the voter information provided to all candidates by the state Democratic Party.
“I’m open to hearing ideas and listening to different perspectives, and I don’t mind when people disagree with me,” Biggerstaff said. “There’s been a big sweep of leftist candidates running across the country, so it’s an interesting time to see what happens.”
Anthony Novack
Novack is a Washington native who joined the Peace Corps out of college, according to his campaign website. He lived for five years in Roslyn, a small town in Kittitas County, where he served on the Roslyn City Council before moving to Olympia. The two prongs of his platform are preservation of the environment and reducing partisan conflict in state government.
The mission statement on Novack’s website reads in part: “The incessant political conflicts seem to have created a system where resolving problems is secondary to political grandstanding. Our citizens’ health, happiness and economic well being need to be at the forefront of the next legislative session.”
About one-third of Novack’s campaign thus far has been self-financed. He has no endorsements listed on his campaign website.
This story was originally published July 26, 2020 at 1:53 PM.