The Olympian’s endorsement in the competitive 10th Congressional District

The race for the open seat in the 10th Congressional District provides a clear choice between two well-qualified candidates with distinctly different careers, life stories, and political approaches. Democrats might wish we could elect both of them.

Beth Doglio, currently a 22nd District state legislator, has been working to reduce climate change and protect the environment for 30 years. As a legislator, she supported housing for people who are homeless, police reform, gun safety, and workers’ rights including paid family leave. She is smart, capable, and progressive. She has a list of endorsers as long as your arm, starting with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Marilyn Strickland is the former two-term mayor of Tacoma and former president and CEO of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. She is highly regarded for leading Tacoma through the recovery from the Great Recession and into an era of economic growth and investment, and raising the high school graduation rate. She is personable, principled, and has a list of endorsers as long as your other arm, headlined by former Governors Gary Locke and Chris Gregoire.

Doglio is the daughter of public school educators. She was raised in Illinois and moved to Washington state in 1987.

Strickland is the daughter of a Black soldier and a South Korean mother. She was born in South Korea and raised in Tacoma. If elected, she would be the first African-American from Washington to serve in the House, and the first Korean-American woman to serve in Congress.

This race echoes the Bernie versus Biden contest for the Democratic nomination, and the broader contest between mainstream Democrats and the democratic socialist wing.

As mayor, Strickland attracted new investment and navigated to promote both business and worker prosperity for Tacoma. She raised the minimum wage, passed paid sick leave, and helped create programs to prepare students for high-wage jobs in the maritime and construction trades.

Doglio criticizes her for not raising the minimum wage high enough. Doglio is also critical of Strickland’s work at the Seattle Chamber, which led a largely Amazon-funded campaign to elect more moderate candidates to the Seattle City Council.

On health care, Strickland supports a public option; Doglio is pushing for Medicare for all. Doglio criticizes Strickland for taking money from political action committees; Strickland, who eschewed PAC money in the primary, counters that she has accepted PAC funds in the general election because it’s the way the system currently works. Both, however, support HR 1, a broad reform bill that would limit campaign contributions to small donors and match them with public money.

But there is more than left versus moderate political inclinations to weigh in this race. We see two critical concerns.

The first is breadth of experience. While Doglio broadened her issues in the legislature, much of her career has been devoted to environmental protection and addressing climate change. For many in Thurston County, this is of paramount importance.

Strickland has a much broader range. She is more knowledgeable about military culture, veterans’ issues, and this district’s economic colossus, JBLM. She understands the needs of business owners, working people, students and teachers. As mayor, her job was to harmonize those interests rather than to choose sides. She also has a two-term mayor’s depth of knowledge about less volatile issues, such as transportation and infrastructure. As mayor, she also took action on climate change.

The second critical issue is racial justice. Strickland knows this issue in her bones. When she and her parents returned to Virginia after her father’s service in Korea, their interracial marriage was illegal, and they were turned away from motels on their first night back in the U.S. She is endorsed by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and will be welcomed into the Asian Pacific American Caucus. Her election will open a new door for Black people, Asian Americans, and other people of color in this state.

Our choice between these candidates is a choice between a crusader and a problem solver. We favor the problem solver.

We recognize that this moment in our nation’s history calls for deep, systemic change in the way capitalism works. We see the urgent need for sustained focus on racial justice, and on reducing economic inequality. Our pandemic has exacerbated these problems.

We also face a climate crisis that threatens us, our children and future generations.

Many in our community will be conflicted by this choice between a more progressive local hero and a moderate Black woman with breadth of leadership experience. But we think Strickland’s experience in bringing people together, balancing competing interests, and restoring civic pride is the kind of unifying leadership our country needs.

That’s why we are endorsing Marilyn Strickland. Her pragmatism is more likely to lead us to common ground, and to solutions supported by a sustainable Congressional majority.

This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 5:45 AM.