In the abundance of talent vying for House Position 1 in the 36th Legislative District, one candidate stands out from the rest: Julia Reed.
Before the editorial board, each of the five people seeking the seat presented themselves as insightful, passionate and polite. Residents of the 36th District — which includes downtown, Magnolia, Fremont and Ballard — should be proud their communities put forth such civic-minded people who want to represent them.
The incumbent, Noel Frame, is running for the state Senate, leaving an open seat.
A Seattle native, Reed is currently a senior consultant at Kinetic West, which helps businesses and nonprofits advance equity and inclusion. She served on Mayor Jenny Durkan’s policy team and intergovernmental affairs office.
Reed has made workforce development a focus, and wants to emphasize hiring people into manufacturing and maritime jobs. Her experience organizing Seattle’s wildfire smoke response led her to advocate for greater state responses to climate change, particularly for small cities.
She focuses on expanding wealth and opportunity, which takes cooperation between government, community and commerce.
“We need strong labor protections. We need solid regulation. We need businesses to do their fair share,” Reed told the editorial board. “But other cities would kill to have the kind of economic resources we have here, and we need to be thinking about how we make our business community part of the solution and not always treating them as a punching bag.”
Tyler Crone is a public health advocate who has made unequal pandemic impacts a centerpiece of her campaign. Jeff Manson is an administrative law judge with the right approach to encouraging more housing without land-use mandates from Olympia. A project manager for Forterra, Waylon Robert advocates for the district’s maritime and fishing industries. Nicole Gomez, co-founder of the Alliance for a Healthy Washington, argues for more progressive taxes.
Voters should send Reed to Olympia. She has the experience, thoughtfulness and priorities to make an outstanding legislator.
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