Race for empty House seat representing Spokane Valley, surrounding area features crowded field of candidates
A half dozen seasoned politicians and first-time candidates are vying to represent Spokane Valley and much of eastern Spokane County in the state Legislature, after the incumbent left the seat wide open.
The race is for Position 2 in the 4th District, which stretches from Spokane Valley in the south, Elk to the north, and from the Idaho state line to Newport Highway. The district has only elected Republicans since 1994.
Rep. Leonard Christian, who was elected to the seat in 2022, is running to be the state senator for the 4th District. He’s one of four Republicans, in addition to two Democrats, contending for the seat soon to be vacated by Sen. Mike Padden, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
That candidate breakdown by party is identical to that of the six candidates running for Christian’s former seat in the state House. The conservatives in the race include 4th generation Green Bluff cattle rancher Michael Schmidt, former Spokane Valley Councilwoman Brandi Peetz, former mortgage broker and bigfoot hunter Stephen Major and former Spokane County Treasurer and state Rep. Rob Chase.
Longtime Kaiser Aluminum employee and union advocate Ted Cummings and former Spokane County Democratic Party Chair Ed “Woody” Wood are the two Democrats in the race.
Schmidt has raised more money than any other candidate with nearly $32,600 as of Tuesday afternoon, followed by Peetz with more than $9,800. Chase is next with over $6,700 , according to Public Disclosure Commission filings.
Major, Cummings and Wood have elected to take the mini-reporting route, meaning they do not need to file financial campaign statements as long as they do not raise or spend more than $7,000.
Why they’re running
This is the first run at elected office for Schmidt and Wood, the latter saying it was a “bucket list” goal to step out from behind the scenes into a candidate position. Wood said his time spent as a union representative for the Spokane branch of the the Communications Workers of America, local 7818.
Wood said his work negotiating with various entities on behalf of the union has prepared him to do the hard work of legislating. His race is also a rebuttal to what he sees as a lack of character in the Republican Party.
“I’m absolutely disgusted with the Republican Party and what they stand for today; I just am,” Wood said. “And there’s a certain person that’s leading the party, and they’re falling in line with him, and I think he’s horrible for this country, and it goes all the way down to the state Legislature and even local politics, from the mayor to the county commissioners.”
Schmidt, who is not related to Rep. Suzanne Schmidt, who holds the other state House seat in the district, said he decided to launch his first political campaign to reinstate “common sense” in Olympia, to advocate for the younger generations and to represent the values and concerns of Eastern Washington residents.
“I’m going to do what’s best for my grandkids, because I think that’s what’s best for your kids and your grandkids,” Schmidt said. “If I go to the Legislature and do that, I’ll feel like I’ve done my job. And I guess that’s that in a nutshell.”
Cummings, a vocal critic of the Republican Party and those who follow the lead of former President Donald Trump, said he opted to run because it is a consequential election that will greatly impact the future of the state and the country. He said his campaign is “a rejection of this hate that’s been unleashed,” and a counter to the ideas perpetuated by Republican leaders.
“The racism and bigotry is appalling,” Cummings said. “Our community deserves better, and I want to offer them a candidate that has the character to reject hate and ignorance, stand up for science, our jury system, the justice system. Our elections are secure, vaccines are safe and a vital component of public health care, our institutions should not be vilified, like the CDC or the FDA or the FBI. There is no deep state conspiracy.”
Peetz said she has been waiting for the right time to make her return to politics after opting not to run for re-election to the Spokane Valley City Council in 2023, and that an opportunity like this doesn’t come around often.
She’s excited by the possibility of two women representing the district in the state House if Rep. Suzanne Schmidt wins re-election, and worries if the seat flipped to the Democrats that it would lead to a super majority in Olympia, which Peetz views as counter to America’s democracy regardless of the party in charge.
Peetz touts her experience crafting policy at the city level, her ability to connect with younger and older generations and the relationships she’s established with state legislators across the state and political spectrum as why she’s the right choice for 4th District voters.
“All it takes is having tough conversations, reaching across the aisle and realizing we all want the same things, we just might have different ways of getting there,” Peetz said.
Major said he knows of several people who have left Washington because their “rights are being infringed upon,” and that the state has been in a “downward spiral politically” for the last five years.
Major said he and his wife considered moving away, but instead, he opted to try and change things as a legislator. He said he could only effect so much change as a longtime Republican precinct committee officer but would push to repeal a number of state laws and regulations he views as infringements of people’s rights, if elected.
“With this seat coming available, that gives me an opportunity to get involved at a level to where I can bring some effective change in the state and maybe give it a new direction,” Major said.
Chase, who filed as a Republican but has Libertarian leanings, said he has the established relationships and experience needed to succeed in the position, and decided to run because he misses the work of being a state legislator. He’d also like to serve as a mentor to up-and-coming policy makers.
“I have on all my signs ‘Truth matters,’ ” Chase said. “That way if I’m wrong then I’m honestly wrong. I try to use that as a guide to tell the truth. I think there are a lot of things you need to stand up for.”
On Public Safety
Most of the conservatives in the race have identified public safety as one of their top campaign issues, but vary in specifics on what that umbrella term means to them.
Peetz, a former 911 operator and member of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Citizen’s Advisory Board, said she is one of the only candidates with real experience in the law enforcement realm and therefore has what it takes to pass legislation that would help law enforcement officers “feel equipped to do their jobs.”
Peetz would like to see increased penalties for things like drug use and retail theft, and repeal some of the police reform efforts passed by the Legislature in 2021.
“Experience matters,” Peetz said. “When we’re talking policy, life and death situations, you want people who think differently.”
Schmidt said he too would like to see some of those reform measures rolled back, and that the 4th District and the state as a whole is under-policed. He would like to do what he could in the Legislature to bring more officers to Washington’s streets by establishing more extensive recruitment pathways and a funding mechanism for local jurisdictions to hire more officers.
Schmidt said a lot of law enforcement agencies are having difficulty recruiting because there is a negative perception of them, held primarily by younger generations. He thinks vocational schools and public safety oriented lessons starting at an early age would help change that perception, and ensure those children maintain clean records so they can become officers later in life.
“If we could figure out how to pay officers to walk the streets, I truly think it’ll make a difference,” Schmidt said. “Make a difference in our safety, and the way the streets feel and the way the homeless, you know, what the homeless do and how they settle in.”
Chase said his voting record during his time in the Legislature shows he has always been a supporter of law enforcement officers, whether it’s by voting against efforts to improve accountability for them or voting for expanded support services for mental health patients vulnerable to homelessness. He’s supportive of co-response programs in which mental health experts accompany first responders to a call for service.
“I voted straight for public safety,” Chase said. “Thin blue line and everything.”
During his stint in the Legislature, Chase voted against a number of 2021 bills signed into law that set restrictions and accountability measures for law enforcement officers, including requiring suspects who are minors to speak to an attorney before law enforcement, creating a state investigatory office for use-of-force incidents and prohibiting chokeholds, no-knock warrants and most vehicular pursuits.
Some of those measures were later amended by the Legislature and by voter initiatives.
Major said getting at the root causes of crime or addiction would be the best way to increase public safety. He said the state “can’t just keep building more jails and arresting and incarcerating people,” and that more funding needs to be put toward preventative measures in addition to policing.
“We’ve got to stop whatever the root cause is of this, and in a lot of cases it revolves around drugs,” Major said. “So how do we prevent kids from getting involved in drugs? How do we prevent kids from getting involved in gangs? How do we prevent that? Let’s focus on that; let’s put some money in there.”
Major takes umbrage at efforts to regulate gun ownership and guns in the state, and said he would fight to repeal those and other “repressive state laws.”
Cummings said discussion around crime and addiction are really conversations about the larger economic factors at play. The rise in the cost of living as wages have not kept pace is a major contributing factor, as our other financial stressors.
Improving education and employment opportunities could be a viable way to address crime, he said.
“We’ve got to stabilize the American family,” Cummings said. “And that starts with giving them a roof over their head, that they’re not stressed out, that they can afford the mortgage, and they can afford health care, and they can afford their groceries and transportation.”
On Education
Education is one of the top issues for Wood, whose wife spent decades as an educator in the Central Valley School District. If elected, he would like to pursue legislation that would make higher education more attainable for Washington residents by providing financial incentives or making state-funded schools free-of-cost.
“We are so far behind some of these countries in the world,” Wood said. “Most of Europe, college education is paid for all the way through college. Not in this country, you have to go on debt to go to college. There’s something wrong with that.”
Wood also takes issue with recent efforts by school boards across the state to restrict what content, books and styles can be used in public schools. He said those decisions should be left to individual families, not elected officials.
“They want to control what children learn totally,” Wood said. “They want to be able to ban books; it’s so absurd to me. As a parent, if I don’t want my child to read a book, I’ll let the school know, and they won’t read the book. It’s already set in place. We don’t have to ban stuff.”
Major takes issue with recent efforts to block a citizen initiative adopted by the Legislature this year referred to as a “parental bill of rights” from taking effect, saying “parental rights” take precedence in every aspect of a child’s life.
Most of the rights granted in Initiative 2081 already existed before its passage, including the right to review school materials.
“Parents should be entitled to those rights as parents, they’re their children,” Major said. “And you’ve got a government telling parents that they don’t have the right to raise their children the way that they feel is right.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and other legal groups have filed a lawsuit against the measure, and a King County judge ruled last week that pieces of the legislation related to when parents can access medical and mental health records can not move forward as the case is being considered.
On top of altering significant laws regarding youth privacy, implementing the initiative would lead to “harm for LGBTQ+ students, youth of color and students from other marginalized backgrounds,” the ACLU said in a May statement.
Schmidt said he too was supportive of the measure because “the government can’t take over the role of parenting.” He would like to see less state regulations regarding curriculum and “bathrooms and sports” in public schools, and for decisions related to public schools to be left to the local school boards.
“The kid’s health is the parents’ responsibility, and right to know and to manage that,” Schmidt said. “And I know there’s a lot of issues wrapped up into that. But ultimately, parents have the right to know the health and wellness of their children. And I believe that firmly.”
Cummings said the way school boards and education issues have been politicized is a “travesty,” and that public education is just one of many institutions that Republican leaders have allowed to be vilified by those looking to make their “bigoted theology” the norm. He also takes issue with the idea of using public funding to send students to private or charter schools.
“This pushback on defunding our education and then vilifying our teachers and the teachers union with a bunch of propaganda and just misinformation, again, it’s just destructive,” Cummings said. “That isn’t helpful, and that’s not who I believe we are as a people.”
Cummings added that he believes education is one of the root causes of many of the problems the region is contending with right now, including drug use, crime and poverty. Focusing on improving education and supporting public schools so children have worthwhile opportunities later in life is essential, even though those costs often fall on the taxpayer, he said.
“It is so short-sighted not to spend on school and education,” Cummings said. “I know that’s the biggest driver in our taxes, but it’s money well spent. That’s our future; that’s going to solve all of our issues, from disease to climate change to agriculture and everything. That’s how we’re going to move forward, by keeping our kids educated, keeping our kids safe.”
Peetz said she would like to increase vocational opportunities for high schoolers opting not to pursue higher education, which would help bolster the workforce, she said.
Chase echoed Peetz’s sentiments, saying he would like to see more trade, shop and STEM classes in public schools. He would support establishing a voucher program to help less fortunate families send their children to private schools.
“Parents can send their kids to school where they want to, but then the other thing, I think competition always gives out a better product,” Chase said. “So I think K through 12 public schools would become better schools just because of the competition. They would not want to lose kids to the program, so all around it’s a win-win situation.”
On housing, labor and taxes
Chase, who once sat on the House Finance Committee, said more effort needs to be put into workforce development, diminishing the cost of home ownership and bringing back manufacturing to the United States.
“It’s like the middle class has been squashed in the last 30 or 40 years,” Chase said.
Cummings agreed that the middle class is struggling and that manufacturing needs to be localized, but placed the blame on the circumstances that led to that situation on Republican leadership.
“I think the Republican Party has done a masterful job on shifting the blame to Democrats when this is 40 years of failed Republican policy,” Cummings said. “They have been anti-labor and anti-union, which really built the middle class, as we’ve shipped jobs overseas and we’ve gutted our manufacturing, taking away our good core jobs.”
Affordable housing is a top priority for Cummings, who wants heavy state investment in building home inventory to drive the cost of home ownership down. He understands the frustrations from developers and contractors over recent building code changes to promote greener climate-friendly standards, but emphasized that it is an opportunity for job creation and innovation.
Peetz said local businesses, including those in real estate, are being overregulated at the state level, which has led to many businesses already in the 4th District or considering a relocation to opt for a friendlier business climate in Idaho.
She criticizes the ballooning state budget, and Peetz said she would conduct a comprehensive audit to determine what would be necessary for the state to continue collecting taxes for. She said she’d advocate for more tax relief for shoppers, property owners and businesses in the region, if elected.
“People are barely affording their bills; some don’t even know where their next meal is coming from,” Peetz said. “So for the state to consider some of the taxes they are considering is just so atrocious.”
Wood said “affordable healthcare, good jobs and good benefits” are key components of his campaign.
“That’s the stuff that the unions have built, I believe, in this country,” Wood said. “And a lot of that’s been taken away. I think we need to continue to work for the betterment of every citizen, not just the wealthy, and that’s who I feel the Republican Party caters to, is the wealthy. They don’t cater to the average, ordinary person that lives in the 4th LD.”
Promoting economic development and adequate healthcare in rural areas is particularly important to Wood. He would like to establish an incentive program to improve access to pharmacists and healthcare providers for rural Washingtonians, and firmly believes broadband access is essential to the future health of those communities still in “internet deserts.”
For Major, economic development is being stifled by overregulation, “too many taxes” and a hostile business environment, which he said is primarily fostered at the state level.
“We’ve got to turn this around, but we can’t do that if we don’t come up with a better message,” Major said. “We can’t do that unless we rally more people to the Republican cause, which is less government regulation, more freedom overall.”
As a rancher and real estate broker, Schmidt would like to roll back some of those regulations that he believes are stifling development and making it harder for folks to live off the land.
On agriculture, he said the Department of Ecology and other similar agencies are “overstepping their bounds” in regulating things like water usage, and that the state’s Urban Growth Act needs to be reformed to better protect good farmland for being developed.
But Schmidt also believes there is a need to bolster the home inventory to drive the cost of housing down. He said development should occur where it is most logical and that the balancing act between building communities and protecting farmlands can be done responsibly. He views the new building codes and energy standards instituted by the state, and other developer regulations like them, are “just a hindrance and a cost.”
“There’s been some expenses put on our builders here in the last year or two that’s made houses here a lot less affordable,” Schmidt said. “And we can reverse those things.”
Editor’s note: This story was changed on July 3, 2024, to correct the name of the city council on which Brandi Peetz served. Peetz was a member of the Spokane Valley City Council from late 2017 until the end of 2023.