All the political demographics say the 2nd Legislative District should be GOP territory. After all, both state representatives – Tom Campbell and Jim McCune – are Republicans. And Dino Rossi and Rob McKenna, Republican candidates for governor and attorney general, respectively, both won 56 percent of the vote in the district when they ran in 2004.

Nevertheless, Rasmussen keeps winning – by 5 percentage points in close years, by 15 points in easy years.

This time, there are two Republicans vying for the chance to finally disrupt Rasmussen’s 22-year legislative career.

Kelly Mainard and Randi Becker have their own struggle in the Aug. 19 primary election that will decide which of them will face Rasmussen in November. Technically, the top two finishers will advance to the general election, but it seems unlikely that both Republicans would.

Becker, 60, a retired medical administrator, is the candidate with the most money and blessing of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, which recruited her. Mainard, 48, is the grass-roots challenger who’s been in the trenches for many years fighting for the rights of home-schoolers and against methamphetamine labs.

Becker holds an 8-1 advantage in terms of money and in-kind contributions.

“I don’t have a lot of money, and I haven’t asked much for money,” Mainard said. She’s making do with slightly more than $5,000. Instead of buying yard signs, she bought a laser printer and makes copies to hand out when she goes door-to-door to meet voters.

“I don’t have the funds to do a mailing,” she said. “They’ll just have to read the voters pamphlet.”

Mainard co-founded Washington Homeschool Organization not long after the Legislature in 1985 allowed parents to teach their children at home even if they weren’t certified teachers.

Mainard said she home-schooled all three of her children through grade school, and ran a medical transcription business out of her home for 20 years.

In 2001, she earned her master’s degree in education and became a contract psychologist for the Clover Park and Eatonville school districts, working largely with special-needs students.

It was about that same time, when she was living in Roy, that she learned she resided in the middle of “meth” country.

“All of a sudden we get cars speeding by us and baggies thrown out the window,” she said. She teamed up with a retired Tacoma police officer and his wife, and learned what sorts of information officers needed to shut down illicit labs.

Later, she traveled to Olympia to help pass a law that required retailers to track and restrict the sale of drugs that often are used to manufacture meth.

Becker said she doesn’t have the grass-roots background of her opponent because she was busy working 10- to 14-hour days pursuing a career in the medical field, eventually overseeing a clinic for several doctors. It was her contacts in the medical community who first approached her about running for office after she retired late last year, she said.

“When I was working, I put a budget together,” Becker said. “I think my business background will actually help down in Olympia.”

Part of what made those days so long were the hours she spent commuting to work on South Hill, she said, and that’s how she learned first-hand about the district’s traffic problems.

“The fact is that people like me are tired of sitting in traffic,” she said. “We need to build the roads that we have been talking about for 20 years. I want to fight for that.”

That includes the cross-base highway between Frederickson and Interstate 5, as well as the future leg that will run down to the Orting Valley.

“Everyone goes to Kent and Renton and Seattle to work because we don’t have much industry in the 2nd District,” Becker said. Construction of the new highway will take pressure off Canyon Road, Pacific Avenue and Highway 162, she said.

Becker said she’s lived in Spanaway 21 years and in Pierce County for a total of 35 years, raised two daughters and is a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association.

The 2nd District includes Eatonville, Graham, Roy, Frederickson, Orting and part of Spanaway in southeast Pierce County as well as Yelm in Thurston County.

Joseph Turner: 253-597-8436

blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics

Candidates in 2nd Legislative District

Kelly Mainard

Age: 48

Home: Frederickson

Occupation: School psychologist

Political party: Republican

Campaign: 253-846-3210 or Kelly_Mainard@comcast.net

Money raised: $5,394

Randi Becker

Age: 60

Home: Eatonville

Occupation: Retired medical administrator

Political party: Republican

Campaign: 360-832-2926 or randi@randibecker.com

Money raised: $40,724

Marilyn Rasmussen

Age: 69

Home: Eatonville

Occupation: State senator, retired dairy farmer

Political party: Democrat

Campaign: 253-847-3276 or marilyn@rainierconnect.com

Money raised: $55,919

VOTER GUIDE | Check out the candidates’ answers to our questionnaires on our Web site.

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