Former campaign manager for Tacoma council candidate now running against her as write-in
A Tacoma man is running a write-in campaign for City Council, District 2, after stepping down as campaign manager for another candidate in the same race.
AJ Simoneaux Sr., who announced his run via social media on Sept. 12, filed as a write-in candidate Sept. 10, the Pierce County Auditor’s Office confirmed Wednesday. As a write-in candidate, Simoneaux’s name will not appear on the ballot or in the voters’ pamphlet.
The Auditor’s Office only reports votes for a write-in candidate if the total number is enough to make a difference in the outcome of the race.
Simoneaux was hired to run the campaign for Kelly Blucher at the end of August. About a week into the job, he told The News Tribune, he felt Blucher was unprepared and didn’t “respect the urgency” of the problems facing the district.
Simoneaux, who lives in District 2, said, “I felt like I had no other choice but to run.”
Efforts to reach Blucher for comment were unsuccessful.
Simoneaux, 39, was born in the Philippines and has lived in the Stadium District since 2019. The father of three previously worked as an Army lieutenant and was first stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in 2010 before traveling around the country for several years. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, he told The News Tribune.
Simoneaux has held various jobs in the past three years, working as a high school graduation specialist, a sales manager for Home2 Suites by Hilton, a military intelligence officer for the U.S. Army Reserve, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Simoneaux is now the CEO of a company he started, Tactical Pause Consultancy, a political consulting group “aimed at progressing veteran advocacy across America.” Simoneaux said he’s been involved as a field organizer in other campaigns, such as Beto O’Rourke’s campaign to the Texas state Senate in 2018, Coda Rayo-Garza’s campaign for the Texas House of Representatives in 2019, Ron Nirenberg’s campaign for San Antonio mayor in 2019, and presidential campaigns for Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders for a couple of months in 2019.
Simoneaux was hired at the very end of August to run his first campaign for Blucher, who is running for Tacoma City Council, District 2.
He was offered the job by Prism West, who was hired by Blucher to help build her campaign and platform. Riall Johnson with Prism West told The News Tribune that Prism West is a small business and is working with about 15 clients. The firm typically doesn’t have the manpower to do local organizing efforts, like door-knocking, so it helps clients find campaign managers who can.
That’s where Simoneaux came into the picture. Riall said that Simoneaux never actually had a finalized contract with Prism but was paid for about 10 days of work on “good faith.”
Riall said that Simoneaux was not a good fit for the campaign.
“Campaign managers are supposed to get their candidate elected, not themselves,” Johnson told The News Tribune over the phone on Friday.
Simoneaux said he and Blucher had philosophical differences about how to run the campaign that came to a head Sept. 9 when he criticized her for what he called her lack of a platform. In a string of text messages he shared with The News Tribune, he also suggested Blucher was lazy.
“AJ, I refuse to have you speak to me like this,” Blucher texted back. “This is demeaning and I will not be spoken to as such. Calling me lazy is absolutely not okay.”
The City Council, District 2 seat serves parts of downtown, the Port of Tacoma and Northeast Tacoma. Blucher and Sarah Rumbaugh have been running their campaigns for months.
Blucher is a mother of three and is the community engagement manager at Goodwill. She’s an avid child care and housing advocate, having previously experienced homelessness. She is a co-founder of Hire 253, a job fair that helps connect people, including those experiencing homelessness, with employment.
Rumbaugh runs a consulting firm in Tacoma and serves on the City of Tacoma Human Rights Commission, the board of Associated Ministries of Pierce County and as a board member at Temple Beth El. She was previously employed as a city planner for the City of Kent. She’s also married to Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stanley Rumbaugh.
Rumbaugh told The News Tribune on Thursday that she’s not bothered by having a third person enter the race.
“I think that’s what democracy’s all about,” Rumbaugh said.
Rumbaugh also stood up for Blucher, calling Simoneaux’s texts disrespectful and that Blucher is working a full-time job, caring for her kids while simultaneously running a campaign.
“We should be more respectful of each other,” she said.
On his website, Simoneaux lists three major topics for his campaign, including ending climate change, supporting police reform and addressing homelessness and housing affordability. All candidates for Tacoma City Council have previously spoken to The News Tribune about these topics.
Simoneaux said he experienced homelessness while in graduate school and that finding an affordable home in District 2 is “impossible.”
“Tacoma needs drastic strategies with measurable goals to get both individuals and families into housing,” according to his website. “I refuse to let local politicians continue on with excuses that only put a band aid on the issue—rather than working to find shelter for those living on Tacoma’s streets tonight.
Simoneaux said that as a Council member, he would commit to weekly ride-alongs with a police officer to “ensure a working relationship between City Council and TPD.”
“The Tacoma Police Department needs to fight crime, recruit Officers locally, and maintain a high standard of professionalism,” Simoneaux’s website states. “It is imperative that we reassess our recruiting practices so the force is more reflective of our community, in shape both mentally and physically, and dedicated to accountability within their ranks.”
Simoneaux also wants to end the city’s reliance on fossil fuels.
“By bringing in new business to the port that can fulfill global needs—like onshore storage and microprocessing plants— we can dramatically change what Tacoma’s economy looks like for generations to come,” he said.
