How the battle for the 10th Congressional District seat is going with 2 weeks to go
Two Democratic women are vying for U.S. Rep. Denny Heck’s open seat in the 10th Congressional District race, hoping to be part of Democratic wave that at least one political science professor thinks could take control of both chambers of Congress.
Former Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland and state Rep. Beth Doglio of Olympia advanced to the general election out of a field of 19 candidates who competed in the August primary. Strickland got 20.4 percent of the votes in the August primary. Doglio was next with 15.2.
The district includes most of Thurston and Pierce counties and part of Mason County.
Asked about the seat, Travis Ridout, a professor of political science at Washington State University, said, “It could be an interesting time for a freshman Democrat to be in Congress.”
He said he thinks “the odds are pretty good” that the Democrats hold the House, and that “there’s probably at least a 50-50 chance of a Democratic Senate as well.”
If both those things happen, and if Joe Biden wins the White House, that could mean “some massive legislative efforts,” Ridout said.
Immigration, climate change, health care could all be on the agenda. “It could be sweeping,” he said.
The issues
The candidates spoke about those issues at a virtual candidate forum Wednesday, sponsored by the Leagues of Women Voters in Thurston and Mason Counties.
Asked about healthcare at the event, Strickland said she supports “building upon the success of the Affordable Care Act.”
By adding a public option, she said, “we provide people with a choice of not having to depend on their job to actually get access to healthcare.” She also spoke in support of lowering the eligibility age for Medicare by 10 years, and about allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ plans “beyond the age of 26.”
Doglio said, “We need a Medicare for All system that is streamlined, that would provide one network, easy for physicians to figure out, in terms of insurance, and easy for patients to figure out. A growing number of Americans actually recognize that building on our existing Medicare system is the best path forward.”
Both spoke about the need to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Asked about climate change, Doglio said it’s one of the reasons she is running for office, and that she’s proud of policies the state passed “that puts us on the path to meet our greenhouse gas emission reduction goals that are currently in statute.”
“It starts with a sector-by-sector decarbonization, a suite of policies,” she said. “We start with the electric sector, we move to 100-percent fossil free by 2035, 2045. You can get to carbon neutral, and then you move to fossil free.”
She also said she got a bill passed that “set the first-in-the-nation emissions performance standards for existing commercial buildings.”
Strickland said at the forum that she was proud that she reaffirmed Tacoma’s commitment to the Paris Climate Accord when the president withdrew, and that “we actually increased our solar usage by 26 percent in the city of Tacoma.” She said she’d support Joe Biden’s plan “to use infrastructure as a way to address cleaning our grid, to address how we electrify more of our vehicles, and to address having power sources that are more green and more clean.”
The campaigns
Both candidates have launched new ads in recent weeks.
Doglio’s talked about her endorsements from nurses, firefighters and essential workers, and criticized Strickland’s healthcare plan, among other things.
“COVID-19 has made it crystal clear that workers are the backbone of this country,” Doglio says in the ad. “As a state rep, I’ve worked hard for better benefits, for higher wages, and I’ll go to Congress and do the exact same thing.”
Strickland’s recent ads talked about her work to increase graduation rates in Tacoma, and her work during the Great Recession in the city.
“In Congress I’ll fight for resources families and educators need to learn during the pandemic, because we’ll recover faster with better education and opportunities for everyone,” she said in one.
In another she said: “As mayor, I knew that working with everyone was the only way we could turn things around. Now, I’m running for Congress to work with both parties to help our nation recover and heal.”
The contributions and endorsements
The most recent Federal Election Commission filings showed Doglio had raised $1,186,800 and Strickland had raised $1,362,400.
Strickland said in a press release this month that she raised almost $800,000 from July through September.
Her campaign has cited polling by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner in August that showed her at 43 percent, Doglio at 22, and 35 percent undecided.
“If elected, Marilyn will be the first African-American from the Pacific Northwest elected to Congress, and the first Korean-American woman to serve in Congress’ 230-year history,” the press release said.
Doglio would be the state’s first openly LGBTQ member of Congress.
Her campaign said in a recent press release: “As new endorsements have come in, grassroots support for Doglio’s campaign has continued to intensify, including 2,685 new donors just in the month of September and over 7,000 total donations last month.”
Doglio has made it a campaign issue that she is not accepting donations from political action committees, while Strickland has.
Doglio is endorsed by senators and former presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the Washington State Labor Council, and the Sierra Club. Some of her other endorsements include U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Seattle), the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Sunrise Movement Olympia and Tacoma.
She is also endorsed by the 22nd, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, and 31st Legislative District Democrats, and the Pierce County Democrats and Thurston County Democrats. Both candidates are endorsed by the 2nd Legislative District Democrats.
“Doglio has been endorsed by SEIU 925 and 6 representing early childhood educators, educators and janitors — joining primary endorsers SEIU 775 and 1199NW,” her campaign press release said earlier this month. “The Washington Education Association and National Education Association have also endorsed Doglio, along with the American Federation of Teachers-Washington and over 120 in-district educators who support her campaign.”
Another recent endorsement is from Jamaal Bowman, Democratic nominee for Congress in New York.
“Beth Doglio is a community organizer, climate activist, and current State Representative who understands that we can’t accept the status quo,” Bowman said in a statement. “In Congress, Beth will fight for affordable housing, Medicare for All, paid family leave, and a Green New Deal.”
Doglio held a press conference in Tacoma last month as wildfires burned across the West Coast and smoke affected the region.
“The stakes have never been higher than they are right now and the consequences of failing to act have never been more clear,” she told those gathered.
Doglio went on to say: “We can build a clean energy economy, we can strengthen our middle class, we can create millions of good paying union jobs. But in order to do that we really need climate leaders with the expertise to get us there in Congress.”
Among those endorsing Strickland is former state Rep. Kristine Reeves of Federal Way, who was third in the primary for the 10th District.
“At this time we need leaders in Congress who understand, through first-hand lived experience, that our institutions of government are not working for all Americans and have disproportionately left Black, brown and low-income folks behind,” Reeves said in a statement in August. “I strongly believe Marilyn Strickland is the candidate in this race who will stand up for those left behind, and I am proud to offer her my enthusiastic endorsement and support.”
Strickland also was recently endorsed by U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California, Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, Laborers’ International Union of North America, Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Rising & Empowering (ASPIRE) PAC, and the Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition Political Action Committee.
Some of Strickland’s other endorsements include former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Washington Gov. Gary Locke, former U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, and the 30th Legislative District Democrats.
During a recent virtual event she held about veterans affairs, Strickland said she wants to focus “on the transitioning process and how we have people who go from active duty to transitioning into civilian life.”
She said “that often involves job training, apprenticeships, being able to take a military resume and translate that into civilian jobs, because sometimes they’re almost like two different languages, and then assuring that we have the processes and the institutions and the support in place.”
The General Election is Nov. 3. To register to vote visit voter.votewa.gov.
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
