Tacoma needs strong leadership in WA Senate. This 27th District candidate delivers

For a decade, voters in Washington’s 27th Legislative District have known precisely which bubble to fill in on their ballots in the district’s state senate races: the one next to Jeannie Darneille’s name.

Darneille, a Democrat, was elected to the post in 2012 — after spending the previous decade in the state House — and didn’t relinquish it until late last year when she left to become assistant secretary for the Women’s Prison Division in the state Department of Corrections.

Predictably, the opening left a sizable local leadership void, in the 27th — which includes most of North Tacoma as well as Hilltop, the port and part of the Eastside — and Pierce County, where Darneille was a powerhouse.

Then a funny thing happened: Darneille’s replacement, Democrat Yasmin Trudeau, appointed by the Pierce County Council in November, stepped in last session without missing a beat.

Now the 2022 primary election gives voters in the 27th their first direct say in the matter.

In the eyes of The News Tribune Editorial Board, they’d be wise to reward Trudeau with the first full term of her own.

Trudeau, 38, is an attorney with a background working as a legislative director in the state Attorney General’s Office. She’s also a Foss High School graduate, a mother, and a woman of color who, in her own words, is “someone who’s faced housing and homelessness issues and has … watched as our community has struggled with how to figure out what solutions (to those problems) look like.”

During her single term in office, Trudeau has already made a difference, serving as vice chair of the Senate’s Law and Justice Committee and sponsoring successful bills like one to improve health care access for homeless youth and another requiring insurance to cover donor breast milk for kids who need it.

Trudeau told The News Tribune Editorial Board that her political career is focused on working to lift up a community that, in many ways, helped raise her.

“It was sort of a combination of (my) lived experience and professional experience that I think I want to offer to the community that really helped me out,” Trudeau said. “I think all of those perspectives are just really important as we talk about the issues our communities are facing.”

Trudeau has two challengers in the race for the state senate in the 27th District.

Ashley Ray, 37, is a Wilson High School and Tacoma Community College graduate who’s running as a Republican after spending her younger years involved in what she described as “the much farther left side of politics.” One of the most intriguing and thoughtful lesser-known candidates to meet with the TNT Editorial Board during the primary election cycle, Ray told us that she’s wanted to change her community for the better, “ever since I was young,” and we strongly encourage her to keep up the fight.

Mike Stewart is the other Republican in the race. Stewart declined our invitation to participate in the endorsement process, informing us via email that he’s running a “cloud-based campaign anchored through Spotify video podcasts.”

We’re not sure what that means, but we remain confident in our pick of Trudeau as the best candidate for the job.

News Tribune election endorsements reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Driscoll. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Jim Walton, community representative; and Pamela Transue, a community representative who serves during election season. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. We do not endorse any candidates who do not interview with us. For questions, email matt.driscoll@thenewstribune.com.