2023 46th Officer Elections Voter Guide

Hello 46th LD Dems! 

Some of our membership are new, and some of us are returning, so I’d love to take the opportunity to introduce myself again. 

My name is Andrzej Montaño, and my name tells the story of why I’m here.  

My first name is technically unpronounceable in English, though it makes perfect sense in Polish.  My grandparents on my mother’s side were Polish refugees from World War II.  The Allied powers had refugee caps after the War, so many survivors were shipped off to colonies far from home.  My mother was born after my grandparents met in the British colony of Rhodesia.  She and her siblings immigrated to the United States while they were in school, and then had to sponsor their parents in order to get the whole family through our arcane immigration system.  

I grew up hearing stories about the ideas and institutions that killed almost everyone my grandparents knew.  Their siblings and cousins, aunts and uncles, their parents and friends.  Nearly everyone who was important to them died because of a series of lies and ideas that were designed by propagadists to be lethal.  

In 2013 and 2014 I started hearing the same ideas echoing loudly in the right wing of American politics.  So as I finished my time at the University of Washington with a major in Social Psychology and minors in Physics, Consciousness, and Environmental Science, and returned from an internship at the University of Zimbabwe, I started to get more involved in my democracy at a local level.  

My first real campaign experience was as an intern with Pramila for Congress in 2016, and since then I have knocked on tens of thousands of doors across the State while supporting dozens of Democratic candidates.  I believe that the only way to stop fascist ideas is by using the institutions of power available to us: the tools of democracy and education. 

That’s why I’ve worked hard over the past few years to help the 46th maintain and expand our Get Out The Vote efforts.  Because if we do democracy well in our tiny corner of the country, then maybe people will use those frameworks and ideas to do democracy well in other places too.  

At the same time there is a part of me that bristles at the institutions and colonialism that have brought us to this point.  My grandfather on my father’s side was one of the First People of South America.  He was taken to a mission school as a child, the South American equivalent of our Indian boarding schools, where he was given a new last name.  The boy from the Mountains: Montaño.  

After finishing at the top of his class, he was sent to the United States to go to college in Indiana where he met my grandmother.  He never taught my father or his siblings Spanish, or his native language, Quechua.  His story has been so effectively erased from history by the genocide that was perpetrated against our native people that not only do I have to mark myself as “Hispanic” or “Latino” on demographic forms, even though I have no such heritage, I am also often greeted with the casual racism of our modern society telling me to “Please enter a valid last name.”

The duality of this perspective is, I like to believe, part of the reason why I have been elected to the Board for the past three terms.  I’ve been our PCO Chair, Elections Chair, and Vice Chair over the past six years because our membership understands that representation matters.  The stories that brought me here are an important part of the history that has carried our Nation to this point, and these lessons must not be forgotten.  I’m here to make sure that our institutions do not forget the important lessons from the past, while they also work to protect us from the reheated propaganda that will threaten our most vulnerable citizens in the future.  

I am running for Chair of the 46th on a platform of building the bench, and electing democrats.  I’m running because I believe that the most effective thing we can do at this moment in History is to elect people who will oppose dangerous ideas in both policy and action, because you cannot have a good-faith disagreement with someone who believes you deserve to die. 

My only long-term goal is to be a good steward of this organization as I hand it off to a younger generation who have the creativity to make even more effective change.

I am endorsed by our 7th CD Member of Congress, Pramila Jayapal, and many, many of our PCOs and members.

I hope you will join them in honoring me with your vote.

I really appreciate everyone’s past support, and I hope to continue serving you all in the future in this new role!

Hello!  I am Jordan DeMaria (she/they), and I am asking you to make a radical investment in youth - the future of our party.  I am asking you to honor me with your vote for Vice Chair of the 46th District Democrats.

I am running to be your Vice Chair because I want to bring a very young perspective to party leadership and help grow our voter base in the 18-24 age group.  I am 18 years old, and I have been told that I am the second youngest PCO in county history - I turned 18 just days before primary election day, and cast my first ballot this past August.  

I believe that having the perspective of queer youth can contribute to representing the diversity of our district.  I have lived in the 46th my entire life and I understand what it's like to be a young voter here in the 46th where the economic divide between wealthy and privileged folks and marginalized people is on vivid display. I believe I could bring perspective and action on how to better connect with our very new voters, particularly through the social media that my generation uses constantly. 

I've been involved with the 46th District Democrats since I was big enough to hand out buttons at street fair booths and pose as “the kid” in many campaign photo shoots for great Democrats. I began real campaign work in 2015 for the Chris Roberts for King County Election Director campaign, helping to shoot and edit videos. More recently, I was both a delegate and tally person at the Washington State Democratic Convention in Tacoma, and of course canvassed my precinct as a new PCO-elect in October. 

At the Democratic Convention, I got the opportunity to draft and submit a resolution through the 46th for full time nurses in all Washington State public schools, which was approved unanimously at the convention. In my experience moving through our public school system, the problems we encountered as students were not the main problems the administration was working to fix. This is an issue I’ve noticed since elementary school. We need a place for young voices, especially in schools where we should be raising the next generation of thinkers. I want my fellow students to know its important for them to speak up for what they need, and know that the future we build today is the future they will live in tomorrow. 

I graduated from high school at SPS’ The Center School through the running start program this past June. During my time at The Center School, I was very involved with Model UN, even building my own conference for my school with the help of my other members. This has given me the skills to run both in-person and Zoom meetings, and I have been able to learn parliamentary procedure as well, having spent a good deal of time chairing meetings. I have been spending my time post-graduation involving myself in my community and saving up money so I can be better prepared to begin studying Public Administration in college in the fall. 

I understand that you wouldn’t expect someone my age to be run for a position such as Vice Chair. I have spent my (admittedly short) life preparing for a role like this, and with your support I know I would be able to make a great impact with the teamwork of all of you. I am a proud queer woman, and I hope to represent my fellow LGBTQ+ members, as well as work to better include our less heard voices, whether that be the unhoused people I’ve worked with through the Peoples Harm Reduction Alliance, working families, and all of our under-represented groups like myself. I want everyone in our district to be proud to live here. 

As your Vice Chair I hope to both connect with my own youth community and LGBTQ community, but also lend the hand of the 46th District Democrats to other LDs with a smaller democratic presence in the population and help ensure swing district victories. I also hope to offer ideas to better implement social media into our communications program so we can connect with more of our youngest voters. I have also worked closely with our current Vice Chair Andrzej Montaño and would be honored to work with him more as Vice Chair. 

I hope that you will consider taking a radical step to represent our goal of youth voter engagement and empowerment, by supporting and voting for me to serve the district as the vice chair of our outstanding organization.

Hello 46^th District Democrats! I am Lisa Rivera Smith and I am both proud and excited to be running to serve as your Vice-Chair for the next biennium.

Who am I??

Fresh from the 43^rd, I came to the 46^th with last year’s redistricting. So, while I may be new to the 46^th, I’m not new to the cause of electing democrats, nor the hard work it takes to get there. From doorbelling, to registering voters, to serving as a state and national delegate for Kerry, Obama and Bernie, my blood runs Blue and I’m passionate about bringing others along. Because from all my years of work in this party, I’ve learned that the most important thing we can do is EMPOWER OTHERS! No one carries the ship alone, and no one should. The democratic party is about neighbors, community and working people, working together.

That’s why I joined the Forward 46^th slate of candidates. https://www.forward46.org/

What’s Forward 46^th??

Lead and inspired by our Chair candidate, Hunter Brown, the Forward 46^th slate of candidates, and I, know we can do the hard work:

• Tap into talents – We have a membership ripe with abilities, ambitions and some time to spare. Let’s open the doors to committees and let that energy flow! There are opportunities for everyone and anyone in the 46^th District Dems, and I want us to be known for that.
• Build Relationships – We share the common goal of electing democrats to lead this great district, city, county and state. That’s awesome – but that’s just the start. We need more opportunities to build community with each other, and with our electeds. As an elected myself (serving my first term on the Seattle School Board), I’m lucky to have spent one-on-one time with many of our legislators and city councilmembers, and I value the relationships I’ve built with them. I also value the endorsements I’ve received from Javier Valdez, Shasti Conrad and Carrie Barnes.
• Work Smarter, and Harder – Preparation is everything when chairing and holding meetings, and I’ve spent years successfully doing that. And since one of the main jobs of the Vice Chair is to serve in place of the Chair, when the Chair is unavailable, my experience chairing many a meeting – from School Board Committee Meetings, to PTSA Board Meeting – means I’m best positioned to keep things running smoothly, when called upon.

Why am I running??

I have spent my life facing the same struggles that many 46th LD residents face today – poverty, homelessness, disability and environmental injustice. Raised by a single mom who worked multiple jobs, yet still needed to rely on public assistance to care for me and my siblings, I learned early on to work hard. Thanks to scholarships, Pell Grants and student loans, I attended California State University, Chico, where I majored in Journalism (News Editorial) and minored in Ethics. My first job out of college brought me to Seattle, where I was hired as The Seattle Times’ first ever 3-year Editorial Intern. When I went on strike against the paper soon after, I learned the strength of organized labor and I have stood in solidarity with unions since. I am constantly called to service, whether as a non-profit volunteer coordinator, PTSA Board Member, or Seattle Public Schools Board Director, where I’m currently serving my first term. I know how to put in the steady, dogged work that is needed to turn an organization’s potential into success, and I am excited to do so for the 46th LD, where I’m currently a PCO. I am also a member of the Washington State Democrats Environment & Climate Caucus, and a Board Director for New Dawn Guatemala, a Seattle-based organization that promotes equitable, ecologically-friendly development and educational advancement in the rural community of Nuevo Amanecer. And, thanks to the unfailing support of my husband and three children, I also find time to serve on the leadership team of Girl Scouts of Western Washington Woodland Park Day Camp.

These next two years will be pivotal for our organization, and I hope you’ll entrust me with your vote on Jan. 14^th, so we can shape the 46^th District Democrats’ bright, beautiful future, TOGETHER!

Yours,

– Lisa Rivera Smith (she/her/hers; Chicana/Mexican-American)

I'm Julie Anne Kempf and I'm running to be one of your two next state committee representatives.

Most of you know me already, but for those who are newer to the district for the last five and a half years - I've been your “accidental chair”.

When we went through three chairs in the space of seven months in 2017, and we were hit with a PDC nuisance lawsuit to manage (to be clear – we were innocent, and we later proved it – this was a targeted attack by the Republicans), I was asked to take the gavel.

I said no. I was asked again, and I said no again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Finally, I reluctantly said yes, with a caveat: I needed the help and support of all of the membership because while I have institutional knowledge of a lot of different things, I am far, far from the most talented at our party activities and campaigns.  You are.  I am astounded every day by how smart, creative, and gifted our members are, and of the things you have done together for the district.  Our collective end of term "mission accomplished" list is long and amazing.

Thanks to the help, patience, and contributions of all of you, we have emerged from the nuisance lawsuit and the Covid-19 pandemic 700 (!) active members strong, we completely flipped Lake Forest Park and Kenmore City Councils from red to bright blue, we contributed the most democratic votes of any district to statewide races, we had an endorsements process that ensured the playing field was fair and level so all five of our candidates for the open seat had a fair shot, and so much more.

During my tenure as chair, I worked frequently with the state party, and built a strong rapport with state party staff, chairs of other local party organizations, and Democrats all over the state of Washington.

I also built the rules and procedures, as a paid expert consultant on election administration, for the Presidential Primary petition process in 2020.  With our new Presidential Primary that the major political parties accepted as binding for the nomination process, we had to have internal procedures and security for accepting and verifying the petitions from all 22 Presidential campaigns.  I created, and my team executed that process statewide.

Our district plays an oversized role at the state level. Each district was allowed only a certain number of submissions to the state platform this year. I leveraged my Democratic connections in other districts to get our extra progressive planks for the state platform distributed to other districts who had fewer planks than empty spots.  Due to this, the 46^th LD was responsible for 198 submissions to the state platform.  This is the kind of Democratic connectivity that I am good at.

If elected, I will keep all of you updated on what the state committee is doing, and I will do my best to connect any of you who wish to share our knowledge and people resources with swing or rural districts to provide their candidates with the opportunity to plug Democrats into spots in the red part of our state.

I would also like to continue the state party work I have been doing since 2018 – training chairs and vice chairs, serving on the state tally team (often as its chair), and continuing to connect Democrats all over the state with each other.

I am endorsed by DNC Member David McDonald, DNC Member Sharon Mast, DNC Member and State Senator Javier Valdez, King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski, and dozens of our own PCOs and members. 

I have loved working with each and every one of you over the past 5 ½ years as your chair, and would be deeply honored and grateful if you would support me with your vote for State Committee Representative.

My name is Drew Pollom and I am running to be one of your state committeepersons and I am running on a platform on youth representation and expanding our democratic majority.

I am a renter living in the University District with my wife Shayna where we were redistricted recently from the 43^rd into the 46^th LD. I work as an attorney representing cities and indigenous communities, including recently for five years for the Lummi Nation in Bellingham.

Although I may be new to the 46^th, I am not new to the party. I served as the Chair of the Gonzaga Young Democrats in college, I was the King County Young Democrats Chair, the Young Democrats of Washington president, and then finally the national treasurer for the Young Democrats of America. I also served as a delegate to the KCDCC endorsements committee during the last cycle.

I am running for to be the state committeeperson because I believe the focus of the party needs to be electing Democrats in 2023 and 2024. In 2022, we thumped Tiffany Smiley, we beat back Joe Kent, and we stopped the GOP election-denying clown car of Mark Miloscia, Bob Hagglund, Keith Waggoner, and Tamborine Borrelli from taking over our elections. This, in addition to our pick-ups in the legislature, represents a great year for our party. I’ve been doing the work to help us achieve these victories by recruiting dozens of volunteers and sending over 50,000 texts on behalf of the coordinated campaign.

I want to build on that success so we can build a progressive majority and supermajority to address issues like housing, homelessness, substance use disorder, and mental health.

If elected, my focus will be on two issues:

1. Youth Representation: 62% of young voters voted for Democrats in 2022. It’s clear that when young voters turn out Democrats win. However, only 27% of young voters voted, in comparison to 47% of all other voters. Within our own party, fewer than 10 young democrats served on the central committee  out of 176 positions during the last two years. As a young democrat, electing me will increase that representation. I will use my voice to advocate for both a platform that addresses the concerns of young voters and an election plan to turn out young voters.  

2.  Winning Elections in Purple Districts: in 2022, Democrats came within 5% of winning seats in the 26^th LD (House Seat), the 17^th LD and the 18^th LD. Each seat represents a new opportunity to elect a Democrat who will work towards addressing our housing crisis or enshrining the right to an abortion in the State Constitution. I will advocate that the party implements an election plan and resources targeting seats like the 26^th, 17^th, and the 18^th to increase our majorities.

It would be my honor to serve as your state committeeperson. I want to serve in this role because I believe my experience, my perspective, and my focus brings value not only for our district but our party as a whole.

Thank you, and in solidarity,

Drew

Hi, I’m Galaxy, and I’m running to be your representative to the King County Democrats.

I started carrying a credential to KCDCC for the 43rd in 2015, and then was elected King County alternate and then representative. I really enjoyed my time as a representative, and would love to go back to King County meetings.

I take the role of representative seriously. I will support the candidates we endorse, and vote for resolutions that align with our platform, regardless of what my personal views may be. I am proud to be from a progressive district, and am excited to bring our message and vision to King County.

As a 46th board member, I would like to focus on youth outreach. I specifically would like us to do more to reach out to high school students and colleges. I go to Seattle Central right now, which is part of Seattle Colleges. We have a Seattle College in our district, North Seattle College, and I would love to see us connect with their students more.

I also really miss the socializing of in-person meetings, and would like to work with the board to create more in-person opportunities to socialize with the district.

I would be honored to represent you at KCDCC and to serve on the 46th executive board, and I hope to earn your vote!

Debby Nissen, candidate for E-Board at large Jan 2023

I hope you are an active member of the 46th Democrats because active members are the backbone of the Democratic Party. When you hear the grassroots mentioned by some talking head- see yourself and all of us here because this is where we put our feet to the street and Get Out the Vote for our candidates. The candidates and party leaders and pundits get all the media attention, but those victories are created by our organizing and our work in our neighborhoods.

I am proud and honored to be a part of the leadership of the 46th LD and want to continue to fine tune and strengthen our GOTV machine. I have been Chair of the Rules & Bylaws Committee for several terms, including an extensive review and revision of the Endorsement Rules. I would like to continue that work.

When I say I will do it- I do it and no excuses. I am a PCO that canvasses my precinct and a couple of others rain or shine. On the E-Board I will support activities that are strategic because that will make the best use of our resources. I will support policies that improve our diversity and provide a range of opinions because that makes us stronger. I will support efforts that protect everyone’s right to vote because that strengthens democracy. By support I mean grass roots work- strategy meetings, raising funds, connecting to community groups, donating, phone-calling, door-belling, recruiting volunteers- whatever it takes. I am a 46th Dem to gain power or prove how progressive I am.

I am a 46th Dem to elect progressive Democrats and create a better tomorrow!

You would honor me with your vote. I have the time and commitment to build on our victories. I do what needs to be done, show up, and finish what I start. FORWARD TOGETHER.

I would appreciate your vote to represent you as an At Large member of the Executive Board. I had planned to run for Treasurer but after substantial discussions, I believe that it is in the best interests of our members to defer the discussion of whether the Treasurer should be elected to the Bylaws and Rules Committee meetings that will follow reorg -- provided that any interested member to be allowed to participate in these discussions and recommendations and that minority positions be included in the recommendations. I am honored to be a part of the Forward 46th Team. It is a dynamic, talented, diverse and well-balanced group of Democrats who care deeply about the future of our democracy, our city, state and country. We are jointly committed to building a party that draws on the strengths of all members, that seeks ways to make participation more accessible (including shorter meetings), and that builds the bench of elected and appointed Democrats in our district and beyond. Read more here: https://www.forward46.org/our-candidates