Three candidates file for seat in 24th Legislative District
Published 5:15 pm Monday, May 4, 2026
A slew of candidates filed to run for local, state and federal offices during the first day of filing week.
From 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday, dozens of people filed to run for office through the state Secretary of State’s Office at sos.wa.gov/elections/candidates/filing-resources/file-office.
Filing week closes at 5 p.m. Friday.
For information about Clallam County elections, go to clallamcountywa.gov/162/Elections-Voter-Registration.
For information about Jefferson County elections, go to co.jefferson.wa.us/1266/Elections.
Congressional race
One candidate, Brian P. O’Gorman, filed Monday to run for a Congressional office that represents the North Olympic Peninsula.
O’Gorman, of Shelton, filed as an Independent to run for the U.S. Representative seat for the 6th Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Port Orchard, currently holds the seat.
“I’m kind of tired of what’s going on,” O’Gorman said. “I think both parties have failed us. I think the current situation we have is directly related to how they pushed Bernie (Sanders) out in 2016, and if they had chosen him as the candidate instead of Hillary (Clinton), I think he would have won over Donald Trump. That’s how the Democrats have put us in this situation, and Republicans are just letting him do whatever the hell he wants.”
If elected, O’Gorman said his main priority would be to see that people have a quality of life under the law.
“I don’t think people should get away with what they do based on their political party or how much money they have,” he said. “It seems to me that you get the justice you can afford in this country.”
Legislative races
Four people filed to run for legislative races.
For the 24th Legislative District, Position 1, Ted Bowen of Port Angeles, an Independent, threw his hat into the ring. State Rep. Adam Bernbaum, D-Port Angeles, currently holds the seat.
“For the last couple of years, I’ve been out in the streets doing street ministry, working with our local homeless, and I also had a recovery group I did at the shelter,” Bowen said. “I got to looking at some of the issues and I felt like I wasn’t being heard when I would bring up some ideas.”
Bowen ran for Olympic Medical Center commissioner in 2018 but was not elected.
If elected to the state Legislature, his said his priority would be to look into the money counties are getting and see where it’s going.
“I want to reach out to the churches and try to get them more involved with the community, with people already doing street outreach, creating more resources,” Bowen said.
Three people — Patrick DePoe, D-Neah Bay, Marcia Kelbon of Quilcene and Kaylee Kuehn, D-Sequim — filed to run for the 24th Legislative District’s Position 2. Current state Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Port Townsend, is retiring at the end of this term.
DePoe is a former Makah Tribal Council member who ran for state Commissioner of Public Lands in 2024.
“My work experiences have always been as a service to our community,” DePoe said. “I have the legislative experience, too. I’ve been working with the Legislature now for over 10 years, and I want to put that experience and service together for our district.”
If elected, DePoe said his priorities would include a focus on healthcare affordability and access.
Kelbon, who did not choose a political party while filing, ran for state Senate as a Republican in 2024 and for Jefferson County commissioner in 2022. She currently serves as a Quilcene Fire Department commissioner.
A priority for Kelbon would be financial conservatism.
“Other states take an approach of offering financial incentives to create high-powered, high-paying jobs,” Kelbon said. “Here, we penalize that with financial disincentives, which leads to less of those jobs and less of that business and less of that revenue from those companies.”
Kuehn is a former Irrigation Festival princess who has never run for office before.
Affordability would be a priority for Kuehn if she is elected, she said.
“My husband and I don’t have debt, we’ve had good jobs, we’ve been financially responsible, and we’re still not in a place where we can purchase a house and live out that American dream,” she said. “Things are just out of reach that we once thought would be ‘of course’ things down the line, so I can’t even imagine for people who don’t have the experience or the financial know-how that we have.”
Clallam County races
The countywide race for assessor saw one person, Lee Hancock of Port Angeles, file to run.
For the Clallam County commissioner District 3 seat, incumbent Mike French, D-Port Angeles, and challenger Jake Seegers, I-Port Angeles, both filed to run Monday.
French is approaching the end of his first term as a commissioner. He also served on the Port Angeles City Council.
If given a second term, French said he plans to continue to work on economic development, housing affordability, public safety, homelessness and substance abuse, and the environment, natural resources and climate change.
“Our citizens spoke loud and clear to us last year that they’re not willing to provide more property tax than what we’re already collecting, so we need to be doing conservative fiscal management for the long term,” he said.
Seegers, who has never run for office before, has said Clallam County residents are seeing home affordability going up while homelessness increases and economic development is stifled.
“I think there are a lot of Clallam County residents that feel like the culture of current leaders are bringing us further away from accomplishing dreams that we have here,” he said.
If elected, Seegers said he plans to focus on fiscal responsibility.
Jefferson County races
Five countywide races saw one candidate each file for positions.
Chuck Garland, D-Port Townsend, filed to run for the county assessor position. He is currently a senior appraiser in the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office.
“I’m running for the assessor position because I want to contribute to good government, and I enjoy and believe in the work the assessor’s office does,” Garland said. “I’ve worked in the office five years, and I believe my managerial, analytics and building experience makes me a qualified candidate for the role.”
If elected, Garland said his priorities are to build on the exceptional work current assessor Jeff Chapman is doing, he said.
Lauralee Kiesel, who did not choose a party affiliation, filed to run for the county auditor position. This is Kiesel’s first time running for office. She has worked within the county assessor’s office for nearly 21 years.
“The auditor is a role encompassing a broad range of duties, including essential fiscal responsibilities as mandated by state law,” Kiesel said. “Key functions include serving as the ex-officio supervisor of elections, overseeing the licensing of vehicles and vessels, maintaining permanent records, and managing financial services. I am committed to ensuring these responsibilities are carried out with accuracy, efficiency and transparency.”
James Kennedy, D-Port Townsend, is seeking re-election to the county prosecuting attorney position.
“I want to build upon the improvements that we have made over the past 7 1/2 years,” Kennedy said. “We have assembled amazing talent to serve the community, fully digitized our internal systems, helped to streamline county government as a whole, contributed to Jefferson County’s first Children’s Advocacy Center, all while prioritizing community safety.”
Kennedy was first elected to the position in 2018.
“My priorities for this position are to continue to find ways to do things better,” he said. “I want to focus on training so we are more effective in our jobs serving the county and keeping the community safe and to also focus on programming for our therapeutic courts.”
Sheriff Andy Pernsteiner, D-Port Hadlock, filed to run for re-election. He was first appointed to the position in January 2025 and then won a special election last November.
“My priorities moving forward as sheriff are public education, basically doing presentations to the community about fraud awareness and safety,” he said. “The better we can educate the public, the less they become victims of crime.”
Stacie Prada, D-Port Townsend, filed to run for re-election to the county treasurer seat, which she has held since 2014.
“I really enjoy it and like that I get to contribute to the community I live in and appreciate, and I like the work,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of improvements over the years, but I would like to keep implementing our processing and program improvements, improve access to our data and improve the efficiency of our workforce.”
Two people filed to run for the Jefferson County commission District 3 seat: Jean Ball, D-Quilcene, and Anji Scalf, D-Port Ludlow. Greg Brotherton, D-Quilcene, currently holds the seat.
Ball wants to approach the role with one foot in conservation and the other in economic development, she said.
“The county can’t succeed by choosing one over the other,” Ball said. “My priority is making sure we protect what makes this place unique while also supporting the jobs, housing and infrastructure resiliency that allow people to live and work here.”
Scalf wants to be a county commissioner to return back to the county the investment it’s made in her, she said.
“My priorities are bringing a voice to youth and families across our county, financial stability and a positive collaborative culture,” she said. “One point I should emphasize is that I have endorsements from the past three District 3 commissioners.”
Judicial races
Eight people filed to run for Supreme Court justice positions, including one who was nominated by former President Barack Obama for a federal judge position.
Colleen Melody of Seattle filed to run for Position 1.
Position 3 had two people — Jaime Michelle Hawk of Seattle and Mike Diaz of Seattle — file to run. Obama nominated Diaz on April 14, 2016, to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Washington, but his nomination expired and was returned to the president in January 2017 without Senate action.
“In a nutshell, I’m running to ensure that people have open access to the courts and that we continue to adhere to our traditional rule of law,” Diaz said. “I immigrated from Peru to Seattle when I was a kid. I grew up in the working-class neighborhoods of Seattle. The opportunities that I had as a kid to fulfill my potential are really at risk right now because of actions on judges and civil law. I went into public service to make sure kids like me with families that don’t speak much English, without money or connections, can still flourish in this community.”
Ian Birk of Seattle filed to run for Position 4.
Three people — Theo Angelis, Sharonda Amamilo and Dave Larson, all of Seattle — filed to run for Position 5.
Debra L. Stephens of Seattle filed to run for Position 7.
Erik D. Price of Olympia filed to run for the state Court of Appeals, Division 2, District 1, Position 1 judge seat.
In Clallam County, Alex Schodowski filed to run for District Court 1. Schodowski has been an attorney for 15 years and has worked as the judge pro tem, filling in for retiring Judge David Neupert when he is sick or on vacation.
“In District Court 1, there’s only one judge, and we handle traffic tickets, small claims cases, civil matters and misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor criminal cases,” Schodowski said. “We also have hearings to petition for protection orders.”
In Jefferson County, incumbent Mindy Walker filed to run for the District Court Position 1 judge seat.
Public Utility
In Clallam County, Missi Baker filed to run for the PUD 1 Commissioner District 2 seat.
“I want to be able to serve my community and support local residents,” Baker said. “I want to listen to their concerns. I want to act as responsible as I can to provide water quality and electric service reliability. I want to put the needs of our community first.”
In Jefferson County, Keith Kisler filled to run for the PUD Commissioner District 2 seat.
Clallam County precinct races
The following people filed to run for precinct positions with the Clallam County Democratic Party: Jessica Hernandez for the Eagle 226 precinct, Maja Cox for Jamestown 240, Ellen Menshew for Joyce 241, Brian Grad for MacLeay 247, Jim Stoffer for Port Williams 258, Douglas W. Taylor for Sequim 402 and Bill Biery for Sequim 405.
The following people filed to run for precinct positions with the Clallam County Republican Party: Alan Lynn of Belleview 205, John West of Black Diamond 208, Matthew Roberson of Dry Creek 224, Pepai Whipple of Olympic 254, Gayle Baker of Prairie North 259 and Jayna C. Lehmer of Prairie South 260.
Jefferson County precinct races
The following people filed to run for precinct positions with the Jefferson County Democratic Party: Bruce Cowan of Port Townsend VI-1106, Emily Gohn-Barnhill of Port Townsend X-1110, Jackson Colcord of Port Hadlock-2305, Jean Ball of Center-3503, Gerry Lasser of Oak Bay II-3504 and Mary Jean Ryan of Coyle-3702.
The following people filed to run for precinct positions with the Jefferson County Republican Party: Mark Rensi of Port Townsend XI-1111, Reid Lewis Dworkin of Cape George I-2202, John Modispacher of Oak Bay I-2502, David Morris of Oak Bay II-3504 and Anthony Weller of Port Ludlow V-3605.
