While the primary election didn’t go the way he hoped, former state Sen. Kevin Van De Wege said he was happy to watch the general election from the sidelines.
Van De Wege, D-Lake Sutherland, sought to be Washington state’s next public lands commissioner. However, he was one five Democrats in a primary race where the top two seats nearly saw two Republicans go to the November ballot.
Dave Upthegrove, a Democrat, defeated Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler last week with nearly 53 percent of the vote and will start the job in January.
In the August primary, Van De Wege came in sixth with 7.5 percent of the vote. He did win Clallam County with 24.41 percent, and he came in second (22.4 percent) in Jefferson County behind Upthegrove.
“I won Clallam,” Van De Wege said. “I was happy with that.”
Looking back, Van De Wege, 50, said he “thought I was going to do better than I did.”
Van De Wege served as a state representative for the 24th Legislative District from 2007-2016 and then as a senator from 2017 through Oct. 1, when he resigned to start a consultant lobbying business.
Former state Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, was elected to fill Van De Wege’s Senate seat after Chapman defeated Marcia Kelbon, R-Quilcene, in the general election.
Van De Wage continues to serve as a captain with Clallam County Fire District 3, covering the Sequim area, where he’s been for most of his 25-year career.
A major focal point during his campaign was combating wildfires.
From campaign materials, he said he would “protect forests by using the resources of the state’s largest firefighting agency to improve forest health and safeguard vulnerable communities (and) address the urgency of climate change and protect our environment by leasing land for renewable energy projects, while expanding a wealth of employment and recreational opportunities, including protecting our agricultural, timber, and local economies.”
“We had a good message,” Van De Wege said.
“Everything kind of fell into place for us and, at the end of the day, for the primaries, the political parties have a lot of sway and they lined up with Upthegrove, and ultimately that played a big part.”
He said there was no previous discussion between Democratic candidates who ran in the primary, and he was “consistently surprised when people continued to file for the race.”
Public office
Van De Wege said he decided with his family in 2022 that it would be his last term as a senator.
Current commissioner of public lands Hilary Franz initially chose to run for governor, then switched to run for retiring Rep. Derek Kilmer’s congressional seat. That’s what led Van De Wege to seek the position.
“I thought that would be something I’m very passionate about,” he said. “I’d be honored to do that.”
His wife, Jennifer, a Tenino principal and former Sequim and Port Angeles educator, strongly encouraged him to run, he said.
“No regrets,” Van De Wege said. “I care deeply about rural economies, the Olympic Peninsula. I care deeply about the timber industry and that it’s done in an environmentally friendly way. I have a clear conscience.
“I did everything I could to help make those goals happen.”
Van De Wege first ran for office in 2004 against Jim Buck of Joyce for state representative but lost 51.2 percent to 48.8 percent.
He was inspired at a legislative session through the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters to learn other firefighters had run and won seats in their local areas.
“I thought I could see myself doing this at one point,” Van De Wege said.
He returned in 2006 and won in another tight matchup against Buck, 52.7 percent to 47.3 percent.
Van De Wege won three reelection bids for his House sat, and in 2016, he won the Senate seat after Jim Hargrove retired. Van De Wege also was re-elected in 2020.
While he has no regrets for running for state Commissioner of Public Lands, Van De Wege said he was disappointed not to receive the endorsement of the Clallam County Democrats.
“They had two candidates, both from this county, running in this race (Patrick DePoe, D-Neah Bay) out of three Democrats working hard … and they chose one of the three (Upthegrove) not from this county,” he said.
Clallam County Democrats chair Jennie Peterson said Van De Wege received the endorsement in all his previous races, and for the primary’s endorsement meeting, there was a group of members that day “who were very committed to endorsing Dave Upthegrove.”
She said there was a “great mix of members,” and the meeting was “not lightly attended.” A motion was made and approved for Upthegrove’s endorsement, she said, and there was no motion made for multiple endorsements.
Van De Wege said he’s known both Herrera Beutler and Upthegrove a long time, and after talking with them, he decided to stay neutral regarding endorsements of his own following the primary.
Resignation
Van De Wege nixed the idea of seeking another political office.
“I’ll probably never seek political office again,” he said.
He has about two years left with Clallam County Fire District 3 before retirement, and he started C Squared Consulting with his wife. The company has contracted with a nurse’s group and a hydrogen project so far.
Van De Wege said he resigned as senator on Oct. 1 because he didn’t want any perceived conflict of interests legally or ethically if he talked to someone about potentially lobbying for them while he held the state Senate seat.
He and his family changed some plans after the primary results, but Van De Wege said “not in a bad way.”
“It’s all working out so far really, really well,” he said.
Van De Wege and his wife also have two adult children, Allison and Jack, who graduated from Sequim High School.
While serving as a politician, Van De Wege remained on duty as an active firefighter.
“I’ve always made it work,” he said. “It’s busy, but it’s fine.”
He was promoted to captain in 2021, and he said he used vacation time and fellow firefighters were willing to trade for his shifts during legislative sessions.
Reflection
Van De Wege said it was a “life-altering experience” to represent the area for 18 years in public office.
But it also came with some wear and tear.
“Being a politician is a draining job,” Van De Wege said. “You always have a portion of the population that’s upset with you and people typically reach out to elected officials when there’s something wrong.
“It was very fulfilling, and something I would never have dreamed I would have gone into.”
He said he’s “incredibly honored to have done it, but at the same time, it’s not a job I’m going to miss that much.”
Over his years in office, he’s particularly proud of helping mandate funding for an around-the-clock emergency response towing vessel (tugboat) in 2009 that responds to maritime incidents to prevent ship oil spills in the Salish Sea.
“Getting that in place was vital,” Van De Wege said.
There was sporadic state funding for a rescue tugboat starting in 1999 during winter months, he said, and concerns came to mind of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
Legislators instead mandated oil, cargo and cruise vessel companies pay for the tugboat year-round.
“We transferred something the taxpayers were paying onto corporate America,” Van De Wege said, “which is a benefit for the Olympic Peninsula, San Juans and British Columbia.”
Asked about changing his viewpoints during his time in office, Van De Wege said he was glad to have opened his mind more to the importance of wolves and their impact on Washington’s environment.
While sitting on the Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources and Parks Committee, he said he started off as someone who was anti-wolf.
“I only viewed them as a problem,” he said. “But I was lobbied by some very kind people, and they showed me the benefits of wolves.”
In recent years, he’s taken more of a stance that “we need to learn to live with wolves as opposed to continuing to get rid of them because that’s just not going to happen.”
Van De Wege was pleased with the overall experience of representing the Peninsula.
“It was a dream come true and the honor of my life to do this job for 18 years,” he said.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
