PORT ANGELES — Matthew Roberson, who has served as a Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney since 2016, has launched his 2024 campaign for the Legislative District 24’s state representative seat now held by Mike Chapman.
Roberson, 38, has registered with Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission for Position 1 as a Republican.
Chapman, a Port Angeles Democrat, is seeking a state senator position.
Roberson, who serves in the felony division of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said he will focus on major issues facing families in the 24th District, which covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County.
He cited public safety, quality of education and the cost of living.
“As a deputy prosecutor, I’ve dealt with cases ranging from DUIs and shoplifting to sex crimes and homicide, and I’ve seen the deadly impact of fentanyl on our communities,” Roberson said in a press release.
“I think I have the experience to fight for safer communities,” he added.
“I’m also a parent who has to sit around the kitchen table with my wife making tough decisions about spending when the costs of groceries, fuel, and taxes go up. We need to work on funding high priority services like our schools without increasing the burden on working families.”
Roberson is originally from Tacoma. Upon finishing law school, he and his wife of six months, went to Alaska where he practiced above the Arctic Circle before they decided to return to Washington state, he said. He filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission earlier this month.
Roberson and his wife, Arielle, have lived in the Port Angeles area since 2016. They have one child, a 19-month-old toddler.
”Being a parent, I want to make sure that my daughter has even more opportunities to succeed and experience the American Dream than I did. I want that for all our district’s children.” Roberson said in the release.
“When I look around at where we are as a state, with public safety, the fentanyl epidemic, our education system, that won’t be possible with the status quo,” he continued.
“So I’m running for a better Washington.”
In addition to crime, the fentanyl epidemic and rising cost of living — including the impact of the carbon tax on fuel prices — he talked Friday during a phone interview about education.
“We spend over $17,000 per pupil if you include state and federal funding, and yet it’s mediocre at best,” Roberson said.
Roberson said that one party has controlled the House of Representatives and most of other areas of government in Washington state for most of 20 years.
“It’s going to take hard work and a team effort, but I think voters are ready for a change to someone who will work for commonsense, pragmatic solutions,” he said in the release. “I don’t think they want more of the same out of Olympia.
“We’ve had the same group in charge in Olympia for too long and it’s time for a change.”
Nate Tyler of Neah Bay, a member of the Makah Tribal Council, also is registered for the position with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
