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Incumbent District 42 representatives Alicia Rule and Joe Timmons will face Republican challengers in the November general election.
After advancing through the primary, real estate agent Ray Pelletti seeks to unseat Rule, while previous Whatcom County Council and state legislative candidate Kamal Bhachu aims to beat out Timmons for his seat in the Legislature.
Rule and Pelletti are divided on experience and social issues. Position 1 Rep. Rule, a social worker and owner of a therapy practice first elected to the Legislature in 2020, is focused on public safety, access to reproductive health care, fully funding public education, and economics and affordability.
Pelletti, a political newcomer, is also focused on public safety, particularly ensuring police are fully funded, and affordable housing, but is concerned about parental rights in education, “gender ideology” in schools and transgender students entering “biological women’s spaces.”
“I don’t care if you’re gay, I don’t care if you’re lesbian, and I really don’t care if you’re trans,” Pelletti told Cascadia Daily News’ editorial board during an interview. “Just don’t make me or people that don’t want to be involved in it part of that.” He believes transgender women should be barred from competing in women’s sports.
Rule said she thinks there are more pressing issues affecting Washingtonians than transgender athletes competing in sports.
“Are you really going to look at a kid who you know has a 50 percent suicide rate before even entering the conversation, and they tell you they want to play a sport, and you’re going to say no, because why? That doesn’t work for me,” she told CDN’s editorial board.
The Jackson Legacy Fund, an organization that supports “pragmatic Democrats,” has spent nearly $20,000 in independent expenditures in favor of Rule. In the three-candidate primary election, Rule garnered 46.58% of the vote, while Pelletti took home 45.72%.
Position 2 Rep. Timmons, elected to the Legislature in 2022, said he’ll focus on fully funding public education, protecting reproductive health care and preserving access to abortions. He also said he continues to be concerned with affordability for “working families,” particularly in housing.
Timmons, who sits on the K-12 Education Committee, said he’s eager to take a deep look at the education funding model, including better funding for special education. He also said he’s like to pursue a bill encouraging more social-emotional instruction in K-12 schools to help student mental health.
PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center hospital engineer Bhachu’s campaign focuses on public safety, affordable housing and increasing access to trades education in Whatcom County. He said he wants to make Washington more “business-friendly.”
He committed to eliminating some regulations around development to make building new housing less expensive. On his website, Bhachu said the Legislature is “stripping away local control” of schools. In an interview with CDN’s editorial board, Bhachu elaborated on that point, saying schools need to get “back to basics” and teach arithmetic, reading and writing and “keep politics out of schools.”
Timmons and Bhachu agree on their support of Initiative 2066 on natural gas due to cost pressures on consumers. They differ on some of the other state initiatives, with Bhachu in favor of the repeal of the Climate Commitment act and Capital Gains Tax, with Timmons against both.
Timmons took a healthy lead over Bhachu in the two-candidate primary election, garnering 52.73% of the vote.
The Reagan Fund and Fix Washington PAC sponsored by The Reagan Fund, which are pushing for a Republican majority in the House, have spent $32,475 in independent expenditures in favor of Bhachu and $8,744 in independent expenditures against Timmons.
New Direction PAC, an organization focused on families and “progress for all,” has spent $46,000 in favor of Timmons.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
