August 6 Primary Election Candidate Profiles

Jaime Herrera Beutler

Jaime Herrera Beutler has worked hard throughout her career for policies that ensure future generations can enjoy Washington's beautiful land, waters, and traditions.

Serving as Southwest Washington's representative in Congress from 2011-2023, Jaime was repeatedly recognized for her effectiveness in promoting responsible forest management and preserving the beauty of our state. She helped advance bipartisan legislation to curb the threat of wildfires and helped pass new funding for wildfire suppression and firefighting. Jaime's bills to protect endangered salmon runs and upgrade and improve forest roads were signed into law. Tens of thousands of jobs supported by working forests in rural Washington would have been impacted if not for her successful legislation to protect access to these lands from onerous regulations–a bipartisan legislative feat that earned her the National Association of State Foresters' highest honor, the Bernard L. Orell Award for Partnership. She secured support to protect wildlife habitat, and worked with members of both parties on legislation to fight the ocean acidification that is degrading coastal shellfish habitat. Jaime has had legislation signed into law by three Presidents.

Raised in rural Clark County, Jaime grew up swimming in in the Lewis River, fishing at Battle Ground Lake, and participating in 4-H. She attended Prairie High School in Vancouver, where she played for the basketball team, and went on to graduate from the University of Washington in Seattle.

She represented parts of Clark and Cowlitz County in the Washington State House of Representatives from 2007-2010, where she served in her party's leadership and led efforts to expand affordable health care for Washingtonians and provide tax relief to business owners serving in the military.

After leaving Congress, Jaime joined the board of the National Kidney Foundation and completed a Fellowship-in-Residency at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. She currently serves as a strategic advisor to the Children's Hospital Association.

Jaime lives on five acres in Clark County with her husband, Dan, and their three children, Abigail, Ethan, and Isana.

Jaime won't leave our kids a legacy of burning forests and choking smoke. We can and will do better to remove dead and dying trees that serve as fuel, quickly fight fires when they occur, preserve jobs, and protect the lives and livelihoods of communities.

She'll lead our state Department of Natural Resources to withstand political pressures and overcome bureaucratic obstacles so that the brilliant foresters and environmental scientists who work there can do their jobs. Working with Tribes, scientists, landowners, sportsmen, the forest industry, and conservation groups, she will restore health to Washington's forests with science-based management practices so our diverse array of species and ecosystems can thrive. And Jaime always preserves recreational access to public land for its owners -- the people of Washington.

Dave Upthegrove

Dave's love of the outdoors developed at a young age. He spent his summers in high school and college working outdoors-teaching young people about conservation on Dabob Bay and leading week-long treks through the Cascade Mountains.

His interest in politics developed as an environmental activist on campus at the University of Colorado, where he earned his degree in Environmental Conservation and Biology. He later earned a graduate certificate in Energy Policy from the University of Idaho.

During his twelve years representing the diverse working-class suburbs of South King County in the State House of Representatives, he served as Chair of the House Select Committee on Puget Sound, helping to create the Puget Sound Partnership to restore our state's crown jewel. He later served as Chair of the House Environment Committee, working in every corner of the State to reduce carbon pollution, clean up toxics, and improve oil spill prevention.

In the legislature, Dave was a leader of the Blue-Green Alliance-a pro-labor, pro-environment coalition that rejected the false choice between jobs and the environment, instead finding common ground to promote sustainable economic opportunities.

For his work, he was honored as Legislator of the Year by the Washington Conservation Voters. Now, as Chair of the King County Council, he is working with his colleagues to preserve public lands and manage growth, parks, wastewater, and transportation in environmentally sustainable ways in our state's most populous county.

As Chair of the King County Flood Control District, Dave doubled funding for salmon recovery and led major reforms to better protect our region's rivers.

It is no surprise that Dave has the sole endorsement of WA Conservation Action-the leading policy and political voice in Washington's environmental community. Dave understands that in order to have good jobs and a strong economy, we need to keep Washington State a great place to live. This means managing our public forests, aquatic lands, and other natural resources in the public interest.

When elected, Dave will be the first out LGBT statewide executive office holder in the history of the State of Washington. He lives with his husband Chad, cat Dobby, and dog Benji in Des Moines, WA.

Kevin Van De Wege

I am a career firefighter and longtime state legislator. I first became a volunteer firefighter as soon as I was old enough to serve my community in Whatcom County in 1993. I earned degrees in fire administration and investigation and now serve as Captain protecting the Olympic Peninsula and families in Sequim. I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Social Science from Washington State University and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Fort Hays State University. I have been serving as a firefighter for over 30 years. I am a proud union member and former president of our IAFF local, and in my community, I also served as Chair of the 24th Legislative District Democrats.

For 18 years in the Washington State Legislature, I have represented the beautiful Olympic Peninsula and the 24th Legislative District, comprising the largest wildland area in the state. I served five terms in the State House of Representatives, where I was the Majority Whip, responsible for managing all representatives of the democratic party and ensuring vote counts and quorum calls. I am now finishing up my second and final term in the State Senate, where I chair the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources, and Parks. I have served on natural resource committees for the entirety of my career as a legislator.

I am an advocate for our state's natural resources and wildlife, and among many accomplishments, have passed legislation to secure a rescue tug boat at Neah Bay to reduce the likelihood of oil spills and marine accidents, negotiated to help keep state parks open during difficult economic times, and worked to implement International Wildland Urban Interface Code into the State Building Code to help our state address the growing concern of wildland fires. In my community, I am an orca task force member, Highway 101 safety corridor committee member, Sequim Elks Member, and Sequim Grange member.

I am running for Commissioner of Public Lands because I believe we have work to do to protect our forests and other public lands. Wildfires have destroyed over 8.5 million acres of state forests over the past 20 years, equivalent to 20% of the state's entire land area, and they are only getting worse. I don't believe this has to happen. I've been a firefighter for 30 years, and my experience with wildfires dates back to some of my earliest calls in my rookie year. With your support, I will commit the resources of the state's largest firefighting agency to improve forest health and safeguard vulnerable communities. I'll expand recreational opportunities, support job creation in rural communities, and lease state lands to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for public schools and our state's economy.