COVID closures motivate several Tri-Cities candidates to challenge incumbents
COVID-19 infections are slowing in the Tri-Cities but the pandemic’s political fallout is already being seen in the latest election filings.
Kennewick School Board candidate Micah Valentine has made opening public schools and the choice to wear a mask part of his platform, according to his website.
Audra Byrd, who filed this week for the Richland School Board, is critical of an enrollment drop that she blames on the closing of classrooms and the potential impact on the budget and bond debt.
Kennewick City Council challenger Gretl Crawford blamed COVID restrictions for harming businesses.
And other candidates are alluding to the pandemic in their reasons for wanting to run for office.
After the first day of filing week on Monday, many incumbents were facing challengers. The most contested races were the Kennewick City Council and the Kennewick and Richland school boards.
Two challengers filed promptly to replace longtime conservative Kennewick Councilman John Trumbo, including union electrician Jason Lohr and Brandon Andersen, the owner of Bonsai Audio, a combination DJ and bonsai tree nursery. Trumbo also filed for re-election.
In Richland, school board member Ken Gosney said he does not plan to run after being appointed in November to finish Rick Donahoe’s term.
But already two candidates from different political positions are vying for that spot.
Behavioral scientist and former Marine and Army Green Beret M. Semi Bird believes critical race theory doesn’t belong in schools and is opposed to the expansion of sexual education.
While he believes the COVID closures have hurt kids’ education, Bird stopped short of criticizing the Richland board’s decisions.
“I don’t believe in taking cheap shots from the cheap seats,” he told the Herald. “People make the best decisions they can make.”
His opponent, Elizabeth Vann-Clark, a former Tri-Cities math teacher, has supported having a social justice course at the high school level.
“We live in a racially ethnically, culturally diverse community,” she said on Facebook. “Acknowledging and talking about those differences is how we can build a stronger community and improve learning for all our students.”
In the Kennewick School District, challengers have filed for positions held by two of the longest-serving school board members — Dawn Adams and Heather Kintzley.
Micah Valentine, Gary Bullert and David Neilsen are running for the position currently held by Kintzley. Gabe Galbraith and James Langford are running for the seat currently held by Adams.
Neither of the incumbents had filed by Tuesday morning.
Filing week
Monday was the first day of filing for the 107 positions up for election in Benton and Franklin County. They include several school board and city council positions.
The primary to narrow races to the two top candidates is Aug. 3, and the general election is Nov. 2.
Candidates can file online through the VoteWA site at bit.ly/WACandidateFiling. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, people are being asked to file their paperwork online.
Many of the positions in Washington state don’t come with a filing fee, but a city council and port commission candidates will need to pay to run.
A full list of Benton County races is available at bit.ly/BentonCountyFiling.
Some are spots on the Kennewick, Richland, West Richland and Benton City city councils and spots on the school boards in Richland, Kennewick, Kiona-Benton City, Finley and Prosser. There also are seats for port commissions and fire districts.
A full list of Franklin County races is available at bit.ly/FranklinCountyfiling.
This story was originally published May 18, 2021 at 1:16 PM.