Two candidates running as Democrats for the 43rd Legislative District couldn’t be more different from each other and from the man they are competing to replace, longtime House Rep. Frank Chopp, a former Washington Speaker of the House.
Shaun Scott is the policy lead for the Statewide Poverty Action Network and a Socialist Democrat who previously ran for Seattle City Council.
Andrea Suarez, the founder of We Heart Seattle, is running for elected office for the first time and calls herself a traditional Democrat. But she has been told she is too conservative to align with 43rd Legislative District values, and her organization has been criticized as lacking empathy for homeless individuals.
Chopp announced in March that he will not return to the Legislature after 30 years representing the 43rd, which encompasses Seattle’s Capitol Hill, the University District, Laurelhurst, Wallingford and Fremont.
Chopp, 71, fits the mold of a traditional Seattle Democrat, with solid union support, a strong focus on housing and homelessness and loyalty to the party and his caucus.
Scott told Cascade PBS in a phone interview that he is running for office to represent the people of the 43rd because he believes he can make a positive difference as a lawmaker. His work as an economic justice advocate makes him already familiar with Olympia, he said.
“We’re happy with the primary results, but I think that people who really want to see progressive pace set in the state Legislature are counting on us to make sure that we win this election and win it resoundingly,” Scott added.
In the long term, Scott said he would like to see the Legislature undertake the bold challenge of finding a new funding mechanism for public schools in the state, and to leave behind “lasting institutional change.” In the short term, Scott wants to tackle rent stabilization, affordable housing, economic justice and closing corporate loopholes.
His opponent has a different view of the needs of the state and their district.
Suarez told Cascade PBS in an interview that she decided to run because she sees areas for improvement in lawmaking and the way the state spends money, which she believes needs to be reformulated to include treatment options for those addicted to substances.
She said she realized the state doesn’t “have enough friction-free access to drug and alcohol treatment,” and that she also grew frustrated with the money spent on approaches to harm reduction, such as needle exchanges. She said that while she thinks people should have access to resources, they should not be given something for nothing because it “deflates them of their psychological drive.”
“That’s the real difference between a Socialist Democrat and a pragmatic Democrat is that I want people to reach independence,” Suarez said. “I don’t want them to be on the government dime for life. I want to teach and navigate ways to reach independence.”
On her website, Suarez notes that she will tackle other issues too, such as reproductive rights, building more affordable housing and responsible gun laws.
While Suarez maintains she is the true Democrat in the race and that Scott and his supporters “hold positions on the fringe,” other Democrats disagree.
Paul Chapman, chair of the 43rd District Democrats, told Cascade PBS in a phone interview that Suarez “is very clearly not aligned with the values, platform and resolutions that the 43rd Dems have passed.”
The 43rd District Democrats have endorsed Scott over Suarez, and Chapman said the reason for the endorsement was simple: She didn’t submit the paperwork in time to be considered for an endorsement.
Suarez said that she has been bullied by state and local Democrats, but Chapman pushed back on the idea, telling Cascade PBS that he has simply consistently pointed out to her that she does not align with the 43rd’s values.
She has also previously agreed to appear at GOP-sponsored events, and at one point posed in a photo with embattled GOP-backed gubernatorial candidate Semi Bird, Chapman noted.
Suarez pointed out that she had been blocked on the social media platform X by Shasti Conrad, chair of the Washington State Democratic Party.
In a phone interview with Cascade PBS, Stephen Reed, director of communications for the state party, said that staff manages Conrad’s X account, therefore the chair was unaware that Suarez had been blocked.
“But that said, I think we’re fine with that decision given the particularities of that race,” Reed added.
In the party’s view, “She is not a bona fide Democrat, and thus ineligible to have access to our party resources,” Reed said.
“We appreciate that one of the candidates is calling themselves a Democrat, but in our minds and in the party’s mind of the local party organizations, the only Democrat in that race is Shaun Scott,” Reed noted.
Suarez told Cascade PBS that she believed Democrats are as unfair and “if not more or equally corrupt and evil as the right-wingers, as the MAGA party, because of the extremism that has taken hold, especially in the 43rd and across the state.”
Asked for a response, Chapman responded, “That sounds like something that a Republican would say.”
Scott has raised nearly $102,000 in his campaign and has been endorsed by multiple sitting Democratic lawmakers in the Legislature, including Chopp. Organizations such as the Washington Federation of State Employees and the Working Families Party have also endorsed him.
Suarez has raised more than $106,500 for her campaign and has been endorsed by Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle, her primary opponent Daniel Carusello and Seattle King County Realtors.
Suarez was endorsed by The Seattle Times over Scott, with the editorial board hyperbolizing that “Sending him to Olympia would be akin to electing a far-right MAGA Republican.”
Scott refuted the notion, saying that others who endorsed him would probably disagree with the assertion and that voters will have the opportunity to determine if his positions are too extreme.
The Stranger was also critical of Suarez in its election endorsements, calling her a “homeless advocate who’s reviled by homeless advocates in Seattle and King County” and someone who “opposes housing-first solutions to homelessness and has implied on social media that needle exchanges enable drug addiction.”
Suarez disagreed with the criticisms she has heard about her ideas, and said she believed there are other Democrats in the Legislature who hold similar beliefs.
Scott garnered more than 59% of the vote in the August primary, while Suarez brought in just over 20%, both edging out the two other candidates in the race.
Ballots will be mailed Oct. 18 and voters have until Nov. 5 to return them.
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