On my primary ballot, there was only one race that really mattered. Even technically mattered. I live in the central portion of the county, so neither PUD race that actually had a primary was on my ballot. I also don’t live in Lacey, so a very important fire levy was also not on my ballot.

The only race that had more than two candidates was the congressional race, incumbent Denny Heck versus a Republican (Pierce County councilmember) and two independents.

I was going to write this post to criticize those two independents, but I really only think one actually deserves criticism. Sam Wright is a typical crank sort of candidate. Not putting much of any effort into campaigning, shooting for a high profile position with no real effort behind his campaign. Enough about him.

On the other hand, Jennifer Ferguson is fascinating. She only ended up getting just about 5 percent of the vote, but I hope this doesn’t end up being her last race. Like Sue Gunn two years ago, I think Ferguson should aim lower next time, and get her foot in elected office somewhere else.

In some pretty interesting ways, Ferguson really does represent the WA10. I wrote awhile back how WA10 really is a military base community district, and in a lot of ways she speaks to that community.

From her website:


Do you want someone to serve you that values people and quality of
life?  Would you want someone to represent you that has a community
track record of service and commitment such as volunteering 2500 hours
in less than 13 months at Madigan with soldiers in acute distress and
other mental health disorders to include PTSD?  Would you like someone
to serve you and represent you that believes in standing up for what is
right and has shown it over and again such as going to congress when the
PTSD program at Madigan was shut down causing a congressional
investigation? Would you want someone to serve and represent you on a
large scale that has served and represented their entire life as a
volunteer in the military community and in University Place PTA,
President of UP Soccer Association, University Place Sheriffs Academy,
and the list goes on?

In her work as a mental health provider, Gigi has worked with youth
on drugs, youth in gangs, women as domestic violence victims, and
families who have lost their children to the state for many reasons.
Jennifer is a hard worker and committed to making this a better place
than she found it.  Jennifer is committed to her faith which causes her
to touch hearts, minds and lives where she goes. 

Don’t get me wrong, I really like Denny Heck. I voted for him this week and I’ll vote again for him in November. He does a great job on JBLM and other WA10 issues and is a polished and intelligent politician.

But, there is something about Ferguson that strikes me as very authentically WA10. We’re a very new congressional district, so our political identity is still being developed. But, she seems to speak much more clearly to the concerns of base communities.

So, not this time around, but I think she should take a crack at another local office. Like, who is taking on Doug Richardson next year?