Whatcom primary election filing period ends. Here’s the background on the candidates
Multi-candidate elections are shaping up for Whatcom County Council and Port of Bellingham, but only the at-large seat on the Bellingham City Council will see a primary race, and two Bellingham council hopefuls have no challengers.
Some 115 offices are open countywide in the mail-in Aug. 3 primary, representing agencies ranging from the Whatcom County Council to the Point Roberts Public Hospital District, according to the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office website.
All races are local and non-partisan in this off-year election.
“If it’s a non-partisan race and there aren’t at least three candidates, there’s no primary. It goes right to the general” election on Nov. 2, Auditor Diana Bradrick told The Bellingham Herald.
Taxes, ballot measures
Several fire-protection districts are seeking rate increases on the primary ballot, and petitions for four social justice ballot measures are circulating in the city of Bellingham.
Sage Jones of People First Bellingham said volunteers have collected about one-third of the 7,500 signatures they are seeking before the June 26 deadline to be on the ballot.
Candidates, ballots, voters
Candidates can withdraw by Monday, May 24.
Several races remained without candidates after the one-week filing period closed Friday, May 21. Those races will have an extended filing period from May 26-May 28, the Auditor’s Office said at its website at 6 p.m. Friday.
Order of placement on the ballot is determined by a random drawing Friday, May 21, at the close of candidate filing week.
Some 158,525 active voters are registered in Whatcom County, said Election Supervisor Amy Grasher.
Ballots will be mailed July 14 for the Aug. 3 primary, according to the Auditor’s Office website.
Voter registration and address changes online or by mail must be received at the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office by July 26.
After July 26, all changes must be made in person at the County Courthouse, 311 Grand Ave.
Residents can register to vote or change their address in person at the courthouse by 8 p.m. Election Day.
Here’s who filed for Whatcom County races by the deadline of 4:30 p.m. Friday:
Whatcom County Council At-Large (position A)
Four people are challenging Councilman Barry Buchanan for one of two at-large positions. Buchanan, who is serving as council chairman, was elected to the council in 2013 and re-elected in 2017.
The at-large seat is voted on by all county voters.
Sumas Mayor Kyle Christensen is Buchanan’s most well-known challenger. He gained attention for his role in helping the city cope with floodwaters that inundated downtown in January-February 2020.
Kamal Bhachu of Blaine told The Herald that he is a senior maintenance engineer for PeaceHealth. He attended Bellingham Technical College, earning degrees in both automotive technology and construction technology. He also was a nursing assistant with Whatcom County Hospice.
Bob Burr of Bellingham and Misty Flowers filed to run Friday. They didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional information.
Burr’s Linked-In profile said he is a lobbyist-activist at Save the World International. In 2014, Burr was supported by Whatcom Democrats and the Green Party, but lost 58% to 42% to Jeff McClure for Pubic Utility District 1 commissioner. He’s also run for U.S. Senate and Bellingham City Council.
Flowers is a singer-songwriter whose Twitter account describes her as a “holistic practitioner, big smiler! Law of Attraction engager, clown, nature love.” Her tweets protest vaccines, masking and other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Whatcom County Council District 1
Councilman Rud Browne isn’t seeking a third four-year term for Whatcom County Council District 1, which includes downtown Bellingham and its southern neighborhoods, as well as Western Washington University.
Three people filed to claim that open seat.
One is Kaylee Galloway, a legislative aide for 40th District state Rep. Debra Lekanoff. Galloway, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Suzan DeBene and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, serves on the Whatcom County Climate Impact Advisory Committee and the Bellingham Community Development Advisory Board. She has a master’s degree in policy studies from UW-Bothell.
Also running is Eddy Ury of Bellingham, who recently left his job at ReSources for Sustainable Communities, where he had worked for seven years, most recently as climate and energy policy manager.
Ury, who’s now doing private consulting, convened and facilitated a group of oil industry and environmental representatives who were working on new Whatcom County regulations for the Cherry Point industrial zone.
He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Western Washington University and works with the Whatcom Housing Alliance and the Bellingham Tenants Union.
Bellingham real-estate agent Jeremiah Ramsey entered the race late Friday. His Linked In account said he has bachelor’s degree in computer science from Thomas Edison State University, an online school in Trenton, N.J.
Not running is Teejay Morris, who helped organize the June 6, 2020, racial justice rally that drew an estimated 5,000 or more people to Bellingham. He announced his candidacy in March for the District 1 seat, but he told The Bellingham Herald on Friday that he had decided not to run for office after consulting with his doctor about a recent health issue.
He told The Herald that he is endorsing Ury.
“I have known Eddy for years and know he is rooted in community activism and organizing like I am. I strongly believe Eddy will stand up for all of us, and will fight for a more vibrant, diverse, inclusive, and sustainable Whatcom County,” Morris said in a Facebook post.
Morris raised more than $4,400 in contributions, according to reports filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Whatcom County Council District 2
Councilman Todd Donovan is seeking re-election to a third four-year term in District 2, which covers the area north of downtown Bellingham and its northern neighborhoods.
Donovan is a professor of political science at Western Washington University and has written books on political reform and U.S. presidential nominating process.
He’s being challenged by Kelley O’Connor of Bellingham, a firefighter/EMT with Whatcom County Fire District 14, covering Sumas, Kendall and Welcome. O’Connor is studying for a bachelor’s degree in healthcare management and leadership at Bellevue College. She has completed pre-med coursework, and plans to become a physician assistant. She has worked as an EMS dispatcher and as a medical scribe in a hospital emergency room. She also has an associate of applied science degree in business.
Whatcom County Council District 3
Councilman Tyler Byrd of Sudden Valley is seeking his second four-year term in District 3, which encompasses the rural Whatcom County cities of Everson, Nooksack and Sumas, along with the foothill communities of Kendall, Maple Falls and Glacier, the South Fork Valley communities of Acme and Van Zandt and the community of Sudden Valley.
Byrd is CEO of Red Rokk, a digital marketing company in Bellingham.
Fred Rinard of Everson, Kathy Sabel of Bellingham and Rebecca Lewis of Deming have filed to challenge him.
Lewis has a master’s degree in education from Western Washington University and teaches at Cascade Middle School in Sedro-Woolley, where she is president of the teachers union.
Rinard didn’t immediately respond to a request for biographical information.
Sabel entered the race late Friday and background information was unavailable.
Port of Bellingham District 1
John Huntley of Bellingham is challenging Commissioner Michael Shepard, who is seeking a second four-year term in District 1, which covers southern Whatcom County.
Shepard teaches online classes at Goucher College in Maryland, and also teaches incarcerated students in the California prison system through Palo Verde College.
He has a doctorate in anthropology from the University of British Columbia and teaches in the Anthropology Department at WWU. He is a trustee for the Kulshan Community Land Trust.
Huntley, a lifelong Bellingham resident, is president and CEO of Mills Electric and has a bachelor’s degree in business from City University of Seattle.
Port of Bellingham District 2
Commissioner Ken Bell of Bellingham is seeking a second four-year term for the Port district covering northeast Whatcom County.
Bell, who has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Colorado State University, is CEO of Iron Creek Group Inc., which uses thermal remediation technologies in cleaning contaminated soil. He owned Best Recycling of Bellingham for 23 years before selling in 2018.
He’s being challenged by Kelly Krieger of Bellingham and Austin Chapin of Deming.
Krieger has master’s degrees in business administration and psychology from Washington State University, and worked at Needham Harper Worldwide advertising agency and Kraft Foods. She has been active in Whatcom County volunteer organizations and Democratic Party politics. From 2014 to 2019, her nonprofit business, Hamster Endurance Running, organized running events and raised funds for Animals As Natural Therapy, Girls on the Run and Planned Parenthood. Most recently, she organized volunteers to sew 7,000 face masks and Tyvek gowns and protective suits for medical workers.
Chapin listed no email or phone contacts in his filing and didn’t provide biographical information. His LinkedIn profile said he is a pilot for Horizon Air.
Bellingham City Council at-large
Bellingham real estate agent and racial-justice activist Kristina Michele Martens is one of three people running for the two-year, at-large City Council seat being vacated by Councilwoman Hollie Huthman.
The at-large seat is voted on by all city voters.
Martens was a prominent voice for social change in the summer of 2020 and is working with the Chuckanut Health Foundation to build the framework for a new Whatcom County Racial Equity Commission.
Tonia Boze of Bellingham filed to run against Martens on Friday morning and didn’t immediately respond to a request for biographical information.
Her LinkedIn profile lists her as a strength and conditioning coach at Terrain Gym.
Russ Whidbee, a financial adviser, filed to run late Friday.
Bellingham City Council Ward 2
Hollie Huthman, who was elected to the two-year, at-large seat in 2019, is seeking the four-year term held by Gene Knutson, who is not seeking an eighth term in Ward 2, which covers the northern neighborhoods of Cornwall Park, King Mountain, Irongate and part of Meridian and Barkley.
Huthman, who owns The Shakedown nightclub in downtown Bellingham, has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Western Washington University, focusing on criminology.
Bellingham City Council Ward 4
Councilwoman Pinky Vargas isn’t seeking a third term for Ward 4, which covers the city’s eastern neighborhoods of Alabama Hill, Silver Beach, parts of Barkley, Roosevelt and Whatcom Falls.
Skip Williams, a retired public-school music teacher and Washington Education Association union representative, is the only candidate running to replace her.
Williams said in a statement that he has served in leadership positions on nonprofit boards including the Pacific Northwest Jazz Alliance, the Pipeline Safety Trust, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services, City Club of Bellingham, and Northwest Youth Services. He is serving currently on the board of the Mount Baker Theatre.
Bellingham City Council Ward 6
Councilman Michael Lilliquist is seeking a fourth term in Ward 6, which covers the southern neighborhoods of Edgemoor, Fairhaven, Samish, South and part of Happy Valley and South Hill.
Singer-songwriter Eve Smason-Marcus filed late Friday to run against him.
Lilliquist is a former research scientist with a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Texas at Austin, and now works as a paralegal.
He was elected to the council in 2010, after several years volunteering in school and neighborhood associations.
According to his biography at the city website, Lilliquist serves on the governing boards of Whatcom Transportation Authority, the Whatcom Council of Governments, and the Lake Whatcom Policy Group.
Additional candidate information was added May 24, 2021.
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 6:11 PM.
