42nd District: Bhachu challenges Timmons for northern Whatcom County state House seat
State Rep. Joe Timmons of Bellingham and Kamal Bhachu of Blaine are in a Nov. 5 repeat of their Aug. 6 primary, after they finished first and second in a race where they were the only two candidates.
Timmins had 53% of the vote to Bhachu’s 47%.
Timmons, a Democrat, is seeking re-election to a two-year term for the 42nd Legislative District House Position 2 against Bhachu, who challenged unsuccessfully for a state House seat in 2022 and lost a race for the Whatcom County Council in 2023.
There are two House seats in the 42nd District, which includes the northern neighborhoods of Bellingham and the northern part of Whatcom County.
Voters in the 42nd District elected three Democrats to the Legislature in 2022, taking control of a district that had been represented by Republicans for more than a decade.
Kamal Bhachu
Kamalk Bhachu, who immigrated to the U.S. from India, attended Bellingham Technical College, earning degrees in both automotive technology and construction technology. He also was a nursing assistant with Whatcom County Hospice.
“I believe that a healthy and thriving community must offer a wide variety of employment opportunities. I am convinced that the people of the 42nd District, all the people, will be best served by electing officials who truly represent them and are not simply career politicians,” Bhachu said at his campaign website.
At a Bellingham City Club election forum on Sept. 25, Bhachu stressed the importance of personal connections.
“Listening to people is very important when you’re running for political office — listening to their needs and wants,” he said.
To solve the housing crisis, he said he would ease red tape such as stormwater runoff studies and other demands that raise the price of new construction.
Bhachu said he opposes Initiative 2117, which taxes polluters and has raised more than $2 billion to pay for programs that fight the effects of climate change, saying that it has “done nothing” except raise the price of gasoline.
Questioned on women’s reproductive rights, he said that he opposes abortion personally but that “the people have spoken” and he would not vote to change current law.
Bhachu is endorsed by the Whatcom Republicans and several well-known figures in Whatcom County GOP politics, including former state Sen. Simon Sefzik, retired Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo and former state Rep. Luanne Van Werven, according to his campaign website. He also has the support of statewide organizations such as the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs, the Mainstream Republicans of Washington, the Associated General Contractors of Washington and the Washington Truckers Association.
He’s raised $128,742 for his campaign, with $86,200 coming from the Republican Party Caucus. He also has $6,700 from business interests and $21,560 from individual contributions.
Joe Timmons
Before his election to the state House in 2022, Timmons served as Gov. Jay Inslee’s regional representative in Northwest Washington. He has degrees from Western Washington University and the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.
He has served on boards with the city of Bellingham and he is a board member for the Bellingham Food Bank.
According to his campaign website, Timmons discusses priorities such as housing affordability, health care and economic development.
“I know first-hand that we are experiencing a housing affordability crisis — for example, in 2021 our rent went up 35% in Bellingham, and I know that unfortunately our family is not alone in this experience,”he said at his website.
During his first term in Olympia, he worked on legislation that was aimed at allowing a range of housing types in residential area, especially duplexes, fourplexes and small apartment buildings that are affordable to middle-income renters.
“I believe in working on housing on a holistic level, from reducing rents to helping first-time home-buyers,” Timmons said at a Bellingham City Club election forum on Sept. 25.
At the City Club forum, Timmons said he opposed the four statewide ballot measures, specially I-2117, which he said “will gut the funding to fight climate change and early childhood education.”
He has endorsements from a broad range of local and statewide organizations representing labor, law enforcement, conservation and tribal interests, including Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe, the Washington Fraternal Order of Police, the United Auto Workers, the Sierra CLub, the Whatcom Democrats and Planned Parenthood.
Timmons has raised $413,329.47 for his re-election bid, including $191,523 from the Democratic Party, $92,226 from political action committees and $33,196 in individual contributions, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.
