A Collegial Campaign to Represent 20th Legislative District, Position 1

One could be forgiven for, at first glance, thinking state Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, and John Thompson, D-Silver Lake,  are running mates instead of opponents facing off for one of two positions representing Washington’s 20th Legislative District.

They agree on issues both have made cornerstones of their campaigns, such as the need to make rural broadband internet access a priority at the state level and creating career paths for high school students who aren’t looking to obtain a college degree. 

Both hold a disdain for the negative campaign rhetoric that has seemed omnipresent at times on a national scale and have spent much more time debating issues facing Lewis, Thurston and Cowlitz counties than sparring with each other, a trend that will likely hold true at 7 p.m. today when both appear at a town hall event inside the TransAlta Commons of Centralia College.

“We’re just trying to throw out different ideas, not be combative,” Thompson said. “We’re not antagonistic towards each other. There are fundamental differences between us, but we’d rather spend our time talking about issues, problems and solutions for the people of the district.”

Thompson received slightly more than one-third of the 16,341 votes cast in the race between himself and DeBolt for the Aug. 7 primary election. They were the only two candidates and thus were assured of a place on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.

DeBolt, who is approaching two decades of service in the state legislature, has championed his record of working for rural portions of the district while on the campaign trail. Flood and water management has been a recent focus of his, along with addressing the need for better access to broadband and mental health care.

The former House Republican Leader has a reputation for working across the aisle as a member of the minority party, but has stated that continued gains by state Democrats will make it harder to stand up for rural Washington.

“It used to be we were pretty balanced, Democrats and Republicans, between being rural and urban,” DeBolt said. “You’ll find most of the rural areas were represented by Republicans, and then those Democrats representing those areas were very rural-oriented. We even had rural caucuses. If the election results are too one-sided and you have one party control driven out of Seattle, it’ll just get worse.”

Thompson has hit DeBolt repeatedly for campaigning to create jobs in the area when he voted in 2010 against a bill that would have brought a $5 million investment to Winlock for the construction of an industrial park.

A former member of the Economic Development Council of Pierce County, Thompson has pushed for increased emphasis on infrastructure improvements in Southwest Washington. Those infrastructure projects would create much-needed jobs, he said, which would go hand-in-hand with his desire to create apprenticeship trade programs in area schools.

“We have too many kids who do not go to college with districts not providing the alternatives for job placement or job skills,” Thompson said. “They’re a big piece to our economy, and that’s a piece of it, along with better funding of schools.”

Regardless of the outcome on Nov. 6, Thompson is pleased with the campaign he’s run against DeBolt, who did not face a challenger during his three prior reelection bids. He was motivated to run in part to remind District 20 voters that there are Democrats in the area.

If re-elected, DeBolt says he will continue working on flood mitigation efforts as well as a bipartisan bill that is designed to incentivize the reduction of carbon emissions rather than punish companies who over-pollute.

•••

Editor’s Note: Richard DeBolt is an employee of Lafromboise Communications, Inc., the parent company of The Chronicle.