Candidates in 19th Legislative District Talk Campaign Strategies for November Election

Both incumbents in the 19th legislative district state House of Representatives race are facing candidates who have never held office this November. While incumbent Brian Blake, D-Longview won the August primary with a large percentage of the vote, incumbent Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen barely beat out his opponent Erin Frasier, D-Pe Ell.

“Being up against an incumbent, it’s expected they should have a pretty large lead,” Frasier said. “So I think it just reinforced the fact that we’re connecting with people.”

Original counts from the August primary showed Frasier leading Walsh, with 51.11 percent of the vote. However, Walsh climbed into the lead with 50.19 percent of the vote after the final count. In Lewis County, specifically, Walsh garnered 66.32 percent of the vote.

“I don’t expect her to be leading on election night, but the same trend will be in effect,” said Walsh, when asked if he expected similar results in the general election. 

Walsh said the tight race didn’t cause him to change his campaign strategy. 

“We are just going to keep working on all fronts,” Walsh said. “I’ve been going to rallies and grange halls and doorbelling people’s neighborhoods and calling and everything.” 

Walsh is the assistant ranking member on the Business and Financial Services Committee. He also serves on the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee and the Capital Budget Committee.

Frasier said the close results didn’t cause her campaign strategy to change, either.

“The 19th is still very community based and that’s really where my core values are,” Frasier said. “We just have to be present with people and talk. We have to be there and connect with the communities. I try to be at every community event possible.”

Frasier is a policy associate at the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. She has more than 10 years of experience “improving education and job skills” as adjunct faculty, associate dean, director of Pacific County Programming and WorkFirst assistant director at Grays Harbor College, according to the voters’ guide.

Both Walsh and Frasier are attending a candidate forum in Longview the same night as the Meet the Candidate Town Hall at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at Centralia College in TransAlta Commons.

Walsh said he is currently working out the scheduling conflict to attend and Frasier said she will attend part of the event.

“It will be a very exciting trip between the two,” Frasier said. “We’ve talked to the folks in Centralia and they expect me to show up for the last part of their event.”

Washington has a top-two primary, which means that the top two vote getters advance to the general election, regardless of party preference. Walsh and Frasier were the only two candidates for Legislative District 19, State Representative Pos. 1, so both advanced to the general election.

Meanwhile, the primary results for the other state representative seat — Legislative District 19, State Representative Pos. 2 — were a bit more stark.

Blake won the primary with 58.21 percent of the vote, while Joel McEntire followed with 21.79 percent of the vote.

Blake has served as a state representative for 16 legislative sessions and is the chair of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. He also serves on the Commerce & Gaming Committee and the Business & Financial Services Committee.

McEntire, who is a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Sergeant, was in Kuwait during his campaign. He was supposed to return to the U.S. in the third week in August, but did not respond to request for comment.

“This election, for me, is just about giving the 19th district its voice back,” McEntire previously told The Chronicle. “It’s very simple. I just want to be the voice for the people who don’t have that voice.”