Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama
How does state Rep. Ed Orcutt (R-Kalama), who has held a seat in the Washington legislature for 16 years, campaign against a first-time candidate who is nearly half his age?
He doesn’t. Orcutt has kept the focus on himself and his record representing the citizens of Lewis, Thurston and Cowlitz counties while campaigning against 28-year-old Brennan Bailey, an elementary school teacher in Toledo who calls Chehalis home
High on the list of accomplishments Orcutt rattles off are successfully pushing to expedite work on the Chamber of Commerce Way overpass in Chehalis and vehemently opposing tax increases.
“I just tell people what I do and what I’ve already done,” he said. “I talk about who I am and why I think I’m a good person to continue serving in the state legislature. I tell them why I think they should elect me.”
Bailey has spent well over a year knocking on doors across Lewis County, trying to convince voters that he’s the right person to oust Orcutt, who has held his seat since 2002.
Running as a Democrat, Bailey garnered 34 percent of the votes cast in the Aug. 7 primary election. He started his campaign in July 2017 before putting it on pause that fall to finish earning a Master’s Degree of Education Policy from Harvard University.
His “Fighting for Small Town America” message is targeted mainly at middle and working-class voters. On the campaign trail, he often cites statistics related to corporate executive pay and how recent tax breaks passed at the federal level have led to more corporate stock buybacks than pay increases for hourly workers.
“It’s been a good experience getting out and being able to hear about what’s been going on in the community,” Bailey said. “I hear a lot about the standard issues, but also some new ones I wasn’t aware of before I got into this, like Elk Hoof Disease. It’s been a learning experience and something I’m really glad to have done.”
Orcutt claimed 56.7 percent of the vote in August and said he feels comfortable with where he’s at as the election cycle enters the home stretch. At a candidates forum Tuesday in Centralia, he talked up the level of access his constituents have to their state representative.
“If you get an email from me, it’s one I wrote,” Orcutt said. “I sat down, read your email, understood your issue and wrote a response.”
Bailey understands the size of the hill he would have to climb to unseat Orcutt. Regardless of the outcome, he feels confident that his time spent speaking out against corporate influence in politics and the struggles of the middle class has served Lewis County well.
“Ever since I got into this campaign, a lot of important issues I’ve wanted to see have been talked about,” Bailey said. “There’s a focus on getting some things done that haven’t been in the past 10 or so years. That’s something I feel like I have helped accomplish.”
