The chair of the Lewis County Democrats will join the race for Lewis County’s District 3 commissioner seat, becoming the first Democrat to join the race that already includes incumbent Lewis County Commissioner Scott Brummer and Lewis County Public Utility District Commissioner Mike Hadaller, both Republicans.
Zac Eckstein, who resides in the unincorporated community of Ethel, announced Monday morning that he would join the race for Lewis County commissioner. In a news release and an interview with The Chronicle, Eckstein said he was looking to bring better representation for East Lewis County communities that “feel left behind.”
“Our county is enormous, and if we’re going to build community trust, we have to show up and create ways for people to engage outside the walls of the courthouse,” Eckstein said in his announcement.
Eckstein is a relative newcomer to politics at any level, beginning his time serving as chair of the local Democratic party about two years ago in 2024. He said during a recent interview that his decision to join the race for county commissioner popped up spontaneously earlier this year as he reached out to East County communities as part of the Lewis County “3 to 5” effort that he and other locals announced at the end of January.
Lewis County 3 to 5 is a local effort to expand the Lewis County Board of Commissioners from three elected members to five, with supporters arguing expansion would improve representation for communities in East Lewis County.
According to Eckstein, he found during his visits with community members that most didn’t know who their county commissioner was and that many felt local projects or needs were being neglected. For Eckstein, the run for commissioner is a way to act on the need for representation now, as he and others continue pushing for the board of commissioners expansion.
“It just didn't feel like enough or fast enough to me anymore,” Eckstein said. “It really feels like right now, we need better representation, quicker over in that area, to start helping them deal with some of their, honestly, catastrophes that are going on over there.”
Concerning those East County issues, Eckstein touched on the need for a sewer system in Packwood, flood mitigation and economic challenges in Ashford and Mineral.
Community members in Packwood have sought a sewer system for more than 20 years. The recent approval of an urban growth area designation for Packwood promised progress for the effort, but a timeline on when the community will have a sewer is still unavailable. Randle and Packwood were particularly hard hit by Cowlitz River flooding in December 2025.
Eckstein also said he hopes to bring improved fiscal accountability to the county, referring to the current county budget as “a mess.”
“I think they're stuck between an ideological, anti-tax sort of talking point, and then actually what the county needs,” Eckstein said. “We need revenue to do the things that people need. We need to fix our roads.”
In his campaign announcement, Eckstein also alluded to recent actions by the Lewis County commissioners prompting his run. In the release and in his recent interview, the local candidate referred to “self-inflicted budget gaps” and mentioned the commissioners’ decision to pull money from the county’s roads fund to pay for public safety. He also referred to more than half a million dollars spent on legal fees concerning a legal battle over the county’s now defunct needle exchange restrictions aimed at Gather Church.
Eckstein said he is generally against what he refers to as “regressive taxes” like sales and property taxes, but he still questioned the commissioners’ refusal to take on a 1% property tax increase for the 2026 budget while promoting a public safety sales tax and relying on the roads budget to fund the sheriff’s office. He added the recent consideration by the board of permitting cannabis retail to access state revenues is evidence of the county’s need for revenue to maintain even its current level of services.
Speaking to Brummer’s role in the county, Eckstein said his biggest frustrations with the incumbent stem from his unwillingness to push back against what he sees as inappropriate conduct from Commissioner Sean Swope, along with his not living in the eastern part of the county.
“The bottom line for me is, Brummer lives in Winlock, and he lives over 70 miles away from the communities of the east end of the county,” Eckstein said.
Concerning his other opponent, Hadaller, Eckstein said he is focused on running in response to the current administration. He recognized Hadaller’s position as a leader of an East Lewis County community, but added that he doesn’t expect Hadaller to bring significant change to the board if he were elected.
For more information on Eckstein’s campaign, visit votezac.com.
