I’ve called John Braun when something was stuck and he answered. When we needed to get the shelter out of a barn that had problems and into a place where people could actually sleep safely, the money looked like it wasn’t going to come through.
He got the $2.5 million secured at the last minute.
That one sticks with me.
The same pattern shows up in the funding that landed directly on the county. In 2023, it was the shelter plus $500,000 for senior-services buildings and another $500,000 for the dig-once pilot.
The next year, they restored the North Lewis County industrial access money — the $50 million piece that keeps that corridor and the industrial side workable — along with $206,000 for equestrian facilities at the fairgrounds and the bill that let us use the fairgrounds for both fair and county business without the extra hoops.
In 2025, it was $767,000 for the 4-H barn improvements, $150,000 for the historic museum and $150,000 for the courthouse, plus defending the interchange funding again.
The 2026 session brought $100,000 for the barn roof, $30,000 for fairgrounds drainage, $1.55 million for the public health building HVAC and energy upgrades, $1.54 million for the Carlisle Lake dam safety work, and the reappropriation of the earlier 4-H barn dollars.
Those amounts came straight to the county. State Sen. Braun, Rep. Peter Abbarno and Rep. Ed Orcutt also moved projects for the cities and towns around Lewis County at the same time.
On the policy side, he has been willing to take the county’s feedback.
Whether it was the language in bills coming out of Olympia or the ongoing problems at Green Hill School here in Chehalis, he listened and worked on the issue. Green Hill is the state’s maximum-security juvenile facility. Braun has pushed for investigations into the drugs, staff misconduct and overcrowding, and he sponsored legislation to give the state the ability to move older residents who create safety risks into adult facilities. The JR-to-25 policy has made conditions worse; he has stayed on it instead of letting it sit.
He has also been clear on parental rights and on keeping girls’ sports for girls. As a father of three girls, he has not wavered on that. Biological males do not belong in female sports categories. That stance is consistent with how most people around here see it.
His Senate record matches what I’ve seen up close.
The tuition cuts, the education funding, the pushback on the large tax packages, and the conservative votes on issues that matter here all show up in the work.
He runs a local business, served in the Navy, and has led the Senate Republicans. None of that is abstract when you’re dealing with him from the county side.
It’s been over 100 years since this county has had one of its own in Congress. Braun already knows the ground, returns the calls and has delivered on the projects we needed.
That’s who I want in D.C.
I also encourage voters to support Abbarno and Orcutt. They’ve been part of the same team that produced these results at the state level.
Keeping that partnership in place matters.
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Sean D. Swope is the Lewis County Commissioner for District 1, which includes Centralia and surrounding areas. He is a Republican.
