Welcome to my diary series titled “Majority Savers”! I will run a new article every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. The goal of this series is to highlight races that may make or break our current slender majorities in Congress. That means I will start more with incumbent Senators and House members until some primary elections are settled. If I have time, I will expand it to governors as well in critical swing states.
If you want to find my previous entries in this series, I recommend following me or searching for “Majority Savers” as a tag!
I have six ground rules behind the philosophy of this series. I’d ask you all to respect them as best you can, because these are taking me quite a long time to write. Here are my ground rules.
This candidate first won over her district in the 2018 blue wave in the state of Washington. She had an unexpectedly close election two years later, which does not bode well for her prospects in 2022. Please go below the fold to learn more about Rep. Kim Schrier of the 8th district of Washington!
Dr. Kim Schrier works hard every day for the denizens of the 8th district.
Candidate Background
I do not intend on writing her full biography, which can be found here. I will highlight some of Rep. Schrier’s past that makes her a perfect fit for the 8th district of Washington.
- She graduated from Cal Berkeley with a degree in astrophysics. That alone means that she is wicked smart and highly educated, which plays well in a district likely full of people who work in Microsoft and similar companies.
- She has a medical degree from UC Davis, and did her residency at Stanford. Dr. Schrier chose to specialize in pediatrics, which means that she had to learn how to take care of our children. She eventually moved to Washington to work at the Virginia Mason Medical Center and became politically active.
Signature Issues
Rep. Schrier has a DW Nominate score of -0.325, which puts her at the more liberal end of the political spectrum. She is more liberal than 66% of the entire House of Representatives. At the same time, she is more conservative than 66% percent of her fellow House Democratic Caucus. She is safely in the middle of the caucus, with a slight rightward tilt.
Health Care: As a pediatrician, her signature issue in both of her campaigns has been the expansion of Medicare and of the ACA through the public option. In fact, she entered politics precisely because of attempts to repeal the ACA. She is also a huge advocate for the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion or use contraception.
Education: Her mother was a schoolteacher, and her passion for education is clear in her bio. She is an advocate for public schools and wants all students to be college or career ready. Her background in science means that her vision of schooling is more STEM oriented than many current schools offer. She is an advocate for Early Childhood Education as well.
Environment: This is almost a requirement in the environmentally conscious Pacific Northwest, but she is very vocal on climate issues and protecting the environment. Schrier also knows that the burden of environmental racism has traditionally fallen on people of color, and she is working hard to reverse this pattern in the House.
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2020 President: Joe Biden (D) 51.7%, TFG (R-inc) 45.0%
2020 House: Kim Schrier (D-inc) 51.7%, Jesse Jensen (R) 48.2%
2022 Race Rating: Tossup
2022 PVI: D+1
This district, before electing Dr. Kim Schrier, loved voting for Democratic presidents (since 1992). However, the same suburban district kept sending Republican members to Congress. Former Rep Dave Reichert was considered a ‘moderate’ by the standards of the GOP, but he increasingly voted in lockstep with his GOP peers as the years went on.
This district is a blend of Seattle suburbs that are still trending blue and rural areas that are still trending red. While Microsoft isn’t located in the district, it is headquartered in a suburb nearby. The suburbs of Seattle tend to be wealthier, while the rural areas tend to be poorer in nature. This is the type of suburban district that rejected Trump and finally came into the Democratic fold during the 2018 blue wave election.
Seattle is the major metro area served by Washington’s 8th district.
Political Tour of the District
Picture of Washington’s 8th district
This district stretches along the easternmost suburbs of the Seattle-Tacoma metro area. This is where most of the population in the district resides. However, this population isn’t enough, so the district stretches across the Cascade Mountain range to take in more rural Chelan and Kittitas Counties. The district is virtually unchanged from the previous version that was created after 2010 redistricting.
Here’s where the race will be won in the 8th district.
- Seattle Suburbs: These cities and towns are notably the base of Dr. Kim Schrier (she is from Sammamish), and it is critical that these suburbs turn out. They have a past of voting for moderate GOP members, so it is also important to tar the eventual GOP nominee with the unpopular Trump lest the candidate becomes the next Youngkin from Virginia.
- Wenatchee and Ellensburg: These small cities out in the boondocks may not have as many votes as the suburbs, but to ignore them completely would be a mistake by the campaign. In a closely divided district, maximum turnout from these two smaller cities could prove to be the difference.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Pierce County and Snohomish County: These counties have more of the exurbs of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area, and they are the main source of GOP votes in the district. Exurbs around the country tend to be MAGA loving and Trump enabling, and these ones are no different. If turnout here is higher than elsewhere, we lose this district.
- Rural Lands East of the Cascades: There may not be very many votes out here, but most of the precincts are so lopsided according to Dave’s Redistricting App that if they turn out at a higher rate their impact cannot be understated. It is important to hold down the margins in these areas if possible.
Activism — Help How You Can!
Rep. Schrier is a fundraising juggernaut, having raised $1.11 MILLION dollars in the 1st quarter. This is well above and beyond anything that her GOP challengers have raised. It is even enough for the pricy Seattle media market. It is likely that she will face a torrent of dark money once the jungle primary picks her challenger. Her 2018 race cost $25 MILLION TOTAL.
She has an even healthier cash on hand advantage over her GOP rivals. While none of her challengers has raised a million dollars yet, Schrier has some $4.9 MILLION cash on hand, almost ten times as much as the rest of the field individually. She really doesn’t need your donations, but I will still give you a link just in case you wish to donate to her anyways.
DONATE TO REP. SCHRIER HERE
If social media is more your style, then follow her on Twitter. Dr. Kim Schrier has around 11.8k followers on the bird app, which is a respectable amount for a sophomore incumbent.
She also can be followed on Facebook, at DrKimSchrier.
Her campaign website is https://www.drkimschrier.com/, which is right now the best way to volunteer to help her campaign!
Thanks you once again for reading about another Majority Saver in Rep. Dr. Kim Schrier! There aren’t many districts on the West Coast that are this vulnerable, meaning those seeking to help incumbents in this area don’t have a lot of races to choose from. Her race may make or break our majority in the House of Representatives!
