We are one week away from a major election for our community. It is a rare occasion where two of the top elected positions in our community will be each held by someone new.
I would like to say thank you to Mayor Kelli Linville and Executive Jack Louws for your years of service beyond the 8 years each of you have spent in your soon to be concluded terms.
Our new Mayor and Executive will help lead this community for the next four years if not longer. It is important that we do our due diligence in electing the best candidate for the job.
If you are registered to vote, please do so. Our community has a plethora of options to learn more about the candidates and even listen/watch one of the many forums over the past month or so.
As your chamber, we do not endorse candidates but rather do our best to equip you with the information and pledge to work with our elected officials as we advocate the needs of our business community. We have an annual policy agenda that guides our advocacy as the issues that are impacting to the business community. More info on that policy agenda can be found here: https://bellingham.com/advocacy/
On behalf of your Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee, we wanted to provide a quick resource guide of some of the local elections:
City of Bellingham
Mayor
April Barker – https://www.aprilbarker.com/
Seth Fleetwood – https://sethfleetwood.com/
City Club Recorded Forum:
https://bellinghamcityclub.org/bellingham-mayoral-candidate-forum/
Bellingham Tonight Interview (Minute mark 14:00 to 37:00):
https://bellinghamtonightshow.com/?wchannelid=m1oess3ni8&wvideoid=lay6uh4hoz
City Council Ward 1
Hannah Stone – https://votehannahstone.com/
Beth Hartsoch – https://www.bethforbellingham.com/
City Council Ward 3
Dan Hammill – https://www.facebook.com/People-to-Elect-Dan-Hammill-1021777981167506/
Ashanti Monts-Treviska – https://www.ashantimonts-treviska.space/
City Council Ward 5
Lisa Anderson – https://www.anderson4bellingham.com/
Chanan Suarez – https://www.chanansuarez.com/
City Council At Large
Dana Briggs – https://www.facebook.com/dana4citycouncil/
Hollie Huthman – http://www.newregardmedia.com/votehollie/
Whatcom County
County Executive
Tony Larson – https://votetonylarson.com/
Satpal Sidhu – https://votesatpalsidhu.com/
City Club Recorded Forum:
https://bellinghamcityclub.org/coming-september-25-county-executive-candidate-forum/
County Council District 4
Brian Estes – https://votebrianestes.com/
Kathy Kershner – http://votekershner.nationbuilder.com/
County Council District 5
Ben Elenbaas – https://www.vote4ben.com/
Natalie McClendon – https://nataliemcclendon.com/
County Council At Large B
Carol Frazey – http://carolfrazey.com/
David Ramirez – http://voteramirez.nationbuilder.com/
Assessor
John Romaker – https://votejohnromaker.com/
Rebecca Xczar – https://www.votexczar.com/
Sheriff
Bill Elfo – https://www.sheriffelfo.com/
Joy Gilfilen – https://joyforsheriff.com/
Port of Bellingham
Commissioner District 3
Bobby Briscoe – https://www.briscoeforport.com/
Anthony Distefano – https://distefano.nationbuilder.com/
Washington State Senate
40th District Senate
Liz Lovelett – https://www.lizlovelett.org/
Dan Miller – No campaign website or known Facebook page available
City of Ferndale
Mayor
Jon Mutchler – http://reelectjon.com/
Greg Hansen – https://greghansenforferndale.com/
***There are many other local races for City Council positions in many of our small cities in Whatcom County, as well as other elected positions for school, fire and other voting and taxing districts. The positions we have listed above are those high profile positions in the county that are not unopposed.
Link to Forums and other Candidate Info:
League of Women Voters (all videos available from City of Bellingham YouTube Channel):https://www.lwvbellinghamwhatcom.org/
Bellingham City Club:
Both Mayor and County Executive Forums are linked above.
Bellingham Herald General Election Coverage: https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/politics-government/election/local-election/
A good comprehensive resource to our local ballot and local elections is the Whatcom County Auditor – Current Election website. Click here for the link. This site has the official election guides available for viewing.
If you are not registered to vote and you would like to learn how, please click here: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/1832/Register-to-Vote
If you are interested in running for public office, we would love to hear from you so please email me.
Thank you and it is our pleasure working for you.
Guy Occhiogrosso
President/CEO