Saturday was the San Juan County Democrats’ endorsement meeting for the upcoming August primary. Attendance was rather sparse. We endorsed a slate of Alex Ramel for state rep, Amy Vira for prosecuting attorney, and Patty Murray for US Senate.

In the race for our Congress person, we had about a half hour of Q and A with incumbent Rick Larsen and challenger Jason Call. We then had a heartfelt discussion about what is needed in the immediate future in order to combat all the serious problems we face. Jason’s answers to all our questions move us forward where we need to go, while Rick’s answers did not rise to this same level. Here is the language I sent to Congressman Larsen in telling him that he did not receive our endorsement:

“We acknowledge and appreciate the town halls you held early on in the pandemic and that you have helped our county in a variety of ways over the years. But we are feeling the urgency of the times we’re living in right now and the need for faster and more progressive solutions to the serious problems facing our country. We believe these times are calling for new energy, ideas and quality of leadership in our Congressional District.”

As you can probably tell, we chose to endorse Jason Call for Congress. And as I have stated before, while there is a good chance that Rick Larsen may be re-elected, if Jason Call can finish no lower than second in the primary, then we will have two Democrats on the November ballot, bringing on a healthy debate between the two candidates and hopefully moving Rick in a progressive direction if he is to continue to represent us.