Kim D. Harless

Education

Adequately funding education is a moral obligation and a constitutional one. We need to redesign how we pay for schools because what we have right now isn't working.Adequately funding education is a moral obligation and a constitutional one. We need to redesign how we pay for schools because what we have right now isn't working. Learn more

College changed my life. I worked multiple jobs and raised my infant child while earning my degree, and I still carry the debt today. A degree or a credential should be a path out of poverty, not a debt that holds you back from the financial security you were promised from hard work. Learn more

Environment / Energy

Washington leads on clean energy, but the transition only works if it lowers costs for families and puts union workers to work. Getting there means building fast and building fair. Learn more

The people who carry the heaviest burden from pollution are usually the ones with the least power to change it. A growing community and a clean, healthy environment are not in conflict. We need to remember that we humans are nature and not separate from it, and a harm to the environment is a harm to ourselves. Learn more

Climate change is not a future threat in the 49th District because that threat is already here. It is in the wildfire smoke that blankets our valley each summer, in flooding, and in the heat events that hit our most vulnerable residents hardest. Learn more

Government Reform

Kim will fight for the statewide priorities that impact all of us here locally: affordable housing prices and wage increases, a fairer, more progressive tax system so everyone pays their share, real progress on replacing the Interstate 5 bridge, lower healthcare costs so families can thrive, justice and ecological protections, and policies grounded in the needs and voices of our community. Learn more

Healthcare

Healthcare is a human right. Too many people technically have insurance but cannot afford to use it, and our behavioral health system does not have enough providers, beds, or community-based services to meet the need. Learn more

Housing

Housing is a human right, not a commodity. People are being priced out of the community they helped build and want to raise their families in, and the state controls the tools to help. Learn more

Infrastructure / Transportation

Transportation decides whether someone can reach their job, school, or doctor. It is also central to cutting emissions and connecting housing to other spaces. No one should be essentially forced into using a car, stuck paying for gas and insurance just to live their life. Freedom means being able to choose how to get around, but too often our system is designed so a car is the only realistic way. Real freedom means being able to take reliable and fast public transit, walk a safe sidewalk, bike a connected route, or drive if you want to, and having each of those options be equally viable and actually work for you. Learn more

Taxes / Budget

This state has the second most regressive tax structures in the country, which means working families and communities of color pay a disproportionate share while those at the top pay the least. This state has one of the strongest economies in the nation but residents aren’t feeling that, instead we are burnt out, working harder than ever, and yet are behind instead of ahead while the ultra-wealthy are richer than ever before. Fixing that is one of the core reasons I am running. Learn more