TACOMA, WA — Pierce County Court Appointed Special Advocate, small business owner, and Tacoma Area Commission on Disabilities commissioner Rebecca Parson launched her campaign for Congress on July 1, 2019, becoming the first woman or queer person ever to run for this seat. When she is elected in 2020, it will be the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
In the first week of her campaign, Parson raised $4,700 and was endorsed by Sarah Martin, School Board Director at Chimacum School District — proving that the people are ready for a change and Parson is the one to deliver it.
“It’s time to elect a Democrat who will fight for us, not corporations and lobbyists,” reads Parson’s website. Her opponent is Representative Derek Kilmer, chair of the New Democrats, proponent of the Third Way policies that have devastated WA-06, and member of the Problem Solvers Caucus that pushed for more money for Trump and his cronies to continue torturing children in concentration camps at the border.
While our district struggles with addiction, homelessness, rising rent, and lack of healthcare, Parson’s opponent has taken millions from Big Pharma, health insurance companies, real estate, Wall Street, and fossil fuel companies. He refuses to cosponsor single-payer healthcare legislation, which would provide detox and treatment to the many people in our district who need it.
MORE ABOUT REBECCA PARSON
Parson comes from a line of public servants. Her father was a US Foreign Service officer and her grandfather retired as a colonel in the US Army. Both took the oath that she looks forward to taking: to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. To that end, Parson supports the immediate start of an impeachment inquiry.
Parson has served as a human rights observer in Mexico and as an AmeriCorps volunteer. She has also worked as a substitute teacher, which showed her just how much your zip code determines the quality of your education — and just how hard teachers work for so little pay.
Parson worked for several years with the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and she presented a paper at a genocide studies conference in Sarajevo. This experience taught her to recognize concentration camps when she sees them — and the importance of immediate action to shut them down.
Parson is the only candidate in this race who has taken the Sunrise Movement’s “No Fossil Fuel Money” pledge and who will fight for:
- National rent control
- A federal jobs guarantee
- Free public preschool and public college for all
- Cancellation of student debt
- Universal free lunch in public pre-K and K-12 schools
- Starting salary of $60,000 for all public school teachers
- $15+ federal minimum wage now (more in high-rent areas)
- The abolishment of private prisons and detention centers
- Just cause for eviction
- Bringing the pharmaceutical industry into public ownership
- Ending sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities now
Parson’s rent has risen 16% in the last three years and her health insurance premiums have risen 20% in the last two years. For these reasons, she is active with the Tacoma Tenants Organizing Committee and is on the board of Whole Washington, which is fighting for state-level single-payer healthcare. Parson refuses donations from corporations and lobbyists.
Parson’s policies and lived experience make her the change this district needs.
Learn more about Rebecca Parson and her historic campaign here: rebeccaforwa.com.
Joseph Boyle says
Ms. Rebecca Parson:
As I look over your list of objectives, the terms Socialism, Communism, and idiot come to mind.
If you do not like renting and rent increases, why don’t you smarten up and buy your own home. How can voters expect you to be a congresswoman managing billions of dollars when you do not seem to be able to manage your own financial affairs?
National rent control will mean national slums.
Will you promote national utility, yard care, roofing, heating and cooling controls too? If you succeed in being able to have national everything control, then national rent control will make sense. If you can’t then when property taxes, maintenance, wages, and other items rise, the landlord will need to adjust rents. Will you control inflation?
Why would you take away the freedom for a property owner to control his or her own property via rent adjustments and the eviction process?
Under your plan that forces landlords to lose their freedom to take their property back, will you also force the renters to lose their freedom to leave the property. If I can’t ask for my property back, you as my renter can’t leave. That is dumb.
Who is going to pay for all your free Socialism stuff?
I am sure losers and dopers, Socialists, and Communists will vote for you, but do not count on my vote.
Capitalism makes. Socialism takes.
Joseph Boyle
Jerry says
You took the words right out of my mouth on every paragraph Joseph!!! I’m sure I’m NOT going to vote for Rebecca Parson.
Pat says
Rebecca: Can you tell me who will be paying for the free public schools and colleges for everyone, the canceled student loans, the universal free lunches for all public schools among the other things you mentioned? (This is a rhetorical question; I know the answer!) I raised 4 children on my own in the late 70s-early 80s. I worked full time starting out earning less than $400 per month at that time. My husband paid about the same in child support. We managed to lived comfortably in a small rented house. I even managed to get an Associates Degree at a local community college. All of my children worked during their jr. and sr. high school years…babysitting, helping a neighbor clean and paint some rental property he owned, washing the pizza delivery trucks every Saturday at the old Pizza Haven on 100th street…long gone now. With the help of student loans, three of my children graduated from Washington State University, one eventually getting a doctorate. AND we did all this without welfare, without free lunches, or any other outside help. The daughter who did not go to college has worked for 35 years for a national bank! They learned the value of hard work, and you can bet that their children are following in their footsteps.
My point: If we could do it, so can anybody! I resent people who advocate for those who choose not to work and expect everyone else to pick up the tab for their laziness…which is exactly what socialism is!
Mine is another vote you won’t be getting!
Chris Anderson says
O.M.G. …..Is she serious???