INLAND NORTHWEST — Washington’s 7th District covers Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan, Douglas and Pend Oreille counties.
Jacqueline Maycomber, the leader of the House of Republicans from the state of Washington, is running for re-election. She runs into Lonnie Ray Williams.
Maycomber has held the position since 2018. She helped pass a bill to cap the price of insulin in Washington and another bill to get extra services for veterans. She says she now wants to tackle public safety and economic development next session.
“We need to make sure that we, number one, increase the number of law enforcement officers in the state of Washington and in our community so that they are not on calls, but they can be more active in community policing,” Maycomber said.
Williams has yet to hold public office, but says his main goal is to create a sense of community in his district to solve problems.
“Because communities look after their neighbors best, and if we just say, ‘I’ll give the government money and let them take care of it,’ the government is terribly inefficient, and we could really do a much better job of solving problems at the community level,” Williams said.
Williams is running because he wants to make a representative available to the people in his district. If elected, he proposes to hold seven public meetings a month.
“I’m going to be available and have a town hall in each of those seven counties every month,” Williams said. “Now it obliges me to hold seven public meetings. Everyone can tell me how they want to vote.”
When it comes to crime, Williams says connecting with neighbors and having a sense of community can solve a lot of problems.
“Because communities take care of their neighbors best … we could do a much better job of solving problems at the community level,” Williams said.
Maycomber says cost-cutting is an important issue she’d like to work on next session.
“It’s a struggle to buy bread and football boots,” Maycumber said. “We forget about the $5, $10 that’s for our families, because now it’s a difficult task to make sure that we don’t put an additional burden on them.”
Maycomber also wants to tackle homelessness and says it’s part of the job of reducing crime.
“Looking at the homelessness and mental health crisis, I mean we have people who are suffering and we’re saying ‘it’s okay, don’t interfere’, absolutely intervene because they’re suffering, they’re hurting,” — Maycomber said.
Williams says he doesn’t believe there is one way to fight crime.
“Crime is multifaceted, it’s not as simple as someone deciding to do something,” he said.
Both candidates have it at the top of their list for jobs.
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