#4ThePeople: Your candidates for the House of Representatives District 4 Position 1 race

Cummings is a Kaiser employee who says he’s running to combat what he calls a rise in nationalism in Washington and across the country. Schmidt was the president and CEO of the Associated Builders and Contractors in Spokane.

While Schmidt hasn’t held public office before, she has experience advocating for employers in Olympia.

“I have actually testified before committees, I have also ran grassroots efforts, and over meetings with legislators and lobbyists and task force committees,” Schmidt said.

Cummings is also a union member. He hasn’t held public office before either but has run before. He says his union work has led to his desire to run.

“There’s a real need for people that will stand up for democracy, stand up for working men and women, as union membership has declined over the last 40 years, so has our way of life, our quality of life,” Cummings said.

Schmidt says she wants legislation to be more in favor of law enforcement, going after police reform laws that were passed in 2021.

“I’d love to be able to reverse that to give our law enforcement officers that opportunity to pursue criminals when they are in the process of committing a crime,” Schmidt said.

Cummings says he doesn’t think these laws need to stay in place forever, but believes they help keep people safe.

“New policies that law enforcement is upset about now, that conservatives are touting as an overreach, but they came about for a reason, people were being hurt or dying and no one can deny that there have been too many of these, and they need to stop.”

Both candidates agree that rising costs and inflation need to be addressed in the next legislative session.

READ: #4ThePeople: Race for U.S. Senate heating up in Washington

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