🗳 Your Skamania Nov Ballot, Decoded: Underwood's Candidates Night 10/9 + WA-03 Debate

Enjoy the audio edition on Buzzsprout, or look for "Open Gorge" wherever you get your podcasts.

🕯️ Halloween Cabinet of Curiosities: Election Edition

Before we get to the ballot, meet one of the most stubborn voters Skamania County ever had.

Ole Peterson lost his Iowa horse farm in the panic of the early 1890s, and he blamed the president, Grover Cleveland, a Democrat. So he hiked up the Lewis River with a cast-iron stove on his back and a sack of potatoes in the oven to keep it from bouncing. He swore he wouldn't come out of the woods until the country came to its Republican senses.

He came out once in sixty years, for his mother's funeral.

His cabin, way up the Lewis, on the far side of the Cascades from the rest of Skamania County, was the official polling place for his precinct. As The Oregonian put it in 1947, the vast machinery of democracy would pause "to wait for the two votes from his 20-mile-square precinct."

He took politics personally. When Woodrow Wilson won, Ole put his beloved Reo racer up on blocks. When Franklin Roosevelt won, the Hupmobile went up on blocks too, and he threw his radios out the window.

But he did make one exception. He called a Democratic party leader from Vancouver "the only honest lawyer in the country."

So whoever you're voting for, your vote counts! Make sure you get your ballot in early.

🗳 Special Edition: Your 2026 General Election Ballot

On Friday, October 9, the Underwood Park and Recreation District hosted a candidates night at the Underwood Community Center, and Columbia Gorge News livestreamed it on Facebook (CGN's write-up). Two days earlier, the two candidates for Congress met in a televised debate on KOIN 6. Here is who said what, what the record shows, and one race on your ballot that works differently from all the others. (The Chamber of Commerce and both county parties held their own forum in Stevenson on October 7; this edition covers Underwood's.)

Quick Facts

• Races covered: U.S. House (3rd District), State Representative (17th District, both positions), County Commissioner No. 3, County Clerk, County Assessor, Skamania PUD Commissioner No. 3, two Washington Supreme Court seats, and the county offices with one candidate.
• The Bottom Line: The PUD race is the one to read closely. One of its two candidates, Commissioner Liz Green, died in July, and her name is still on the ballot. What happens next depends on how many votes her name draws.
• The Vibe: Neighborly and practical in Underwood, where the questions were about bridges, the transfer station and parking at Drano Lake. Sharp-elbowed at KOIN, where Braun kept calling Gluesenkamp Perez a "D.C. politician" and she called him a "career politician."

🔎 What Changed

The field is down to two in every contested race. In the PUD race, one of the two has died. Dev Bell of Underwood now holds that seat by appointment. And the state's new tax on incomes over $1 million, signed in March, now has a repeal measure on your ballot, Initiative Measure IP26-645.

⚠ What Escalated

Money in the 17th District. Outside groups have now spent about $209,000 against Ben Christly and $156,000 against Diana Perez, the two Democratic challengers. Inside the campaigns, each party's House campaign committee has put about $100,000 or more into the Position 1 race. In mid-July, Waters had raised about $80,000 and Christly about $38,000.

🧭 What's Next

Ballots are mailed by October 16. Register or update your registration online by October 26, or by mail so it arrives by then, or in person through Election Day. Return your ballot to an official drop box by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3, or mail it postmarked by that date. The county certifies the results on November 24.

---

🏛 U.S. House, 3rd District: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D) vs. John Braun (R)

Skamania County is in the 3rd District. (Klickitat County is in the 4th.) Neither candidate came to Underwood. A staffer read a statement for Gluesenkamp Perez, and Braun was not represented. The two did meet on October 7 in KOIN 6's televised debate, moderated by Ken Boddie and Lisa Balick (OPB's write-up, and four takeaways from the Washington State Standard). In the August primary, Braun led district-wide, 39.7% to 36.4%. Skamania County went the other way by 34 votes, 39.9% to 39.1%.

In Underwood. Gluesenkamp Perez's statement leaned local: air conditioning at Carson Elementary, renewing the federal Secure Rural Schools program that sends timber money to counties like ours, and rides to VA appointments for rural veterans. Her statement cited a million dollars for Underwood's water system; the PUD's letter to Underwood customers credits her support for a $2.4 million federal grant to rebuild the Galligan pump station, with construction planned for 2028 and 2029. The House version of the Secure Rural Schools renewal that became law in December 2025 was a Republican bill she cosponsored from the start.

At KOIN, where they split:

• The war in Iran. Gluesenkamp Perez said she has "voted against the president's war six times." The House record shows six such votes between March and September; three passed. Braun, a 31-year Navy veteran, said his daughter, son and son-in-law are on active duty, and that he "would not support an open-ended war with no clear objectives to end it." He called it a hard problem.
• Health care. Gluesenkamp Perez said the federal budget bill takes health coverage from 25,000 people in the district. She voted against that bill both times it came to the House floor. Braun said the Medicaid changes are "not a cut," but slower growth, and defended the new work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents.
• The state millionaire tax. Braun called it "wrongheaded" and unconstitutional. Gluesenkamp Perez said Olympia spends too much and working people pay too much, and that she could not support the tax if it drifts down to middle and lower incomes. Braun said she had not taken a position.
• Braun's tax record. Braun opened by saying he wrote the 2017 state budget "without new taxes." The school-funding law passed alongside it (EHB 2242) created "a new state property tax" for schools, and he voted for it.
• Abortion and contraception. Gluesenkamp Perez said Braun voted against requiring insurers to cover contraception. The record backs her: in 2018 he voted against the Reproductive Parity Act (SSB 6219), which required no-cost contraceptive coverage and abortion coverage in plans that cover maternity care, and against a second 2018 bill requiring no-cost preventive care, including contraception. Braun answered that the bill let mid-level providers perform abortions without liability; that describes a different law, from 2022, which he also opposed. In March 2026, Braun told a Pacific County Republican gathering that "we are unlikely to change the law in Washington in the near future," but that abortion opponents should keep working "so that someday we get there," the Washington State Standard reported; his campaign says he does not support a nationwide ban. Gluesenkamp Perez cosponsors the Women's Health Protection Act and has voted against the House's Born-Alive bills; in 2023 she was one of three Democrats to vote for a resolution condemning attacks on pro-life facilities, groups and churches.
• Voting. Both support vote by mail. Braun supports the SAVE America Act and voter ID. Gluesenkamp Perez said she voted for the SAVE Act, which affirms that only citizens vote, and against the SAVE America Act, which she said would require copying your documents every time you vote.
• Data centers. Braun would support "neither a moratorium nor a ban," and said developers should bring their own power and water and earn the community's trust. Asked the same question, Gluesenkamp Perez said a moratorium "can make sense" and backed a national lab to study data centers.
• The I-5 bridge. Gluesenkamp Perez said she has brought back $2.1 billion for it and fought for a fixed span. Braun said the region needs a bridge it can afford, without light rail.

Each closed by attacking the other's record. Braun said Gluesenkamp Perez has passed one bill in four years, to name a post office. That is true of bills she sponsored herself, but provisions from bills she cosponsored or co-led have become law inside larger packages, including the Secure Rural Schools renewal. Gluesenkamp Perez called Braun a career politician; he is in his fourth state Senate term.

🏛 State Representative, 17th District

Skamania County sits entirely inside the 17th District. Both House seats are on your ballot, and both Republican incumbents trailed their Democratic challengers district-wide in the August primary: Christly 52.4% to Waters 43.9%, and Perez 54.9% to Stuebe 45.0%. Skamania County voted the other way in both races, 58% for Waters and 54% for Stuebe.

Position 1: Kevin Waters (R) vs. Ben Christly (D)

Waters, a fourth-generation Skamania County resident running for a third term and the county's economic development director, told Underwood what he has delivered there. Start with the water tank: the PUD's own letter to Underwood customers credits Waters and Sen. Paul Harris with a $1,030,000 state appropriation for the new Underwood water tank. He also described a bill he ran after the Tunnel 5 fire to let wineries in an emergency zone sell their wine elsewhere; it became law in 2024 (HB 2204). Christly, a Navy veteran, opened by taking on the mailers about him head-on: "There's about 10% truth, about 70% lies, and then the rest is taken 1,000% out of context." He asked voters to call him with questions instead.

• Vote by mail. Both said they support it. Waters said he signed onto a bill to end it as a way to start a conversation about failing school and fire levies. The bill is HB 1584, "Ending vote by mail for nonabsentee voters," which Waters co-sponsored in 2025; it never got a hearing in the State Government committee, where he is the ranking Republican. Christly said he disagreed with that bill, and that levies fail because people are struggling to pay their own bills.
• Bridges. Christly promised to be "a very loud voice of 98" for replacing the bridges along State Route 14. Waters said that when the area asks for more, it is told it is already getting a new Hood River Bridge, and that the Cape Horn Bridge is not in WSDOT's 20-year plan, which he called "scary." Earlier, Waters said he had helped win about $100 million for the Hood River Bridge. State budgets have set aside about $57 million for it since he took office. He voted for the 2024 budget that added $15 million, and against the final 2025-27 transportation budget, which carried $40 million for the bridge (ESSB 5161).
• Drano Lake. Asked about unsafe parking and sanitation at the lake during fishing season, Waters said a state recreation official was coming out to look, and tied the crowding to fishery cuts elsewhere that send anglers here.
• Abortion. Waters wasn't asked about it in Underwood. He has voted against most abortion-rights bills since 2023, including the 2023 shield law (ESHB 1469) and its 2025 expansion, but voted for the 2025 laws on emergency care for pregnant patients and 12-month contraceptive coverage.

Position 2: David Stuebe (R) vs. Diana H. Perez (D)

Stuebe, a retired Marine Corps colonel from Washougal finishing his first term, named affordability as the issue he hears most and said the state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. He voted against the millionaires' tax. At the July forum he said Republicans offered 83 amendments to it and "not one was taken"; House records show 70 amendments came to recorded votes and six were adopted, two of them from Republicans (roll calls). Perez, a Vancouver City Councilmember who spent 35 years with the Forest Service, ran on affordability, infrastructure and a wide public-service resume that includes the State Parks commission.

• Women's health care. Both said women should make their own health care decisions. Perez called herself "a full women's rights supporter." Stuebe answered as "a father with two daughters" and agreed: "Nobody else should tell you how to live your life." His actual voting record is mixed. In 2025 he voted for a law requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortion care when it is the standard of care (ESSB 5557) and for 12-month contraceptive coverage. He voted against expanding the state's shield law for abortion patients and providers (SB 5632), against a 2025 "dignity in pregnancy loss" bill, and against a 2026 grant program for abortion clinics (2SSB 6182). The latter issues have become more critical as patients are forced to travel to protected access jurisdictions like WA and OR for care banned in their states. In committee he recommended against a 2026 bill making it easier to distribute the state's stockpile of abortion medication, and he was excused for the floor vote.
• Tribes. Stuebe said he does not have much of a relationship with the tribes yet, and pointed to his work on roads and bridges. Perez pointed to her experience in government-to-government consultation and said tribal sovereignty is very important to her.
• Drano Lake. Perez said she would go see it, then ask for capital money for parking and a seasonal sanitation program. Stuebe said closing hatcheries and raising fees is making fishing harder.

🏛 County Commissioner No. 3: Asa Leckie (R) vs. Paul H. Mosbrucker (D)

This is the Underwood seat, and the forum was on home ground for both. Leckie is the incumbent, nearly four years in. Mosbrucker is an Underwood resident who served 15 years on the White Salmon Valley School Board and has worked for Underwood Fruit for 12. In District 3's August primary, Leckie led 775 votes to 629.

• Leckie's case was a list of Underwood work: showing up at the park district's meetings, pressing the state for wildfire infrastructure with Rep. Waters after the Tunnel 5 fire, and working with the state insurance commissioner's office on homeowners dropped for fire risk. He said he is now working on fuel breaks on national forest land and a safer way for river users to cross State Route 14.
• Mosbrucker's case was planning. He called Skamania County "a child care desert," said the county still hasn't steadied its budget 40 years after losing its federal timber harvest, and asked whether anyone is building for an aging population. On the Gorge Commission, he reminded the room that its members are appointed by the counties and the governors: "Well, we are the Gorge Commission."
• The Underwood transfer station. Asked about a rumor that it will close, Leckie said he has fought to keep the station open and that "on my watch" it stays, though fees may rise a little. He said the county is dealing with a deficit of about a million dollars this budget season. As of the forum, the county's 2027 budget had not been adopted. The rumor has been around: in August, the Underwood Park and Recreation District's minutes recorded talk that the county would sell the transfer site, and an answer that it was not the case. Mosbrucker said the rumor shows why the county needs a budget that plans for bad years.
• The record on the 1%. At the July forum, Leckie said he opposes taking the automatic 1% property-tax increase, and he has pushed to skip it for the county's general fund: in December 2024 he moved to set that levy without the 1%, and the motion passed 2-1. He has voted for the road-fund levy each year. In December 2025, after the 2026 budget passed 2-1, he joined unanimous votes on both 2026 levy resolutions, each written to include a 1% increase, one for the general fund and one for roads.
• The two biggest issues. Leckie named the long-term timber forecast from state trust lands, a revenue source that swings from year to year, and an aging workforce in the county. Mosbrucker named planning. His example was SNAP: under the 2025 federal budget law, some adults on food assistance must now work or volunteer 80 hours a month to keep it, and he said the county should have planned ahead and set up volunteer positions for them, adding that "with our budget situation, we can use some volunteers."

Editor's Notebook: the Difficulty of Volunteer Requirements

Here is how the rule works: It covers adults 18 to 64 with no child under 14 at home and no exemption, and outside King County it began applying in February 2026, as each person's benefits come up for review. Volunteering already counts at any nonprofit, church, food bank or government office that verifies the hours, so the county does not have to create positions for it to count (DSHS).

The harder problem in a rural county is finding enough places to take people for 80 hours a month, and organizations with the capacity to manage increased numbers of volunteers. As of August, the state's workfare sites were only in King County, and the job-training providers DSHS lists for Skamania County are in Vancouver or online. Those county residents with say, court-ordered volunteer requirements already struggle to find enough suitable local opportunities. This added requirement for SNAP recipients may add a further squeeze to already limited capacity.

🏛 County Clerk: Grace D. Cross (D) vs. Olivia D. Munsch (R)

Cross has been the elected clerk for 10 years and has 30 years in county service. Munsch has worked for the county for nearly two decades, 14 years of it as a deputy clerk. The August primary was close: Cross 2,153 votes, Munsch 2,098.

• Cross pointed to e-filing, records online through the state Digital Archives, and a modernized jury system, and to her role representing southwest Washington clerks in the state association.
• Munsch said she would bring "institutional knowledge paired with a fresh perspective," with a focus on being approachable and building relationships across county offices.
• Asked about leadership, Cross pointed to her decade running the office. Munsch said leadership can be learned and that empowering employees matters.

🏛 County Assessor: Gabriel P. Spencer (D) vs. Cora Moser (R)

Spencer, the assessor for about 20 years, was out sick, and Prosecuting Attorney Adam Kick read his statement. It said his assessments meet state standards without being aggressive, and that he is building an online map of comparable sales so owners can see how their values were set. The state's ratio studies put the county's assessments at 90% of market value for 2026 taxes, up from 87.5% and 88.5% the two years before; the statewide figure was 92.9%. A 2025 state Department of Revenue audit of the county's levies told the Assessor's office to fix two procedures, including certifying total assessed values to taxing districts as state law requires. Moser, a paralegal who has worked for the county for about eight years, said "behind every parcel number is a property owner, a family, or a livelihood." Asked whether property taxes are too high, she said the bigger problem is uneven assessments: some areas have not been reassessed in years while others rise fast, which shifts the tax burden. In August the challenger came out ahead, by 27 votes: Moser 2,157, Spencer 2,130.

⚡ Skamania PUD Commissioner No. 3: Liz Green vs. Addison Dillon

Commissioner Liz Green, first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2020, died on July 10. Her name stays on the ballot, because a candidate can withdraw only in the days right after filing week in May, and a nonpartisan race has no way to swap in a new name; County Auditor Robert Waymire told Columbia Gorge News that removing it by court order was not feasible. The board nominated Dev Bell of Underwood in August and appointed him to her seat on September 1, as our September edition reported.

Dillon grew up in Skamania County, has a background in energy efficiency and HVAC, and said he serves as an associate supervisor of the Underwood Conservation District. He is running on keeping rates affordable and opening up the PUD's decisions, and said every vote he casts would come back to three questions: "Is it legal? Does it benefit ratepayers? And can we afford it?"

The case for Green's name. Treva Mahar, speaking as chair of the Skamania County Republican Party, asked people to vote for Green anyway. Mahar said Green "always made sure everyone knew the position was nonpartisan," and that Green's family wanted the signs to stay up. If Green's name wins, Mahar said, the PUD would advertise the seat again and appoint someone until the next election in 2028. An audience question asked whether a vote for Green is really a vote to let the PUD board choose instead of the voters. The moderator set it aside without an answer.

What the law says, either way:

• If Dillon gets the most votes, he starts a six-year term on January 1, 2027. State law says an appointee like Bell serves until someone elected to the seat "qualifies," meaning the results are certified (November 24) and the winner takes the oath. Whether that puts Dillon in the seat in late November or only in January is not spelled out for this race. The ballot lists only the regular six-year term.
• If Green's name gets the most votes, the votes still count. A 1999 Attorney General opinion says the result is a vacancy, not a win for the runner-up. There is no special election. A vote for the rest of a PUD term has to ride along with the district's next regular election, held in even-numbered years, so voters would next fill this seat in November 2028, for the rest of the term through 2032. Until then, the seat is filled by appointment.
• The open question is who holds it in the meantime. One reading is the chair's: the board has to advertise and appoint all over again. Another is that Bell simply stays, because a PUD commissioner serves until a successor has been elected and has qualified (RCW 54.12.010), and the vacancy law says an appointee serves "until a qualified person is elected" (RCW 42.12.080). The statutes don't settle it, and no court has ruled on this seat.

⚖️ Washington Supreme Court

Five seats are on the ballot. Two of the candidates came to Underwood. David Stevens, a Superior Court judge running for Position 3 against Judge Jaime Michelle Hawk, argued that too many judges now reach the bench by governor's appointment rather than election. Hawk sent a statement, read by Adam Kick, pointing to her years as a public defender, ACLU attorney and Superior Court judge. Dave Larson, a retired trial judge from Federal Way, running for Position 5 against Justice Theo Angelis, whom Gov. Bob Ferguson appointed to the court, said he narrowly lost a Supreme Court race two years ago and won outside King County. Asked about abortion, Larson said Washington voters legalized it by referendum in 1970, before Roe v. Wade, and reaffirmed it by initiative in 1991, so the question belongs to voters and the Legislature, not the court. Stevens agreed. Position 3 is an open seat. Positions 1 (Justice Colleen Melody vs. Scott Edwards), 4 (an open seat: Ian Birk vs. Sean O'Donnell) and 7 (Chief Justice Debra L. Stephens vs. Todd A. Bloom) were not represented.

🏛 One Candidate Each

Five county offices have a single candidate: Auditor Robert J. Waymire (R), Prosecuting Attorney Adam N. Kick (printed on the ballot as nonpartisan), Sheriff Summer Scheyer (R), Treasurer Emily Sabo (R), and District Court Judge Christopher Robert Lanz. Sabo was appointed treasurer by the county commissioners in May, and has also kept her seat on the North Bonneville City Council; council minutes show her voting there through late August. She told the room that the commissioners set the county's budget priorities and her office's job is to track and invest the revenue. Kick spoke for several absent candidates, and called Lanz "a really good choice." Lanz is Bingen's city attorney; Bingen's August 18 council minutes record that he is resigning that job at the end of the year for the Skamania County District Court seat and a Klickitat County Superior Court commissioner post.

💰 Follow the Money

From the state Public Disclosure Commission, through about October 8:

• Position 1: Waters has raised about $399,000, including $125,000 from the House Republican Organizational Committee and $100,000 from the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. Christly has raised about $164,000, including about $100,000 from the House Democratic Campaign Committee.
• Position 2: Perez has raised about $226,000, including about $114,000 from the House Democratic Campaign Committee. Stuebe has raised about $124,000.
• The outside money. Christly told Underwood the mailers about him were mostly lies. State filings show who is spending against him: outside groups have reported about $209,000 in ads, mail and texts opposing Christly, $167,146 from a committee called Southwest Communities First and $41,979 from Fix Washington, sponsored by the Evergreen Leadership Fund. The same two groups have spent about $156,000 against Perez. On the other side, Southwest WA Priorities has spent about $38,000 for Christly and $27,000 for Perez, and Fix Washington about $30,000 each for Waters and Stuebe. Look up any filing at the PDC.
• County races still run on a few thousand dollars. Cross has raised about $8,400 and Munsch about $7,500 in the Clerk's race. Mosbrucker has raised about $5,000. Leckie, Moser and Spencer are mini-reporters with nothing itemized. In the PUD race, Dillon has raised about $2,600.

🛠 Jargon Buster

• The millionaire tax and Initiative Measure IP26-645: A 9.9% state tax on income above $1 million a year, signed into law in March (SB 6346) and set to begin in 2028. It is separate from the state's capital gains tax. Initiative Measure IP26-645 on your ballot would repeal it.
• Secure Rural Schools: A federal program that pays timber counties to make up for reduced logging on federal land. It lapsed for nearly two years before Congress renewed it in December 2025, through the federal fiscal year that ended September 30, 2026.
• Qualified (for office): Elected, certified, and sworn in. An appointed official serves until the elected successor qualifies.
• Mini-reporting: A simpler campaign-finance option for candidates who keep their fundraising and spending to no more than the filing fee plus $7,000, with no outside donor giving more than $500. They file no itemized reports.

✅ How to Vote

• By October 16: Ballots mailed to registered voters.
• By October 26: Register or update online, or by mail so it arrives by then.
• Through November 3: Register or update in person at the county elections office.
• By 8 p.m., November 3: Return your ballot to an official drop box, or mail it postmarked by that day.
• Your ballot also carries three statewide measures: IP26-645 (repeal of the millionaires' tax), IL26-001 and IL26-638. The voters' pamphlet explains each.
• See your full ballot and every candidate's statement at VoteWA. For the July forum and where these candidates started, see our primary edition.