On Tuesday, Patrick Finedays DePoe rolled out a campaign for the Washington State House in the 24th Legislative District, seeking to replace retiring Rep. Steve Tharinger (D-Port Townsend).
An enrolled tribal member, DePoe lives on the Makah Reservation on the northwestern tip of Washington. He has served on the Makah Tribal Council, and in intergovernmental leadership with other tribes in the state.
"I was tapped on the shoulder by tribal leaders to help formalize the Association of Washington Tribes, which now I'm now officially the executive director of the Association of Washington Tribes, which we are convening."
In 2024, DePoe ran a statewide campaign for Public Lands Commissioner, raising issues of tribal empowerment and environmental stewardship of natural resource lands. He earned the endorsement of The Urbanist Elections Committee and the Seattle Times in the primary, but finished outside the top two and failed to advance to the general. Longtime Democratic official Dave Upthegrove ended up eking out a close race.
Laying out his case for the state House in an interview Monday, DePoe pointed to a career of public service and tribal leadership as being great preparation for representing the 24th Legislative District in Olympia.
"I've served on tribal government for a couple of terms," DePoe said. "I've served a couple years as an executive at the Department of Natural Resources, still serving our district with our natural resources. I've been a travel fisherman out in that area. I've served over 20 years, as a first responder in our area, whether it was responding to fires or oil spill cleanups. I was a skipper of an oil response ship out in our area. You know, my life, for the most part, in one way or another, been dedicated to that service of my district, and I'm running just because I want to see what's best for our district. I want to see what's best for our district, not only for today, but, you know, for our future, upcoming generations."
The 24th is a largely rural district encompassing much of the Olympic Peninsula from Port Townsend to Neah Bay to Ocean Shores. Olympic National Park, one of the most-visited parks in the country, is within its borders, as are more Tribal Reservations than any other district in the state. Port Angeles qualifies as the 24th's largest city at just over 20,000 residents.
Due to the left-leaning tendencies of Indigenous folks in Washington and the unique mix of retirees, nature enthusiasts, and blue collar workers in the district, it has continued to elect Democrats even as most of the state's rural districts have swung to Republicans. That would suggest DePoe, or whoever else advances through the primary on the Democratic would have the edge over a Republican, with Aiden Hamilton the only Republican currently in the race.
Tharinger won the district with 55% of the vote in 2024, a double-digit win.
While Democrats have framed themselves as moderates or even borderline conservatives in rural districts, that does not appear to be the case with DePoe.
DePoe is pitching himself as in favor of progressive tax reform and lessening the burden on working families. He noted his support for the millionaires' tax, which passed during the 2026 session, queuing up a new revenue source by 2029, and his opposition to reducing the estate tax, which also passed in 2026 – under the banner of decreasing the outflow of rich people from the state, which some feared the change in tax policy would expedite.
"I'm very, very supportive of the millionaire's tax; what I'm not supportive of is seeing that being extended onto working families," DePoe said. "Let's talk about the estate tax. You know that bothered me, because [...] it cut $500 million from education. Well, we have schools in my district that are already at shortfalls. And so that one hurt."
The 24th District has also been the canary in the coal mine when it comes to a struggling health care system, with Trump's cuts to Medicare, the Affordable Care Act subsidies, and reproductive health care increasingly pinching providers. DePoe pointed to the recent news that Planned Parenthood is soon closing its doors in Port Angeles.
"The last couple days it came out in the news that Planned Parenthood is closing in our area, and that's lack of federal funding," DePoe said. "But there's ways that our local governments can support that. There's ways that state government can support that, you know, especially when you look at the domino effect, right? So when Planned Parenthood closes, where those folks can go, they're going to go onto an already strained hospital, Olympic Medical Center, which is already dealing with the Medicare issues. So I believe that there's ways to be strategic within our different committees, and I believe that there's ways that we can help support and fund some of these issues."
The housing crisis is another area when DePoe wants to see the state continuing to push ahead and do more to alleviate rising prices, ease the lack of housing options, invest in affordable housing, and explore social housing on a statewide scale.
"Speaking of this housing crisis, just in general, it's hard for us to get folks that come all the way out to Neah Bay and that are going to be our doctors, that are going to be our nurses, that are going to be our psychologists, our behavioral health therapists, and so on and so forth, because, once again, the shortage of housing," DePoe said. "But it's not just like that in Neah Bay. There's a shortage of housing in Port Angeles, in Sequim. It's in Port Townsend, and in Forks."
When asked if he'd like to see Port Townsend's approach to parking mandates – namely eliminating them – expanded to more cities, DePoe sounded supportive.
"We can at least provide the option," DePoe said. "Just tweaking some of the zoning conditions at least provides an option. I mean, it's wild when you see the prices of some of our houses in our area."
So far, the only other Democrat in the race, at least according to the Public Disclosure Commission, is Kaylee Kuehn, a state Democratic party delegate and former teacher from Sequim.
Ryan Packer
