Washington needs more nurses in elected office
Washington’s 2025 special election will fill nine legislative seats vacated by resignations, appointments, and the passing of Sen. Bill Ramos (D-5). In the Senate, the most competitive contests are in the 5th, 26th, and 48th legislative districts. In the House, the seats in the 33rd, 41st, and 48th districts have drawn multiple challengers, setting the stage for active and competitive campaigns.
All of WSNA PAC endorsed candidates fared well in the August's primary election and will advance to the November General Election. To view the election results, please visit the Secretary of State's election results page.
In 2004, the Washington State Legislature had eight registered nurses in office. Today, we have none. Why does this matter? Keep reading.
Nurses are well-suited to serve as elected leaders. Their skills in advocacy, delegation, teamwork, and communication naturally transfer to elected office. When we have nurses in the legislature, we have a voice behind closed doors where decisions are being made on behalf of nurses. This is critical in developing public policy through the lens of a nurse that puts patient safety first.
WSNA is focused on cultivating future leaders who want to run for office so we can put nurses back in the legislature. We have begun to do more of this by sending those who express interest in public office to the Washington State Labor Council's Path to Power Political Candidate Training, and Healing Politics Campaign School for Nurses and Midwives.
Both trainings delve into the nuts and bolts of running for office, from fundraising and crafting an effective message, to voter contract strategy and grassroots organizing. Path to Power is aimed at union members and local community activists, whereas the Healing Politics Campaign School is targeted towards nurses and midwives.
In March, Seattle Children’s nurses Annika Hoogestraat and Kelsey Gellner attended the Path to Power training in Olympia. Hoogestraat is an intensive care and ECMO nurse and serves as the co-chair of her bargaining unit and as vice chair of the WSNA PAC. Gellner is an urgent care nurse and serves on the WSNA Board of Directors and as the social media officer for Seattle Children’s bargaining unit.
Both Hoogestraat and Gellner credit WSNA’s Lobby Day for getting them involved in government affairs and political advocacy. Gellner got involved with the safe staffing bill a few years ago. After that, more opportunities to get involved continued to pop up, which led to Gellner serving on WSNA’s Board of Directors.
Their advice to you? Keep saying “yes.”
By serving on the WSNA PAC Board, Hoogestraat is part of a panel that interviews political candidates seeking WSNA PAC endorsement and support. She was inspired by those folks who put themselves out there to run and realized that nurses have incredible insights into the practice of healthcare, so she attended Path to Power.
“It demystified the whole process [of running a successful campaign],” Hoogestraat said. “ I’ve learned that I don’t have to be an expert in government, which gave me more confidence.”
Over the years, Gellner has noticed how local politics impacts the day-to-day operations of being a nurse and her profession as a whole.
“Elected officials who are making these decisions aren’t nurses and many don’t have healthcare experience, so they rely on our voices and whoever speaks up to make those decisions,” she said.
One of their big takeaways was the need to making running for office easier for working parents.
“Learning how much time, people, and energy it takes to run a campaign. It’s not set up for working parents,” Gellner said. “Through the Washington State Labor Council and WSNA, we can break down the barriers that have been built against working people.”
Hoogestraat agrees.
“There is a barrier for working people to enter the state legislature. We need more working people in the legislature. WSLC and WSNA already have connections and political power,” she said.
In Washington state, we are fortunate to have a campaign training focused on working people. And there are opportunities to be connected to nationwide trainings that seek to specifically elect more nurses into office.
Justin Gill’s experience at Campaign School
In July, WSNA President Justin Gill, a practicing nurse practitioner, attended the Healing Politics Campaign School in Durham, North Carolina.
Gill said the Campaign School touched upon broad campaign topics like fundraising and messaging strategy, but it also left time for self-reflection. He said attendees were asked to think about their goals and why they wanted to run for office. They also reflected on how their lives (personal time, family, and financial situation) lend to running a campaign, and what they need to do to make the leap to run.
Gill said the Campaign School had four guest speakers who are nurses and current elected officials who provided insight into elected leadership.
“It’s much harder to talk to a new patient about their diagnosis than talking to a voter at the door,” Gill said he learned.
I asked Gill what qualities nurses have that make them uniquely qualified to be effective policymakers. His response:
- Nurses are naturally good communicators. We communicate with patients that come from every background, and we know how to focus on issues.
- Nurses are natural problem solvers. We deal with complicated issues in our clinical environment every day and navigate so many systems without realizing it. Making sure patients can afford medication, explaining complex diagnoses for patients, dealing with difficult and intimate situations such as end of life or the birth of a child. All those skills directly translate to campaigns and running for office.
- Because nurses are involved at every level of healthcare delivery from administration to bedside care to community/public health, we know what goes into all the aspects that impact our healthcare system. Public policy influences how our healthcare system works. If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu.
For the past 20+ years, nurses have been ranked the #1 trusted profession. It is no secret that the trust in our political system is low and continues to dwindle. But nurses might be a light. Nurses are well-equipped to bridge the political divide, because you hold that trust. You are storytellers and advocates. You know how to cut through the noise with personal stories.
You can find the full interview of Hoogestraat and Gellner in the August WSNA Government Affairs email sent the last Friday of the month. If you have not been receiving these regular emails in your inbox, please check your spam folder or sign up.
If you have any questions or any interest in running for office one day, please contact WSNA’s government affairs team at gov@wsna.org.