Adison Richards grew up on the Kitsap Peninsula, graduated from Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor where his mother taught, and worked his father’s landscaping business before college. As a nonprofit attorney, he served survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking at the Northwest Justice Project, then practiced housing law at Kitsap Legal Services — work with families struggling to keep up with rent and mortgages that directly shaped his focus on affordability and public safety. He won the 26th District seat in 2024 after falling just 756 votes short in 2022, one of the closest legislative races in the state.

That firsthand experience drives a record built around cost of living, housing, and making government work at the local level. As Vice Chair of the House Housing Committee — and a member of the Agriculture & Natural Resources and Transportation committees — he has focused on bills with a direct nexus to his district, from streamlining state permitting to clearing derelict vessels from local waters. Public safety has been a priority since day one: he has fought to direct state dollars to county law enforcement and public defense, and crossed the aisle to work with Republican Sen. Nikki Torres to fund more public defenders. He backs affordable housing and homelessness solutions, environmental protection, public education, and reproductive freedom — while choosing bipartisan results over party-line fights.

Richards treats the job as a two-year contract up for review: a legislator who shows up, listens, and ties his work to what constituents are actually asking for. Rooted in the community he grew up in and pragmatic about serving a genuine swing district, he has earned another term in the 26th.

Endorsements include U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello, Kitsap County Prosecutor Chad Enright, Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler, Gig Harbor Mayor Mary Barber, Port Orchard Mayor Rob Putaansuu, the 26th District and Kitsap County Democrats, AFT Washington, the Washington Council of Police & Sheriffs (WACOPS), and the Alliance for Gun Responsibility.

Daria Ilgen’s mother’s family fled Iran during the revolution and rebuilt their lives in America, and that story of starting over runs through everything he does. He spent nearly twenty years building global partnerships and helping large organizations solve complex problems, then made a different choice: when his wife launched a small business, he stepped back from his career to raise their two kids in Poulsbo as a full-time dad, tending the family’s small farm between school drop-offs and barn chores.

That’s the vantage point he brings to this race. Ilgen knows the squeeze on Kitsap families firsthand, from childcare and healthcare to ferries and housing, because he’s been living it. He serves on the board of the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance, holds elected leadership roles in the local and state Democratic Party, and was one of just ten members statewide chosen to help redraft the party’s 2026 platform.

Ilgen isn’t a career politician, and that’s the point. He’s practical, steady, and focused on making everyday life more livable for working families. He’s the right choice for Position 1 in the 23rd.

Endorsements include Washingtonians for a Brighter Future, Washington Council of Police & Sheriffs, former State Senator Phil Rockefeller, Poulsbo Mayor Ed Stern, Poulsbo City Councilmembers Doug Newell and Doug Taber, former Kitsap County Sheriff Gary Simpson, and Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney James Kennedy. 

Deb Krishnadasan came up through the schools, not the party ladder. A PTA volunteer who became a Peninsula School District board member and president, she led the community campaign that finally delivered six new schools after decades of failed attempts. Appointed to the Senate in 2024, she won a full-fledged battle for the seat last November, prevailing in the closest legislative race in Washington against a six-term Republican.

In Olympia she has been laser-focused on lowering costs. Her bill expanding the property tax relief program, signed this spring, extends help to tens of thousands of seniors, people with disabilities, and disabled veterans so they can stay in their homes. She voted to establish energy-bill assistance for low-income families, proposed the first sales tax cut in Washington in over 40 years, and voted against the gas tax hike. Every bill she has passed drew support from both parties.

The 26th is a true swing district, and it rewards exactly what Krishnadasan delivers: independence, pragmatism, and results. She’s earned a full term.

Endorsements include the Washington State Labor Council, the Association of Washington Business, the Washington Education Association, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, SEIU 775, UFCW 3000, the Sierra Club, and the Washington Food Industry Association.

Greg Nance grew up in Kitsap, the son of a social worker and a public defender, and worked as a landscaper, house painter, and firewood splitter to make ends meet. He earned scholarships to the University of Chicago and Cambridge, then spent fifteen years building nonprofits, including Moneythink, which President Obama recognized at the White House as a “Champion of Change.” Drawing on his own recovery from addiction, he founded the Run Far Foundation to help young people facing mental-health and substance-abuse struggles, once running 3,156 miles across the country to make the point.

In Olympia, Nance has made the ferries his signature fight. He helps lead the Maritime Caucus and helped secure $895 million this session for new vessels, better reliability, and a mariner workforce pipeline, a lifeline issue for a district that rides the boats to work. He’s also focused on youth mental health, more affordable childcare, and support for small businesses, and the Children’s Campaign Fund named him Freshman Legislator of the Year.

Nance shows up: for the district, for Kitsap kids, and for the unglamorous work of making the system function. He’s earned another term in the 23rd.

Endorsements include Governor Bob Ferguson, Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal, Attorney General Nick Brown, Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove, State Senator Drew Hansen, Speaker Laurie Jinkins, and former opponent Dr. John Gibbons.

Tedd Wetherbee grew up in a large family with an immigrant mother from Nicaragua, raised speaking Spanish and learning early what hard work and resilience actually mean. He started his first small businesses in college, worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in his early twenties, and then spent a decade in Lagos, Nigeria, building infrastructure and energy projects, including power systems and solar lighting for underserved communities.

Back home, he built businesses in Washington State that today employ members of this community, and he knows firsthand the pressures on the people who work for him and shop with him. His focus is squarely on the cost of living: practical solutions that bring down everyday costs, help small businesses grow, and make commonsense budget decisions so families can build stable, secure lives here.

Wetherbee isn’t running to build a political career. He’s running to solve problems for the district that gave his family its start, and Position 2 in the 26th would be well served by that.

Endorsements include the 26th Legislative District Democrats, the Pierce County Democrats, Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello, Pierce County Councilmember Marty Campbell, the Environmental Coalition of Pierce County, and former Kitsap County Democrats Chair Hannie Baxter.