Why Am I Running?

Written By Tatiana Brown

Dear Neighbor, 

Why am I running? 

First and foremost, I am running to fight for my district. The 37th has long been celebrated for its resilience – I also believe we need to write a narrative that does not just commend us for our resilience, but champions our needs and fights to build a future that allows us to thrive. 

I have been trained in how to deliver change for my communities. And I have spent my career building-out my tool-kit so I can effectively serve my community. It has led me to:

  • Stand up a network of community fridges to feed unhoused and income-restrained neighbors,

    Secure access to healthcare for elders on Medicare,

    Win oral health care for immigrant and refugee community members,

    Build with a broad community coalition that secured a historic win to expand Medicaid,

  • Model how a student-run participatory budgeting program at the University of Washington delivered a more sustainable campus and grew the youth-led movement for climate justice,

    Co-design and pilot the first ever government-funded community assemblies in the nation that demonstrated the value of community voices in the center of policy design,

    Graduate from the University of Washington with dual Master’s in Public Administration and Public Health where I teased out the connections between health + wealth + race + governance,

    Emerge alongside other leaders of color through Sage Leaders (local) and re:power (national),

    Stand, time-and-time again, alongside our frontline communities in the 37th and WA as the youngest-ever co-chair in WA Environmental Justice Council history,

    Mentor a growing bench of public servants who are trained to lead anti-racist policy and deliver materially, and

    Run for the greatest opportunity of my life, serving as your State Senator.  

In each of those roles where I was on the ground fighting alongside my community and leading policy, I was also working in the implementation and analysis. I am a trained mixed-methods researcher, program manager, grant/report writer, and policy analyst. I understand that when our communities fight for what we want, we need to demonstrate that we deserve to keep it. I have advocated, I have written, and I have implemented policy. I have also worked in the gaps of when policy fails us. 

The Senator who will deliver for this community is one who deeply understands why we are fighting, can clearly articulate what we are fighting for, will win, and will be damn sure we implement it successfully. When I become Senator, I commit to serving my community 12-months of the year and continuing my practice of working both on the ground (alongside my community) and in the State (creating systems change). We are still far away from the end goal our communities deserve. I will be your champion to get us affordable housing, a local economy that invests for us, urban design that integrates us with our beautiful environment, transit that connects us, culturally relevant health systems that promote all of us to be well, and a robust network that cares for our elders and youth. 

I will be the candidate with the vision to lead on daring and bold policies that center the history of our district and affirm our agency for self-determination. This means building up models for community land trusts, growing community development authorities, and working across governments to reconcile with the impacts of community displacement. 

Together, let’s build different.

Tatiana Brown