Third Congressional District candidate speaks

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Jaime Herrera Beutler has a new challenger in a progressive opponent and past Bernie Sanders campaign supporter.

Dorothy Gasque, a Democratic candidate for Washington’s Third Congressional District seat currently occupied by Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, spoke before supporters and interested parties at the Marshall Center in Vancouver June 13 to talk about issues and rally support for her campaign to run against the incumbent in 2018.

Although the general election isn’t for about 500 days, Gasque has entered the political arena espousing above all else a removal of big money interests from politics.

One of Gasque’s supporters, Adrian Hayes, introduced her to those gathered. In his job as a system administrator, he has to write computer code where one of the biggest issues he encounters are “bugs.”

“When I think about our country from the standpoint of a computer programmer, I see that our society has a number of bugs,” Hayes said. He went into an example of high levels of military spending, “not for freedom, but to protect corporate profits.”

“That bugs me,” Hayes said. 

He went on to reference Gasque’s work for Sanders’ campaign office where he commented that any time someone stopped by the office, Gasque was there.

“The reason that she was working so tirelessly for the cause, why is that? It’s because these things bugged her, too,” Hayes said. “Regardless of all the messed-up things that happened in 2016, she saw the spark of a movement beginning to form, and she wanted to make that movement happen.”

Gasque touched on her military career as well as convictions of citizenship instilled in her at an early age.

“I grew up in a household that taught me the importance of civics,” Gasque said. “My family taught me two really important things: one, that democracy requires participation, and two, that democracy must be defended.”

Gasque was in the army from 1999 until 2007, attaining the rank of sergeant and fighting in Iraq. She talked about how at the time, women were not allowed in combat roles, though in the circumstances of war she had to rise up, mentioning that in basic training they were told “we’re all soldiers first,” participating in raids and managing base security during her tenure. 

After Iraq, Gasque said she had struggled to find a calling up until Sanders announced his campaign. She said she had been following him since his speaking out against the Iraq War, and upon his announcement she would do all she could for the cause.



Gasque’s experience on the battlefield has molded her opinions, speaking critical of hawkish lawmakers.

“Politicians are too eager to send us into war. They’re too reckless with lives, and they’re not representing us,” Gasque said, “and when we take an oath to enlist, we swear to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.”

“The enemy is not Muslims, it’s not undocumented workers, but it’s also not Republicans,” Gasque said. “The enemy is the corrupting influence of big money in politics.”

“As long as the oil companies and coal companies and all these multinational corporations can determine who our elected officials are, they are going to continue to destroy our environment,” Gasque said. “As long as the pharmaceutical industries and the medical insurance companies can buy our politicians, we’re not going to get universal healthcare.”

To “walk the walk” to her talk, Gasque professed that she would not be taking money from corporate interests or seeking money from big Democratic donors.

Several in attendance asked questions about her proposed policy stances. She answered in support of single-payer healthcare, police accountability, protecting federal public lands, funding Planned Parenthood and net neutrality, and voiced rejection of school vouchers.

When asked as to whether she would support another Democrat if they had a commanding lead, she said she would if they were aligned with her own political convictions, making mention that she did not want the same type of big-money candidate she was against.

Regarding gun control, she said she is for universal background checks for firearms purchases and also supports more research into the underlying causes of the violence associated with guns.

Regarding education, Gasque spoke in support of student loan forgiveness, tuition-free public institutions as well as a focus on trade programs, which fit in her statements regarding the need for the Democratic Party to get back in support of labor, moving away from the white-collar focus of the party as of late.

Gasque put out a call to attendees to help support her campaign in much the same grassroots way that Sanders did before her, asking for others to rally around her.

“When we talk to voters, we win. That’s all it takes, just having that conversation,” Gasque said.