Tanisha Harris
Last week Democrat Tanisha Harris launched her campaign for District 17 State Representative, Pos. 1, a seat currently held by first-term Rep. Vicki Kraft, R-Vancouver.
“The working and middle-class families of the 17th deserve a voice and a champion in Olympia,” Harris said in her campaign announcement. “Right now, our representatives are just not bringing results home to Clark County. With everything going on nationally, it’s time to put aside extreme ideologies and talking points and focus on what matters most to us — good schools for our kids, roads and infrastructure that get us where we need to go on time, and an economy that works for all families. Anything less is simply unacceptable.”
Harris, who ran for Clark County Council in the fall of 2016 but lost to John Blom, is a lifetime resident of Clark County. She was born in Vancouver, graduated from Evergreen High School, Clark College (associates degree), and WSU Vancouver (bachelors degree); she also has a paralegal certificate from Sumner College.
She is currently the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program Specialist for YWCA Clark County. Previously, she spent 10 years working with the Evergreen School District with the goal of supporting diversity and multicultural education.
Harris has won the Fort Vancouver Trust General George C Marshall Public Leadership Award and the YWCA Val Joshua Racial Justice Award.
Battle Ground Mayor Mike Dalesandro is one of Harris’ early endorsers, along with the following local leaders: Royce Pollard (former Vancouver mayor); Tony Golik (Clark County Prosecutor); Monica Stonier (state Representative in District 49); Don Orange (newly minted Vancouver Port Commissioner); and Victoria Bradford, Julie Bocanegra and Ginny Gronwoldt, (Evergreen School District Board Directors).
Party Challengers
If Harris is to face incumbent Kraft in the general election this November, she’ll have to make it past at least one other Clark County Democrat who’s thrown his hat into the ring for District 17, Pos.1.
In early December, around the same time Kraft announced she would be seeking a second term, James Tolson, a veteran of both the U.S. Army and Marines and co-founder and board president of Concerned Humans Against Poverty, announced his candidacy.
