County Councilor Blom gains Democratic endorsement

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Current Clark County Council District 3 seatholder John Blom got a potentially surprising endorsement from a Democratic group, given that up until last year the incumbent was a member of the Republican Party.

The Young Democrats of Clark County have endorsed Blom for his re-election campaign, among a list of endorsements that largely follow party lines for this year’s elections. Blom is running with no party preference this time around, citing the nature of the job as something that shouldn’t be divided by party lines.

In a statement at the time of his announcement for re-election, Blom said that in his past term he saw that the “vast majority” of council action was not partisan by nature. He gave an example of public safety and road infrastructure as part of those decisions.

“When people need help and call the sheriff, they don’t care if it was a Democrat or Republican that approved the budget — they just want to know that help will arrive in a timely fashion,” Blom said in his statement.

In an email Blom said he was grateful for the endorsement, adding he felt their support reinforced his believe that Clark County Council’s work was largely non-partisan. He added that the YDCC “had a great interview process” with a focus on issues that the county had an ability to control

The YDCC had the chance to endorse a member of their party, as Jesse James has declared a preference for the Democratic Party for the District 3 seat.



Blom does have a Republican challenger as well, as Karen Bowerman has filed to run for the position. Bowerman is the wife of the Clark County Republican Party Chair Earl Bowerman, a former Congressional candidate who had drawn controversy by party members including Blom last year when Dan Clark, a precinct committee member, was elected as chair of the party’s bylaws committee. In 2011 Clark was convicted of supplying liquor to a minor, protection order violations and residential burglary, which a letter from concerned party members called “a history of sexually predatory behavior.”

The open letter claimed that Earl Bowerman “declined to take any action toward removing this Individual,” though he disputed that claim, saying he had spoken to Clark who ultimately resigned from his position as bylaws chair. Clark has also withdrawn his re-election as a precinct committee officer, according to Clark County Elections information.

Blom had also previously served as a Republican precinct committee officer, though he is not running for the position this year.

YDCC has endorsed another independent candidate for Clark County Council, putting their support for District 4 seat-seeker Matt Little. He is facing off against incumbent Gary Medvigy, who due to state law had to run in 2019 after his appointment earlier that year, ultimately winning against Democrat and now-Battle Ground Mayor Adrian Cortes last year.