Two candidates — Natasha Hill and Tony Kiepe — are vying to fill the first House of Representatives position in Washington’s 3rd Legislative District, left vacant by incumbent Marcus Riccelli who is currently running for a state senator position. We partnered with Cascade PBS to write candidate profiles for the race earlier this year and have included them below. We’ve also asked the two candidates who made it past the primary an additional set of six questions, and pulled together a further reading list so that you can be an informed voter!
Boundaries of the 3rd Legislative District, courtesy of WA State Legislature.
Natasha Hill
Natasha Hill is a Spokane attorney who has also served as the interim editor for local newspaper The Black Lens since November 2023. A Democrat, Hill, also a licensed realtor and member of the Spokane Realtors Association, highlights her experience building community connections and “fighting against MAGA extremism.” Her priorities include investing in public health, protecting safe abortion access and “removing the barriers to economic stability and opportunity for our most marginalized communities.” Hill was endorsed by the Spokane County Democrats and State Rep. Timm Ormsby (D-Spokane), the incumbent in position 2 of this district.
Jump to her responses to our questions here
Natasha Hill PDC Link
Natasha Hill campaign website
Natasha Hill State Voter Guide
Related reading:
Spokane’s Black community newspaper is making a comeback (Cascade PBS)
Anthony (Tony) Kiepe
Anthony (Tony) Kiepe is a Republican insurance professional who previously owned gas stations. Kiepe has secured endorsements from prominent Republicans in the region, including former county sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and MJ Bolt, current chair of the Spokane County Republicans. Kiepe’s priorities include affordable housing, citizen safety, increasing consumer choices and “working to stop unpopular and costly laws from being passed.”
Jump to his responses to our questions here
Antony Kiepe PDC Link
Antony Kiepe campaign website
Antony Kiepe State Voter Guide
Our questions, their responses
We asked both candidates for the open seat the same set of six questions, touching on key issues we’ve heard from our readers. Their responses are posted verbatim — with light editing for grammar — in the order that they responded to us, Hill by email and Kiepe by phone call.
Natasha Hill
What are you hearing as the priorities of people in this district?
Our district has been voicing their concerns about issues impacting us here and across our state and country: housing costs, homeless services, mental health, addiction treatment and abortion rights.
What do you think is at stake in this year’s election for this seat?
This is a historic race in this district and I hope sends a strong message that we won’t tolerate hate and extremism in our region. As the first representative of color and a single parent representing this district I intend to focus on lived experience and what works, not just what makes those in power more money. I am someone who understands what it is like to grow up in poverty and to overcome the odds, that should not be the expectation and we can and must do better for those most vulnerable, especially our kids.
What policies do you plan to advocate for to address Spokane’s housing crisis?
We need renter protections including rent stabilization across our state. We also need to increase our funding and revenues to build the housing our communities need and deserve, no matter what income level they are at. We need to remove restrictions on building condominiums and make pathways to homeownership more accessible and equitable.
In the primaries, nearly a third of voters cast their ballots for Ben Stuckart. How do you plan to earn the votes of that group?
We have a lot of shared values even if we differ on how we intend to meet the needs of our community. Bottom line - We can disagree and still get shit done! I encourage folks to engage with our campaign and see for themselves how we are building community in new, fun ways that are bringing folks together around our shared values and goals. I have and will continue to show up, to listen and to represent not just my supporters, but everyone in the 3LD, democrat, republican, independent, socialist, or otherwise. We are in this together and I have no doubt I’ll be hearing from folks on all sides of the issues after I’m elected.
What do you aim to do for the working class people of your district?
My district needs more affordable housing, childcare and healthcare options. We are asking too much from folks working full time, especially families with children. Now is not a time we can afford to cut revenue and we need to keep the capital gains tax. We also need to protect investments we’ve made in long term care and our environment that directly impact the health and safety of our community. Bigger picture, we need to address the wage and wealth disparities in our state, including ensuring equal pay for equal work and ending corporate welfare that’s corrupted our free market by subsidizing employee salaries and allowing profits to be used for exorbitant CEO salaries and shareholder dividends.
What are up to three endorsements that you want to highlight?
- Rep. Timm Ormsby
- Washington State Labor Council
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Tony Kiepe
What are you hearing as the priorities of people in this district?
The biggest issue is safety and neighborhoods. They don't feel safe in their neighborhood. They want to feel safe going downtown. They won't go downtown. They want the laws that we have to be enforced. That's the biggest issue that I hear every day, when I doorbell, is ‘We don't feel safe in our own neighborhood.’ Some neighborhoods I’ve doorbelled, they’ve got security cameras all up. It’s a shame — it’s like living in a prison. They even want to go downtown because they don't feel safe downtown.
What do you think is at stake in this year’s election for this seat?
With me winning, it sends a strong message because a Republican has not won this race since 1980. With a Republican winning, that means the Democrats and Republicans will be working together, [voters] are sending a message: ‘We want you to work together.’ A lot of times what I'm hearing doorbelling is that they feel like the Republicans don't listen, the Democrats don't listen. They think we need to listen together and work together. They feel like we're not working together. So I think me winning sends that strong message: we want you to work with Tony Kiepe.
What policies do you plan to advocate for to address Spokane’s housing crisis?
One big issue is it costs 26% more to build a house in Washington than it does in Idaho. That’s because of the bureaucracy, permitting processes, permitting fees — land costs more. You have to look at our Comprehensive Plan, our grand plan. We’re doing 15 minute cities. Well, immediately all your land goes up because you’re within that 15 minute city. I’d like us to look at 20 minute cities, a little further out, and provide services, transportation, buses, schools. But we’ve got to get a little further out of the actual city.
In the primaries, nearly a third of voters cast their ballots for Ben Stuckart. How do you plan to earn the votes of that group?
If you know my opponent, she’s more extreme, radical, where I listen. I’m sensible. Ben Stuckart was a stand-up guy. He did a lot of great things for the city and he’s well liked. I should be running against Ben Stuckart, not Natasha Hill. She ran a dirty campaign and knocked him out.
What do you aim to do for the working class people of your district?
Well, one thing we need: people are wanting good quality jobs, high-paying jobs. We've got to bring in good paying jobs into the city of Spokane and to district three. We got to work with the County Commissioners — they work closely with companies bringing them into Airway Heights like Al French has done — so we can make sure we target companies we can build. What’s going to be hard is not having the houses. If you bring a whole corporation down here, where are they going to live? It’s gotten to be expensive. We’ve got to look at our housing problems.
What are up to three endorsements that you want to highlight?
- Washington Farm Bureau
- WA Cops
- Spokane Police Guild
- (Kiepe added some additional context here, in part: “I support our men and women in blue and they are supporting me because I support them.”)
Further Reading
- Watch to the two candidates have a conversation, moderated by The Spokesman’s Amanda Sullender here
- Watch the KSPS PBS Debate here on or after October 17
- Spokane Reimagined Transportation-focused Voter’s Guide: Hill and Kiepe.
- Read primary coverage from the Inlander here and from The Spokesman here and here.
