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Aspen Richter

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Aspen Richter

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Nonpartisan

Candidate, Lake Washington School District school board District 4

Elections and appointments
Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

Bachelor's

California Institute of Technology

Contact

Campaign website

Aspen Richter is running for election to the Lake Washington School District School Board to represent District 4. Richter is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025. Richter advanced from the primary on August 5, 2025.

Richter completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Aspen Richter earned a bachelor's degree from the California Institute of Technology.[1]

Richter has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]

  • Lake Washington Parent Teacher Student Association
  • Evergreen Middle School Parent Teacher Student Association
  • Lake Washington Citizens Levy Committee
  • Eastside Urbanism
  • Pride Across the Bridge
  • Washington State Recycling Association

Elections

2025

See also: Lake Washington School District, Washington, elections (2025)

General election

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for Lake Washington School District school board District 4

Kim Martin and Aspen Richter are running in the general election for Lake Washington School District school board District 4 on November 4, 2025.

Candidate
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Kim Martin (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
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Aspen Richter (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Lake Washington School District school board District 4

Aspen Richter and Kim Martin defeated incumbent Mark W. Stuart in the primary for Lake Washington School District school board District 4 on August 5, 2025.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
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Aspen Richter (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
63.0
 
24,567
✔
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Kim Martin (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
18.8
 
7,350
Image of Mark W. Stuart
Mark W. Stuart (Nonpartisan)
 
17.7
 
6,909
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.5
 
176

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 39,002
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Richter received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Richter's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Aspen Richter completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Richter's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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I’m a parent of three students in the Lake Washington School District, and I'm privileged to be living in the greater Seattle area while raising them. The schools here have amazing resources, far beyond what I experienced growing up in lower-resourced rural areas.

As a child whose family constantly moved from school to school and residence to residence, I know first-hand the challenges of trying to find belonging in a new environment. I also know the challenges of being in a household below the area median income. I believe this period of my life is what inspires me to advocate for everyone in a community, no matter what their income level or place of origin.

Education gave me a path to a better life. I always loved STEM, which led me to obtaining my bachelor’s degree from Caltech. After graduation I broadened my focus with professional work in software development, project management, and legislative and regulatory compliance. A quality education teaches more than specific subjects; it creates curious and empowered life-long learners, and that is what I want for my own students from their K-12 education.
  • Highest Educational Outcomes for All

    Aspen will advocate for the highest quality education for students of all interests and abilities. As a parent of special education, general education, and highly capable education students, Aspen understands that education cannot be "one size fits all."

    This means focusing on finding and retaining exceptional teachers, providing instruction that works for each student, and structuring classes to provide both academic knowledge and practical knowledge as appropriate. We need to continue to provide and expand access to all pathways to a better future for students, whether that is a 4-year college, vocational education, or another path of a student's choosing.
  • Communication and Engagement Collaboration with all stakeholders in our educational community is foundational to offering the highest quality education to all students. The Board must continue to monitor the District's progress on building relationships, valuing family perspectives, providing families with meaningful and timely information, and engaging in transparent decision-making. Aspen will continue to keep community engagement and community experience centered in their work. This includes working with the full Board to restart "engagement sessions" between the Board and school community members. It also means continuing to be personally available, active, and engaged in the school community and broader community.
  • Sustainable Planning for the Future Sustainability is ensuring systems of funding, community, and environmental responsibility that can be maintained now and in the future, so that our schools can continue to thrive. It's being smart about where and how we build our facilities, about the impacts school decisions have on families' lives, and about making environmentally responsible choices. Aspen serves on the District's Facilities and Sustainability Advisory Committees, and has a certificate in Sustainable Business Practices. We need to be making future-oriented decisions as we grow and build, not just "the way it's always been done," so that we can benefit our people, our planet, and our pocketbooks.
Within education, my interests are in highly capable education, STEM education, career and technical education, special education, and areas such as universal design for learning and trauma-informed pedagogy. A single, monolithic way of teaching doesn’t work for all students. We need ways to support every learner in the community.

I also have personal policy interests in sustainable development, land use, environmental policy, solid waste and waste water management, and transit. I am also deeply interested in the innovation and efficiencies that can be achieved when schools, municipalities, and local organizations work together. I believe I bring an important and forward-thinking perspective on school siting and construction to the board.
An elected official needs to have characteristics of integrity, openness to differing viewpoints, and servant leadership, all combined with a willingness to show up and do the hard work of governing.
The role of school board director is one that requires working collaboratively and respectfully with the rest of the board to establish mission, vision, and goals, provide fiscal oversight to the district, and monitor the district’s process toward the board’s goals.
My constituents are everyone living in or associated with the Lake Washington School District. Whether or not you can vote in an election, if you live, work, have children, or go to school in the district, then I want to represent your interests and be your voice. This especially includes the students in our district, most of whom are below the legal voting age.
Knock knock.

Who's there?
Interrupting cow.
Interrupting cow w--

MOO!
I am endorsed by all Lake Washington school directors not in this race, by all three mayors in LWSD, and by all six Democratic organizations within the district's boundary. Please visit my website for the most up-to-date endorsements list.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Other survey responses

Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Richter completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.

See also

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External links

Candidate

Lake Washington School District school board District 4
  • Website
    		•

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 19, 2025
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