James Etzkorn
James Etzkorn is an officeholder of the Monroe School District school board District 4 in Washington. He assumed office in 2023. His current term ends in 2029.
Etzkorn (independent) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Washington's 1st Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the primary scheduled on August 4, 2026.[source]
Etzkorn completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
James Etzkorn graduated from Evergreen High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in 2007. His career experience includes working as an electrical engineer.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: Washington's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on August 4, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Nonpartisan primary
Nonpartisan primary election for U.S. House Washington District 1
Incumbent Suzan DelBene (D), Hunter Gordon (D), Benjamin Kincaid (D), and James Etzkorn (Independent) are running in the primary for U.S. House Washington District 1 on August 4, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Suzan DelBene (D) | |
 | Hunter Gordon (D)  | |
| Benjamin Kincaid (D) | ||
 | James Etzkorn (Independent) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James Etzkorn completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Etzkorn's responses.
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I'm a 5th generation Washingtonian with an Electrical Engineering degree from UW and a Master's in Nanotechnology. With over a decade in tech and 50+ patents, I know how to build solutions. I am deeply committed to our community, having started the Monroe High School robotics team and currently serving on the Monroe School Board.
I govern much like I run engineering projects. I use data to make decisions and focus on outcomes. Too often, politicians declare victory by throwing money at a problem, feeding a bureaucratic machine of consultants and lawyers rather than delivering results.
We must break the cycle. We keep ping-ponging between Democratic and Republican control, expecting a different outcome. This constant swinging is a symptom of a broken system. Our quality of life is eroding while we bounce between the same two options.
We cannot run a 21st-century economy with leadership stuck in the 20th century. As a new technological revolution unfolds, our leaders are making rules for systems they do not understand. We need a representative who understands the risks well enough to harness the benefits.
I am running as an Independent because I don't answer to party bosses. I answer to you. Career politicians are afraid of losing their jobs. I am afraid of losing our country.
The future doesn't just happen. The future is built.- Strip the Bureaucracy
Over a third of Congress are lawyers and only a handful are engineers. No wonder we have replaced legislation with litigation.
Polarization has left Congress incapable of passing substantive laws, forcing them to abuse the tax code to steer industry. This bypasses the hard work of budgeting and adds layers of bureaucracy that distort original goals.
Time is of the essence. We need leaders who understand that complexity is a tax. We must enforce accountability to measure results, not dollars spent.
I will fight for direct funding and align incentives with outcomes. By stripping away this friction, we eliminate the waste and fraud that thrive in complexity. - Engineer Abundance Our nation was once defined by its capacity to build. Today, we are defined by red tape. China completes the project while we're still reviewing the permit. 20th-century leaders created an economy of scarcity, driving up costs for housing, healthcare and energy. We need new leaders to Engineer Abundance. We must trigger an economic flywheel. By incentivizing tech giants to build power generation for their data centers, we expand the grid. This abundant energy makes advanced manufacturing feasible in America, restoring the middle class through production, not subsidies. Government must set strategic incentives to harness market efficiency. By rewarding outcomes, we replace bureaucracy with abundance.
- Confront the Debt Low interest rates masked our debt for years. That era is over. We now pay over $1 trillion annually in interest, surpassing defense and Medicare. Ignoring this guarantees a future of permanent inflation, crushing tax increases and deep cuts to the safety net that will destabilize our society. We cannot tax or cut our way to solvency; the math doesn't work. The only palatable solution is to Strip the Bureaucracy and Engineer Abundance to grow our way out. Status-quo politicians won't fix this. They have had decades to solve these problems and have only made them worse. They are content to manage the decline. I am running to engineer a recovery.
Furthermore, Congress funds too many programs through tax breaks rather than the annual budget. Congress bypasses the debate, compromise and prioritization that the governing requires. This shadow spending lacks checks and balances, fueling our ballooning debt.
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.
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from the Federal Election Commission. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House Washington District 1 |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 31, 2026
