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Jessi Murray
Jessi Murray (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Washington House of Representatives to represent District 43-Position 2. She lost in the primary on August 4, 2020.
Murray completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jessi Murray earned a bachelor's degree from the Olin College of Engineering in 2010. Murray's career experience includes working as a technical program manager. She has served as an activist, as an advocate, as a volunteer, and as an organizer. Murray has been affiliated with Slutwalk Seattle in 2011, with the March Against Hate in 2016, with the Northwest Abortion Action Fund's Policy & Advocacy Committee, and as a commissioner and former co-chair with the Seattle LGBTQ Commission.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Washington House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Washington House of Representatives District 43-Position 2
Incumbent Frank Chopp defeated Sherae Lascelles in the general election for Washington House of Representatives District 43-Position 2 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Frank Chopp (D) | 66.2 | 61,788 |
 | Sherae Lascelles (Seattle People's) | 33.3 | 31,029 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 475 | ||
| Total votes: 93,292 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Washington House of Representatives District 43-Position 2
Incumbent Frank Chopp and Sherae Lascelles defeated Jessi Murray in the primary for Washington House of Representatives District 43-Position 2 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Frank Chopp (D) | 49.8 | 31,414 |
| ✔ | | Sherae Lascelles (Seattle People's) | 31.1 | 19,637 |
 | Jessi Murray (D) | 18.3 | 11,520 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 533 | ||
| Total votes: 63,104 | |||
| = 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
To view Murray's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jessi Murray completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Murray's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Washington has the most regressive tax system in the entire country and we need progressive tax reform now to put more money back in the hands of working people and to make investments especially in social housing and services that address housing instability in an equitable way.
- The climate crisis is real and we are fast approaching the 2030 point of no return to lower carbon emissions. We need a Green New Deal now to preserve the health of our planet for future generations, including fully funding transit and transitioning away from fossil fuels.
- Disparate outcomes in healthcare based on race, gender, LGBTQ+ identity, and socioeconomic status must be addressed and mitigated, so that everyone can have meaningful access to the full spectrum of care they need, from primary care to mental health care to reproductive care. Healthcare for All is the only way we will fix these outcomes.
- Ensuring coverage of gender-affirming care and care for sexual assault survivors by Washington health insurance plans as part of the coalition behind the 2019 Reproductive Health Access for All bill
- Educating the public on and testifying in favor of regulating Limited Service Pregnancy Centers, which are fake clinics designed to coerce pregnant people into continuing unwanted pregnancies
- Founding grassroots organizations devoted to ensuring everyone can have access to the full spectrum of reproductive care
- Ensuring continued adherence to Seattle's promise of trans-inclusive plans for city employees after the GroupHealth → Kaiser switch when Kaiser was discriminating against trans women needing top surgery in particular
- Working with Seattle Public Utilities to use the more gender-neutral "menstrual products" instead of "feminine hygiene products" on city signs
- Working with the Seattle City Parks Department on equitable access to facilities for roller derby, a sport disproportionately played by queer women
- Advocating for LGBTQ+ needs in homeless shelters and services at the city level
On my 18th birthday, I was sexually assaulted while visiting MIT as an accepted student. I didn't go there because of that experience, and it changed my life forever. I later gained firsthand experience in how broken the American healthcare system could be. In college, I had to make the choice between paying the copay for my birth control or the anti-depressants that made it possible for me to even pursue my studies. Later, I had to navigate getting support for multiple serious health issues in a row when I didn't have sufficient paid time off to give myself time to recover, and rising medical debt despite being insured. All of this created in me a deep well of caring for people first and of listening to the experiences of others. My aim is to elevate and amplify voices and stories that often aren't centered, and to create a better future in the process.
Beyond this, we know that our revenue is largely reliant on sales and property taxes. Because of the regressive nature of these taxes, those in the lowest income bracket end up paying 17% or more of their income in taxes, while the richest pay 3% or less. Washington state is the worst in the nation for putting an undue burden on the lower and middle classes.
Additionally, sales tax is a volatile revenue stream, and the COVID-19 crisis has created the absolute worst-case scenario for the state's budget with consumers making significantly fewer purchases; we are taking in a fraction of our previous revenue in sales at a time when we need to be spending more on our social safety net. We need to invest in our future, and to do that we need consistent, equitable funding sources, including adding a capital gains and wealth tax (while pursuing the legal path to a progressive income tax) while reducing our high sales tax.
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.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 27, 2020
