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Josh Smith (Washington)
Josh Smith (No party preference) ran for election to the Washington House of Representatives to represent District 26-Position 2. He lost in the primary on August 6, 2024.
Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Josh Smith's career experience includes working as a meteorologist. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and a graduate degree from the University of Tartu.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Washington House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Washington House of Representatives District 26-Position 2
Incumbent Michelle Caldier defeated Tiffiny Mitchell in the general election for Washington House of Representatives District 26-Position 2 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michelle Caldier (R) | 54.6 | 49,086 |
 | Tiffiny Mitchell (D) | 45.2 | 40,636 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 187 | ||
| Total votes: 89,909 | |||
 = 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 26-Position 2
Incumbent Michelle Caldier and Tiffiny Mitchell defeated Rachel Harter, Lori McPherson, and Josh Smith in the primary for Washington House of Representatives District 26-Position 2 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michelle Caldier (R) | 33.7 | 16,878 |
| ✔ | | Tiffiny Mitchell (D) | 29.8 | 14,909 |
| Rachel Harter (R) | 18.4 | 9,204 | ||
| Lori McPherson (D) | 10.5 | 5,236 | ||
 | Josh Smith (No party preference) | 7.6 | 3,814 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 40 | ||
| Total votes: 50,081 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Smith in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Josh Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Smith'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 worked for years in the federal government as a meteorologist at the National Weather Service and currently work in the state government as an elections data analyst. I have a graduate degree in politics and governance and a deep understanding of Washington’s political issues and electoral system.
I grew up in the Puget Sound region and live in Gig Harbor with my wife, Elena. As a scientist, I am committed to evidence-based decision making and solutions. As an independent, I am committed to working across party lines and advocating for a non-partisan agenda to help working families and reform our political system.- Improving our political system through campaign finance reform: Campaign donations should not be a factor in politicians’ decisions, so I support banning Super PACs and using other reforms like democracy vouchers to limit the influence of money in politics.
- Addressing affordability: Reduce regressive taxes on working class families, including by ending tolling on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and exempting necessities from the state sales tax. Balance the budget through taxes on ultra-wealthy individuals and large corporations, not by reducing services for working families and seniors. Make housing more affordable in the long term by encouraging the building of more mixed-use developments which include affordable units in core urban areas and reducing burdensome fees and regulations for new housing.
- Creating opportunity for all: I support properly funding our schools, a living wage for workers on the job, accessibility for people with disabilities, and prioritizing our small businesses.
Ranked-choice voting to incentivize non-partisan coalitions.
Tax reform to benefit working families and fixed-income seniors.
Advocating for better working conditions and wages for workers.
Working with city and county governments to make housing more affordable.
Finding ways to improve public services and our ferry system.
Supporting local small businesses.
They Don’t Represent Us (Lawrence Lessig)
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
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Washington House of Representatives District 26-Position 2 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 27, 2024
