Kassandra Bessert
Kassandra Bessert (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Washington House of Representatives to represent District 18-Position 1. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Bessert completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Bessert was born on January 1, 1984, in Spokane, Washington. She graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in 2007. Her professional experience includes working as a production manager as well as owning a consulting business.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Washington House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Washington House of Representatives District 18-Position 1
Incumbent Brandon Vick defeated Kassandra Bessert in the general election for Washington House of Representatives District 18-Position 1 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brandon Vick (R) | 61.1 | 57,566 |
 | Kassandra Bessert (D)  | 38.7 | 36,414 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 165 | ||
| Total votes: 94,145 | |||
| = 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 Washington House of Representatives District 18-Position 1
Incumbent Brandon Vick and Kassandra Bessert advanced from the primary for Washington House of Representatives District 18-Position 1 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brandon Vick (R) | 60.8 | 34,229 |
| ✔ | | Kassandra Bessert (D) | 39.1 | 21,999 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 90 | ||
| Total votes: 56,318 | |||
| = 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 themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kassandra Bessert completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bessert's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My family lives here, I grew up in Battle Ground- graduated from BGHS, where I was involved in just a ton of clubs, band, and track. I went on to the University of Washington, where I collected a lot of odd jobs and was a double-degree triple major (I hold two BA's from that 4-year period, with three majors- International Studies: Comparative Religion, Political Science, Anthropology with an emphasis in Archaeology.)
I was an archaeologist briefly, before starting in political organizing. After a year organizing for Barack Obama in 2008 the recession hit, and all jobs dried up in the PNW. I was doing a lot of temping and got a front row seat to the financial crisis through more than a couple jobs processing claims against banks who had fleeced their customers in bad derivative deals.
Eventually, and a long slog through the economic downturn, I started working in data and political analysis and started working on organizing around the ACA, Bernie Sanders, the Sierra Club, and others. Now I want to take that perspective earned from the Recession in Clark County and the advocacy work I've done for candidates and be an advocate for Clark County in Olympia- Get through COVID19 safely - by investing in public health at the state and local level so we can move through Phases quickly and aggressively as a community
- Get us back to work safely - people need assurances that they can get through this so they can get back to reliable work, small businesses need help making sure they can stay afloat through this time, and we need to start building spaces for more people to launch their own businesses without access to generational wealth or big corporate involvement.
- Secure Housing - When recessions hit, our area is targeted for evictions and foreclosures. Provide options for occupants and small volume homeowners. Keep people in their homes and expand housing options for people in the area- while respecting our unique neighborhoods and rural setting.
In times that aren't plagued with existential urgency, I care a lot of consumer financial protection, the environment, and economic equity.
She found this really specific thing- bankruptcy - that is a relief valve for a lot of people who are suffering economic hardship. And she came to it from a kinda judgy lens, thinking people maybe were ending up there because they weren't budgeting or some fault, but figured out that that wasn't what was happening. People where losing their livelihoods for a ton of different reasons, and rarely because of anything they did- healthcare costs, losing a job, losing a business, family members in need, unexpected deaths - she sat in the space and didn't try to confirm her first viewpoint, but listened and found empathy for the people in the system.
And when she did that, not only did she continue to become this force in bankruptcy policy, but she also becomes this outstanding advocate for building back the social safety net and started explaining the problems we were dealing with. And coming up with solutions.
She's a big presence now, but I used to love seeing her on the Daily Show in the oughts and it was so helpful to have someone explain what was happening while at the same time see her on CSPAN three days later trying to fix it.
Advocate - you're there to bring resources back to La Center, Battle Ground, Camas, Washougal, Ridgefield, Vancouver and Yacolt and stick up for what the district needs. Pursue that goal with vigor and passion.
I always work from a place defined by my values, which were shaped in Clark County, and listen. If you and I don't agree on something, I'll work to find the thing we do agree on and take it from there.
I've worked at music shops in Vancouver, cleaned bathrooms and campsites at Battle Ground Lake State Park, as a camp aid at Royal Ridges, building old school HTML websites, building a scheduling matrix for a construction company (then cleaning out the sites at the end of the day.) I also worked in a cafe, recorded lectures for distance learners, tutored, and wrote for a paper.
If COVID recovery is only approached from the view of the people who visit those spaces like groceries, hospitals, and public areas- and not the people who are always there, we're going to be in trouble.
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 October 17, 2020
