Patrick DePoe

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Patrick DePoe

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 6, 2024

Education

High school

Neah Bay High School

Bachelor's

University of Washington, 2005

Personal

Birthplace

Seattle, Wash.

Profession

Director

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Patrick DePoe (Democratic Party) ran for election for Washington Commissioner of Public Lands. He lost in the primary on August 6, 2024.

DePoe completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Patrick DePoe was born in Seattle, Washington. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in 2005. His career experience includes working as a director.

Elections

2024

See also: Washington Public Lands Commissioner election, 2024

General election

General election for Washington Commissioner of Public Lands

Dave Upthegrove defeated Jaime Herrera Beutler in the general election for Washington Commissioner of Public Lands on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dave Upthegrove (D)	52.6	1,969,936
		Jaime Herrera Beutler (R)	47.2	1,765,121
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	8,394

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,743,451
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Washington Commissioner of Public Lands

The following candidates ran in the primary for Washington Commissioner of Public Lands on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jaime Herrera Beutler (R)	22.0	419,309
✔		Dave Upthegrove (D)	20.8	396,304
		Sue Kuehl Pederson (R)	20.8	396,255
		Patrick DePoe (D)	14.1	267,944
		Allen Lebovitz (D)	10.2	194,118
		Kevin Van De Wege (D)	7.5	143,174
		Jeralee Anderson (D)	4.4	84,353
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,658

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,903,115
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mona Das (D)
• Rebecca Saldana (D)

Endorsements

To view DePoe's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for DePoe in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Patrick DePoe completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by DePoe's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Patrick DePoe, I currently serve on the executive leadership team of the Department of Natural Resources as the Director of Tribal Relations. I would be the first Native American elected statewide in Washington history, and one of the first nationwide. At DNR, I develop collaborative relationships with Washington’s 29 recognized tribes to inform all aspects of the DNR policy from forest management to species and habitat restoration. Additionally, I serve as advisor to the current Commissioner of Public Lands, overseeing Department staff, securing funding for wildfire prevention, implementing our forest health management plan, impacting sustainable harvesting, and prioritizing salmon restoration.

Prior to working at DNR I was the Vice-chair of the Makah Tribe where I oversaw an organization with 400 employees, led emergency operations preparedness and response, and coordinated with local, regional, state and federal partners.

Over the last two decades, I have gained extensive experience having worked in emergency response cleaning up oil spills and fighting fires, as a commercial fisherman, a land manager, and served on the boards of numerous environmental organizations including the NW Indian Fisheries Commission, Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal-Interior Budget Council and the National Congress of American Indians.

I am proud to have been appointed by Governor Inslee to the Washington Environmental Justice Council and Low Carbon Energy Siting Board.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Tackling our most pressing challenges from wildfires to climate change takes experience. Governor Inslee appointed me to the Washington Environmental Justice Council to help lead this work. I'm the only candidate in the race that is not a career politician. Instead, I've spent decades in land management, emergency response cleaning up oil spills and fighting wildfires, as a commercial fisherman, a tribal leader and leading preventative work to improve our lands and waters. Currently serving on the executive team for the Department of Natural Resources has earned me the endorsement of our current Commissioner of Public Lands, and given me a unique vantage point to learn this job so I can hit the ground running from day one.
• Sustainability is not about politics for me, its a way of life. I grew up on the Makah Reservation in Neah Bay, and would not only be the first Native American elected statewide in the Pacific Northwest, but one of the first in American history. My heritage is not just an identity, it means I understand the importance of caring for and living off the land. We have a lot to learn from rural communities like mine who depend on natural resources for survival. It’s why I'll have a balanced approach to forest management and will make sure stakeholders from rural and underrepresented communities have a seat at the table. As commissioner, I'll protect all that is great about our state, its lands and the people they sustain.
• The Seattle Times endorsed our campaign, calling me the “best candidate to tackle” the “urgent and complex environmental challenges” facing our state. That's because the issues in front of us are far more complicated than buzz words or bumper stickers allow. The next Commissioner must determine which lands are worked and which are conserved, taking into consideration how sustainable harvesting funds our local schools and rural counties. Ensuring we protect critical funding in the face of devastating budget cuts across our State earned me the support of Washington's teachers (WEA), firefighters (IAFF 31), tradespeople (ILWU Area Council), and our Tribes.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Smoke-filled summers and wildfires raging across our State never used to be the norm. Over two decades, I worked as an emergency responder cleaning up oil spills and fighting fires. I know how difficult this work is first hand. The next Commissioner must build on our success in securing historic funding for both prevention and response, modernizing equipment, hiring more full-time firefighters, and ensuring they have the wages and benefits they earn by putting their lives on the line for us. Over the last few years, I've had the opportunity to learn under our current Commissioner haining the knowledge and experience that is needed to hit the ground running and prioritize wildfire prevention and response.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

First and foremost, the next Commissioner of Public Lands must lead wildfire prevention and response. That means implementing our 20-year forest health plan to ensure our forests are healthy and less prone to fires to begin with, and it means building on our recent efforts to secure more funding for better equipment, a larger firefighting force, and new technology to improve response. Climate change has rapidly increased the risk of wildfires across our State, and we can no longer rely on a primarily volunteer led response that scales up from scratch every year.

Second, supporting our working forests, conservation efforts, and climate change goals. We must empower our highly-qualified professionals across interdisciplinary backgrounds to evaluate and inform the appropriate sustainable harvesting levels so our forests are healthy, contributing to our local economy, protecting critical species, sequestering carbon, and providing the strongest possible benefit for all Washingtonians.

Third, this role must build strong relationships with industries, environmental groups, unions, advocacy organizations, and Tribal Nations. Without the strong relationships and ability to bring these groups to the table together, progress will be stalled significantly as it has been in the passed. With pressing threats from wildfires to climate change to saving our Salmon, we need an experienced leader that has already begun this work, not someone trying to build it all from scratch.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

One of my first jobs out of highschool was as a Patient Service Specialist at the University of Washington Medical Center. Even as an entry level job, the opportunity to be a member of SEIU 925 and have the support of a union helped me keep a roof over my head and put food on the table. I'll always be grateful to how this job helped me start off my career with dignity.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

I'm proud to have earned the endorsement of the Seattle Times and our current Commissioner of Public Lands, Hilary Franz. Additionally, numerous elected leaders including Retired Congressman Norm Dicks, retired Seattle City Council Chair Deborah Juarez, former State Representative Jessyn Farrell, and State Senators Yasmin Trudeau and Claudia Kauffman have endorsed our campaign. The outpouring of support from Tribal nations and unions like Washington Education Association, ILWU Longshoreman, Amalgamated Transit Union, and our Firefighters at IAFF 31 has blown me away. Finally, numerous Democratic organizations including Pacific County, Pierce County, and many local legislative district Democrats have endorsed our campaign.

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 website

DePoe’s campaign website stated the following:

“	Patrick is uniquely qualified to lead this next chapter of bringing our forests back to health, boosting jobs in rural Washington, and reducing the threat of wildfires. Building a Climate Coalition: Patrick will drive consensus to ensure the most basic and proven strategies are implemented quickly and that we do everything in our power to combat climate change. Creating New Opportunities: In communities like Patrick’s, people who depend on jobs in logging, trucking and fishing have been told to find a new path. Patrick understands the balance of not only caring for the land, but how to properly manage resources to create a stronger, more sustainable economy. As someone who’s made their living off the land and water, Patrick will work to maintain and develop new opportunities in rural communities. Fighting, Preventing, and Preparing for Wildfires: As wildfires are more frequent, and increasingly more dangerous, the emergency responders on the front lines fighting these fires deserve all the support we can provide. DNR improves forest health, reduces wildfire risks, and supports local fire districts, and Patrick will do everything in his power to prevent a wildfire from spreading and becoming deadly. He will ensure our first responders have the most up-to-date equipment and investigate/research to determine whether forming a task force, similar to CAL FIRE, makes sense for Washington to better manage resource allocation and fire prevention strategies to adapt to our ever changing environment. Patrick is the only candidate who can hit the ground running: he’s endorsed by firefighters IAFF Local 31, has worked in emergency response, fighting wildfires and he understands the intersection between creating good-paying union jobs in rural communities and achieving climate sustainability goals. Planting More Trees: Trees are our most important renewable resource and an essential asset in fighting climate change. By increasing coverage of tree canopies in urban and suburban communities, we help lower temperatures, saving families money on cooling costs and lowering the energy production needed to deal with our new climate reality. Planting trees in places where there haven’t been any in the past (aforestation) leads to more trees, capturing more carbon. It also provides vital revenue to the DNR to deal with the effects of wildfires and other climate impacts. Patrick would work with the Legislature to empower DNR to enhance sequestration revenue streams. Increasing Diversity: From the Weneha-Tucannon Wilderness to the shores of Neah Bay, to Colville National Forest to Cape Disappointment, the diversity of our land sustains our economy and provides recreational opportunities. But we need to do more to understand and work with communities and constituencies who are too often ignored. Patrick will help ensure those impacted the most by environmental injustices have a seat at the table.	”
—Patrick DePoe’s campaign website (2024)

Campaign finance summary

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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.

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Patrick DePoe campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Washington Commissioner of Public Lands	Lost primary	$199,285	$187,058
Grand total			$199,285	$187,058
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

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