Susan Donahue (Longview School District school board Position 2, Washington, candidate 2025)
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Susan Donahue ran for election to the Longview School District school board Position 2 in Washington. She was on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Donahue completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Susan Donahue provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on October 7, 2025:
- Birth date: October 23, 1963
- Birth place: Portland, Oregon
- High school: John Marshall High School
- Bachelor's: University of Oregon, 1987
- Graduate: Western Oregon State University, 1992
- Gender: Female
- Profession: Retired Teacher
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign slogan: For public education, for all students.
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook
Elections
General election
General election for Longview School District school board Position 2
Scott Beck and Susan Donahue ran in the general election for Longview School District school board Position 2 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
| Scott Beck (Nonpartisan) | ||
Susan Donahue (Nonpartisan)  | ||
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| = 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. | ||||
Election results
Endorsements
Donahue received the following endorsements.
- Superintendent of WA OSPI Chris Reykdal (Nonpartisan)
- Cowlitz County, Wash., Democratic Party
- Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council
- United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555
- Cowlitz County Democratic Women
- Everytown for Gun Safety
- Longview Education Association
- Mainstream Republicans of Washington
- National Women's Political Caucus of Washington
- WEA-PAC
- Washington Education Association
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Susan Donahue completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Donahue'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 have been married to the love of my life for almost 30 years and we have one son and 2 grandkids.
I retired in 2024 and now volunteer with The Friends of the Longview Library, The Broad Strokes Project (secretary/treasurer), The Ethnic Support Council, and I just joined Altrusa. My job teaching theatre and directing plays didn’t allow me a lot of extra time to volunteer, so now I am making up for lost time. I recently acted in two shows, one at Stageworks and one at LCC. I also got to sing in three different choral events in the last year.
When I heard that there would be a vacant seat on the school board, I attended a meeting to make sure it would be a good fit. Sure enough, I learned a lot and I was hooked! I have gone to almost every meeting since then because even though I know what it’s like in the schools, the school director’s job is definitely different from being in the schools. It’s important to learn as much as possible. If elected, I want to hit the ground running.
In my spare time, my husband and I love to play mini golf and watch movies. I love Zumba, reading, writing, theatre, and traveling.- First, it’s important to make certain that we have safe schools. Buildings need to be maintained and kept up to date. Security is critical in this day and age and it’s important to make sure all buildings will keep our kids and school staff safe and secure. The district already is committed to doing these things; as a board member, I will be dedicated to this
- The second issue that I’d like to talk about is communication. I think it’s important that schools and school boards act in a transparent way. There’s a lot of distrust in the community and making sure that the pathways of communication are clear should help that. I will listen to parents, teachers, school staff, students to make sure that everyone feels like they belong and that they’ve been heard. When communication breaks down, whether it’s at the building or district level, it can lead to a lot of frustration and confusion. Creating a feedback cycle about relevant school issues can help to hold us accountable.
- The third item I’d like to talk about is a product of the first two. When everyone feels safe, when they feel like they are listened to and heard, then it’s easier for teachers to teach, and easier for students to learn. In an environment where everyone is respected and listened to, where teachers are given the tools and strategies that are data driven, best practices, student achievement should soar.
I was good at it and I started that job in the spring of my senior year of high school. I also worked at a different market research firm that worked out of a mall. We would ask people questions in person and lots of times the company would have sample products for people to try, which was really fun. I was good at it because I could write really quickly so the interviews would go pretty fast. I worked there every summer during college when I would come home. They really wanted me to stay on and move into management, but I’m really glad that I found my true calling: teaching.
School board members evaluate the superintendent, they approve budgets and curriculum. All of this must be done in a transparent way and well communicated so that everyone has the opportunity to weigh in.
Chris Reykdal, Washington State Superintendent of Education
Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council
Cowlitz County Democrats
Cowlitz County Democratic Women
Mainstream Republicans of Washington State
UFCW555
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.
Other survey responses
Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Donahue completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
