Wes Cormier
Wes Cormier (Republican Party) ran for election to the Washington State Senate to represent District 19. He lost in the primary on August 4, 2020.
Cormier completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Wes Cormier was born in Leominister, Massachusetts. His professional experience includes working as a senior real estate appraiser.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Washington State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Washington State Senate District 19
Jeff Wilson defeated incumbent Dean Takko in the general election for Washington State Senate District 19 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jeff Wilson (R)  | 55.2 | 40,560 |
 | Dean Takko (D) | 44.6 | 32,773 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 82 | ||
| Total votes: 73,415 | |||
| = 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 State Senate District 19
Incumbent Dean Takko and Jeff Wilson defeated Wes Cormier in the primary for Washington State Senate District 19 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dean Takko (D) | 44.4 | 20,948 |
| ✔ | | Jeff Wilson (R) | 37.0 | 17,454 |
 | Wes Cormier (R) | 18.5 | 8,754 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 53 | ||
| Total votes: 47,209 | |||
| = 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
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released May 17, 2020 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Wes Cormier completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cormier's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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As a County Commissioner, Wes has voted against raising property taxes seven years in a row, repealed the county's admission tax, created a hiring committee to curtail nepotism and favoritism and voted against eminent domain. He has voted many times against contracts, expenditures, programs, projects, and buildings that he felt the county could not afford.
Wes currently sits on 10 boards and committees ranging from local, regional and federal organizations. His leadership at the county has been very effective in shaping a new direction for Western Washington.
His career before holding elected office was as a Real Estate Appraiser. It gave him great insight into how government interacts with property owners, it is also where he developed a strong passion and advocacy for property rights.
Wes also coached high school, junior high school and youth wrestling. The sport of wrestling was foundational in his life and giving back to the youth as a coach came natural for him.
- Property Rights - During my eight years as a Grays Harbor County Commissioner, I have written and passed policy changes that allowed individuals the ability to construct an accessory building up to 800 square feet without a permit, fee, inspection, or permission. I proposed and passed an agriculture building exemption, exempted farm pads for farmers, and sponsored the county's Community Development department through the LEAN Academy. In 2015, following severe flooding, I proposed and passed a fee waiver for victims associated with the destruction of property and buildings. As a State Senator I will continue to advocate for access to public lands and protect your property rights.
- Transparency - As a Commissioner, I proposed and now sit on the counties hiring committee, which was created to prevent nepotism and favoritism. I also put together a Media Q&A session after every county board meeting. This was done so that the public and media could ask the Commissioners more specific questions regarding their votes and get their statements on record. Transparency in government is something that I fully support and will continue to uphold as a State Senator.
- Fiscal Responsibility - Every year, most counties, cities, and other jurisdictions with taxing authority raise property taxes. I have voted against raising taxes every year that I have been in office. I have voted many times against contracts, expenditures, programs, projects, and buildings that I did not think the county could afford nor should be involved in. I will continue to use such a process at the state level. When writing or giving my consideration for any senate bills, I will ask some basic and fundamental questions. Is this constitutional? Should the government be involved in this? Can the state afford it? Are citizens better served with this at the local level? Is it a funded mandate?
My time as a Real Estate Appraiser gave me insight into how government interacts with property owners, it is also where I developed my strong passion and advocacy for property rights. I understand the property tax system of Washington State, how the levy process works for schools, hospital districts, fire districts, cities and counties. I learned a great deal about land use, development and real estate during my time as an appraiser.
As a Grays Harbor County Commissioner, I have three major roles. I represent the citizens as a legislator, administrator and I also serve at times in a quasi-judicial capacity. I set (and manage) a more than a $100 million dollar budget every year, negotiate contracts, and partner in serving as the executive of the county overseeing around 200 employees. I understand how the bureaucratic process works and how to navigate it. During our budget time I have to work and build relationships with 14 other elected officials.
I grew up with working parents. My father was a house painter and my mother managed restaurants all of my life, so part of seeing mom was working in the restaurant with her. I bussed tables, made and cooked pizzas or folded pizza boxes for as long as I can remember. In the summertime, I would help my father as a laborer prepping work sites.
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 5, 2020
