Candidate Surveys — U.S. House District 5

Most families across Eastern Washington are struggling to keep up; even veterans are struggling with housing and food insecurity. Housing prices have skyrocketed. Child care and health care are incredibly expensive. Regular folks need a break, not corporate special interests. Carmela will get us that break. Her grandpa worked on the Grand Coulee Dam as a union cement mason. Her dad was a union railroader with the Great Northern (later BNSF) Railroad. As a dues-paying union member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Carmela will negotiate to address costs across our district, including universal access to health care, building out rural broadband, and keeping public funds in public schools.For the first time in American history, the U.S. Supreme Court withdrew its recognition of a Constitutional right to privacy by overturning Roe vs. Wade. Extremists politicians are using this as an excuse to interfere with peoples' most intimate decisions. Other states have passed laws restricting travel, speech, and reproductive health treatment. Clinics in those states are closing, health professionals relocating, and women crossing into Eastern Washington for routine, urgent, and even emergency care. Our next Representative will either vote for a total nationwide abortion ban, or fight to codify our basic human rights. Carmela treasures freedom from government interference, and will fight for it.Our international standing is threatened by Iran and Russia and their proxies, and our democracy by domestic extremists. Some politicians hold our government hostage for partisan advantage, regardless of its cost to service members, seniors, and children. Congressional partisan extremists fight for the sake of fighting. They won’t negotiate in good faith to fulfill their Constitutional duty of passing a budget. As a result, farm families struggle without the predictability of an Agricultural Bill; children are going to bed hungry; our partners in Israel and Ukraine lack the means to defend themselves. Carmela solved problems and promoted our interests for nearly 30 years; let's send her to Congress to get it working again.

As a third generation eastern Washingtonian and union worker, Carmela Conroy has a sense of duty and determination to serve her community. Rooted in the hard work and resilience of her family, Carmela paid her way through college and law school, returning home to serve as a deputy prosecutor for Spokane County. For four years she sought justice for the survivors of violence and sexual assault. She left home again to join the U.S. Foreign Service. Carmela negotiated access to foreign ports for U.S. Navy ships, bilateral trade agreements, and militia disarmament. Through her service Carmela built connections with veterans, active-duty military personnel, and other national security professionals. Our nation faces complex challenges both at home and abroad, and Carmela has the experience to address them. Dysfunction and partisan extremism in Congress have left critical issues unaddressed, from agricultural policy to national security to the well-being of our communities. As a representative, Carmela will prioritize the needs of Eastern Washington, advocating for agricultural support, affordable healthcare, and economic opportunities for working families. By investing in rural infrastructure, clean energy, and economic diversification, Carmela will work to strengthen our local economy. Carmela will defend our rights and uphold our individual freedoms, including the right to reproductive healthcare.

For 30 years of public service, Carmela swore to defend a Constitution promising to establish justice, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and ensure the blessings of unity into the future. The drafters had been revolutionaries. They learned that a confederacy was too weak to survive and formed a democratic union with the power to raise revenue. About 80 years later, Americans fought confederates who would have destroyed the union to retain chattel slavery. About 80 years after that, Americans entered WWII to stop genocidal subjugation by aggressors who considered themselves "master races." About 80 years on, Americans must again choose national democracy over authoritarianism. Let's do this.

Washington State Labor Council National Education Association/Washington Education Association House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith City of Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown Spokane City Council President Betsy Wilkerson Spokane City Council Members Paul Dillon and Zack Zappone

The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Kearns Goodwin On the Origins of War and Preservation of Peace, Kagan

Integrity/Bravery Knowledge Curiosity Humility

When I was about three-and-a-half years old, my mom had taken me shopping, and had me sitting in the grocery cart. When I asked for grapes she said no, we couldn't get grapes. When I asked why, she said it was because the people who picked them had asked us not to. MANY years later I learned about the Delano grape strike, the labor action that resulted in Filipino and Mexican farm workers partnering to organize what would become the United Farm Workers labor union. There are many reasons why I love and am grateful to my parents; one of them is that they instilled the values of respect for others, and solidarity with workers regardless of industry or national origin.

In accordance with the U.S. Constitution: Serve the specific needs of the people of Washington's 5th Congressional District. Promote and defend the interests of the United States of America in international affairs.

The people's house, with primary responsibility of the federal purse and of holding accountable officers of the United States, including the President.

Yes. Having experience with systems and how they intersect, and with incorporating the views of diverse stakeholders, benefits constituents because Representatives can hit the ground running and start seeking solutions .

Public health, writ broadly, must be addressed by government-supported access to care and attention to retaining a survivable climate. Food insecurity on the rise; Infant and maternal mortality rates much higher than other wealthy countries, especially for people of color; Leading cause of death among American children now gun violence, and men in Eastern Washington are more likely than the national average to commit suicide with a gun; yet Congress has prohibited the CDC from studying gun deaths; DoD report that only 20% of American youth are fit for government service; Behavioral health care is unavailable to most; Majority of Americans over age 65 have not one natural tooth left in their heads; U.S. life expectancy has dropped like a stone compared to other wealthy countries

It's established by our Constitution. I'll spend my time fighting for my constituents, instead of seeking a longer term for myself and other representatives--it certainly shouldn't be a shorter term.

Necessary

Not necessarily opposed, but believe that ensuring access to the ballot and limited terms of office are generally sufficient

Thomas S. Foley, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and representative of Washington's 5th Congressional District from 1965 to 1995.

Women who have suffered miscarriages, or discovered that they will not be able to give birth to a baby because of fatal abnormality in their pregancy, facing screaming protestors outside of reproductive health clinics. A friend whose OBGYN refused to investigate her abdominal pain, telling her to wait for a month or so. The pain intensified until she sought urgent care, when it was discovered that she had an ectopic pregnancy that could have killed her had she not ignored her own OBGYN.

Passing a timely budget, and equitably raising revenue from those who most benefit from government services, would be a top priority.

To investigate high crimes and misdemeanors by officials of the United States whose positional power might otherwise put them out of reach of the investigative powers of the executive branch.

Agriculture Judiciary (Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement) Armed Services

CBO GAO Tax fairness DoD excess, military-industrial comples as Ike warned us

I’m a third-generation Eastern Washingtonian, born and raised right here in the Fifth district. My grandfather worked concrete at Grand Coulee Dam, and my dad worked on the family ranch before he became a union railroader. They taught me to show up for our neighbors and the value of hard work in a community like ours. When I retired from public service and came home for good, I saw Eastern Washington getting shortchanged. Housing, childcare, and prescription costs keep climbing. Rural hospitals are struggling to stay open. Veterans coming home and not receiving the care they need and are entitled to. Young people can’t afford to stay near their family. Our representative picks fights instead of solving problems. I’m running because the Fifth deserves someone who shows up, listens, and does the work.

My top 3 priorities when elected to Congress will be to lower costs by ending the war with Iran and reigning in tariffs that hurt consumers, family farmers, and other businesses; saving rural hospitals and improving access to low-cost, high-quality healthcare; and holding our leaders accountable.

In a world where elected officials always do the right thing, government would work for the people it represents, not for special interests or political parties. Families would have confidence that their leaders were focused on lowering costs, protecting their communities, and more problem-solving, less politics.