Tri-City GOP candidate draws Democratic challenger. But her name won’t be on the ballot

Nikki Torres, the former Pasco councilwoman turned Republican state Senate candidate, will have a challenger after all.

On Tuesday, Yakima resident Lindsey Keesling announced plans to jump into the 15th Legislative District race as a write-in Democrat.

But her name won’t appear on primary election ballots, which are being mailed out this week to registered voters.

She filed a declaration Tuesday with the Washington Secretary of State’s office to have write-in votes with her name counted in the Aug. 2 primary election.

Keesling, 38, is the campaign manager and spokesperson for the Doug White campaign for the 4th Congressional District. White is the only Democrat in that race.

Keesling said if she receives 1% of total votes cast in the primary election, then she’ll move on to the general election and have her name on the ballot.

That means she’ll need at least 200 votes from 15th Legislative District Democrats to move on, she said.

She works as an adjunct professor at Heritage University in Toppenish, according to her LinkedIn profile. She’s also worked as a teacher at Yakima School District and as a peer consultant at Yakima Valley Community College.

Aside from her involvement in political campaigns, Keesling has no experience in public office.

“I strongly believe that democracy cannot thrive in a lack of options, and I was disappointed to learn that the state Senate position would run unopposed,” Keesling wrote in a Facebook post announcing her run.

“I believe that for our communities to have the best chance for improved housing, working conditions, education, and infrastructure there needs to be a real campaign run, with commitments made and an effort to actually win peoples’ votes,” she continued.

Washington’s new 15th Legislative District stretches from downtown Pasco; into rural Franklin, Benton, Adams and Grant counties; through rural Yakima County and into downtown Yakima. Voters in the district are majority Latino (50.02%) and it’s at the center of lawsuits over voting boundaries.

Many were caught off guard in May when state Sen. Jim Honeyford, a Sunnyside Republican who’s represented the 15th for more than two decades, withdrew his name at the last minute and endorsed Torres.

Keesling said some saw that move as an explicit appointment by Honeford for the position.

“I hope that my campaign is able to lend a voice for the community members that felt they weren’t heard, because there’s a lot of frustration even in the Democratic party… It’s been so difficult to get candidates to even run for these positions,” Keesling told the Tri-City Herald on Wednesday.

Torres resigned in June from her position on the Pasco City Council after changing her registered address to a property outside the city limits.

On the Issues

Torres says she hopes to bring “solutions to challenges facing all people” in the district, and would advocate for “critical issues of water rights and agriculture.”

“I will fight for responsible state budgets, with the interests of our district in mind, and vote against wasteful spending and unfair taxes so our families and small businesses can keep more of their hard-earned dollars,” Torres wrote in the voters pamphlet.

She said she will also prioritize education and safe schools, support for law enforcement, and funding for affordable housing and mental health services.

Keesling is focusing her campaign on three major issues: housing, education and immigration.

“There are several ways that the housing crisis could be addressed, from increases in permitting for accessory dwelling units, to mandatory percentages of zoning dedicated to low income housing,” she wrote on her website.

“We cannot address the immigration crisis without addressing why people continue to come, the necessary work that they do while here, and the impacts on families and communities when immigration crackdowns happen. For the children of immigrants who are themselves citizens, we also need to address humane reunification of deported family members,” she continued.