Luc Jasmin III is a leader of Spokane's Haitian community and Governor Bob Ferguson's representative in eastern Washington.
Jasmin is one of three Democrats — along with Pam Kohlmeier and Donovan DeLeon — and Republican Natalie Poulson seeking to replace Rep. Timm Ormsby in Olympia. The top two vote getters in the August 4 primary election advance to the November general election.
TOMORROW: Pam Kohlmeier
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Luc Jasmin: I was hired four years ago by Governor Inslee to be in that role and it's a liaison role between community and our office. It's really opened my eyes. I covered the nine eastern counties doing outreach and giving feedback to the governor, our policy directors, and one of the cool things is I get to work with our state departments and our legislators to make sure that what the people are asking for is exactly what they're getting.
Prior to that, I spent about 13 years in this district working on state policy, really helping and working with community to make our voices heard. We've done a lot of work with early learning, access and affordability, with housing, especially workforce housing, and access to health, so especially mental health. So I've been really proud of that work, and want to continue that, obviously, as a state rep.
DN: You said you've learned things going through this process. What are some of the things that off the top of your head have been valuable for you?
LJ: Main reason why I'm running is because I know what it's like. I know what it's like to worry about paying for housing. I know what it's like to worry about my job and if I'm getting paid what I deserve in order to provide for my family. I have two parents who are seniors and they're on fixed income and I'm continually trying to support them navigating their health care, navigating transportation.
So, you know, I'm in the thick of it. I have two teenage daughters that I'm constantly thinking about their future and so when I talk to folks, what I'm realizing is that's really what they want. They want folks who understand their everyday lives, helping make policy that can support folks and that's what I am looking to bring because I'm rooted in community. Everything I've done has been community focused and I think my biggest strength is listening. I'm not the expert, but I know community is. We have so many wonderful people who know their stuff and I take pride in listening, bringing people together and getting things done. That's why I'm running and that's what I see right now. That's what I've learned just through all of my experiences.
DN: The legislature is in a situation where the state's in a deficit and there are a lot of needs out there. How do you approach that as a state legislator in terms of understanding there are needs that people have, but there's also a very limited amount of money?
LJ: Several ways.
Number one, we need folks who understand, who have lived experience, who are deeply rooted in community, and I'm deeply rooted in the Third District. I've been doing work for, like I said, 13 years in this district and I think we get it. Sometimes folks want to cut and I think we've seen, federally, what the unintended impacts of just cutting is, right?
Folks are fine if they've got to sacrifice somewhere or if something needs to be prioritized a little bit more than something else. But what people really want is transparency and they want to be part of the solutions and that's what I'm really looking to bring. I'm not solving this by myself. I'm asking for folks to elect me so that we can solve it together and I will do my part in making sure I show up. I listen, I get the full community input because that's what we're going to need to make these decisions moving forward. So yeah, having that transparency, having that open-door policy, that's really what I think we need because you're right, we do have a lot of priorities and not one is greater than the other and we just need everyone to be at the table to decide where that future is.
DN: The legislature has been talking about what should our tax system look like? Do we need to review our tax system to make it more fair for this group or for that group? There was a "millionaire's tax" approved by the legislature. How do you feel about that and having this larger discussion about Washington's tax system?
LJ: Yeah, I supported the millionaire's tax. I worked on the millionaire's tax with legislators and look, I think we all can agree that we need to balance our tax code in Washington state. Even folks who might not necessarily agree with the millionaire's tax, they know we need to work on our tax code. What I hear a lot of times is the analogy of a house, right? Folks are like, well, you know when I have my house budget, I just cut expenses. It's like, no you don't. You look at what's important. You look at what you're going to make sure that you have funds go to, right? Because there's non-negotiables even in your house. There's non-negotiables that you have to pay. And then a lot of times too, what are you doing? You're looking at ways to advance, to maybe make more money because maybe the job that you're in doesn't pay enough.
So when folks are talking about, oh, well, we just need to cut, we need to stop spending. It's like, listen, we grew by a million people in 10 years. That's a million people that have come to our state. We are one of the fastest growing states in the United States of America and what that means is more wear and tear on our infrastructure. That means more kids in our schools. That's more folks that need care, health care in our state.
So what we need to do in my opinion is we need to work on workforce development. We need to get more pathways for folks to be able to earn more funds. We need to fund education. Again, that helps folks get into a good place to really be productive members of society and contribute back to our state.
So yes, we need to work on our tax code, but we also need to put our money in things that are going to prioritize and support our growing state.
