2025 was about experimenting.
While in the 2024 fall election voters in Washington clearly stood up for immigrants and refugees, nationally the picture looked bleak. And in the last year, immigrants around the country have faced an onslaught of attacks from the president and the federal government.
We knew our communities were struggling. And we knew that we had to change our strategies if we wanted to protect our communities and win a thriving home for immigrants.
This year, instead of running a traditional get out the vote effort, we changed our focus. We decided to use this year to invest more deeply in our communities and invest in our members’ growth. Of course, we still knocked on doors and made phone calls. But we used these tools as a way to build connection, listen to stories, and ask members of our communities what they need to thrive.
So, while we are celebrating election victories from Seattle to Sunnyside, we are also laying the groundwork for deeper organizing. As we head into the new year, determined to hold the line for immigrants in Washington, we do so knowing that we’re only going to be successful if we build our future together.
Join us.
Neighborhood Canvasses
This year, instead of canvassing for individual candidates, OneAmerica Votes went out into our communities to have deep, open-ended conversations. In Kent, Burien, Vancouver, and Yakima, we went door to door in apartment complexes and neighborhoods to hear directly from people about the issues they care about.
This was more than a canvass. It was an opportunity to connect with our community, share resources, and listen to their stories.
In total, 113 volunteers and staff knocked 1,100 doors, had 200 conversations, and moved 91 people to take action with us.
Immigration and economic hardship were the top two issues people brought up. While immigration was top of mind for many people, housing and cost of living shape their daily struggles most directly. Work, childcare, and discrimination are practical barriers to stability. And healthcare and safety are deeper stressors tied directly to poverty.
Some examples:
- “Their husband is undocumented and he’s scared to go to work. While he is there, he is exploited because of his status. It’s impacting his mental health because he feels like he’s not taking care of the family.”
- “She recently became a Legal Permanent Resident through her daughter… She doesn’t want to take risks. However she feels the heaviness of the targeted attacks to immigrants.”
Beneath it all, political distrust and information gaps prevent many people from seeing clear paths to take action, showing the need for trusted messengers and organizing built on deep relationships.
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“He expressed the challenges of just asking for help. Knowing who to go to and getting someone who connects with him and truly cares about helping him. He received the support he needed and now has an apartment. He’s looking forward to moving his girlfriend and son in soon.”
Under all of this, however, lies hope, evidence of resilience, and a real openness to connection. In these moments of gratitude and curiosity, organizing opportunities exist.
Building the Bench
This year, we continued to grow our candidate training and mentorship program to build a bench of candidates from our communities, who share our values.
Until this year, the school district in Sunnyside had elected all five of its members at-large. While the district was 81% Latino, four of it’s school board members were white. According to the ACLU of Washington, no Latino had ever beaten a white candidate in a school district race in town.
The ACLU and ELLA, a Yakima-County Latina nonprofit, sued the district over how elections were run, and Sunnyside settled. As a result, this year, candidates would run in districts for seats on the school board, rather than citywide.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, in March, we partnered with Vote. Run. Lead. and Emerge Washington to hold a candidate training in Yakima, where approximately 15 prospective candidates joined us for a two day training on how to run for election.
Four of our endorsed candidates for school board in Sunnyside, Washington – an hour from Yakima – came through our Womxn of Color in Education School Board candidate cohort. Two of those candidates won their election this year! And for the first time, a majority of school board members in Sunnyside are Latino.
Our Wins
This year, OneAmerica Votes chose to focus our endorsement process on deepening relationships with previously endorsed incumbents and a limited number of key races in our three core geographic areas: Clark, King, and Yakima Counties.
We invited previously endorsed candidates to submit questionnaires for endorsement consideration in May and issued our first round of endorsements prior to the primary.
Then, for the general election, we held three simultaneous endorsement meetings with candidates running for their seat for the first time in September. Our leaders shared their stories, asked questions about how their platforms would impact immigrant communities, and got commitments from candidates.
28 of our 30 endorsed candidates won their elections!
Congratulations to the following candidates:
State Legislature
- Edwin Obras, LD 33, Position 1
- Osman Salahuddin, LD 48, Position 1
- Brianna Thomas, LD 34, Position 1
Clark County
- Julie Bocanegra, Evergreen School Board, Position 1
- Ginny Gronwoldt, Evergreen School Board, Position 5
- Kim Harless, Vancouver City Council, Position 1
- Diana H. Perez, Vancouver City Council, Position 3
- Wendy Smith, Vancouver School Board, Position 3
- Sandra Zavala-Ortega, Vancouver School Board, Position 2
King & Snohomish Counties
- Rami Al-Kabra, Bothell City Council, Position 7
- Jane Aras, Bellevue School Board, Position 5
- Mohamed Egal, SeaTac City Council, Position 4
- Erika Evans, Seattle City Attorney
- Dionne Foster, Seattle City Council, Position 9
- Hugo Garcia, Burien City Council, Position 1
- Toshiko Hasegawa, Port of Seattle, Position 4
- Hamdi Mohamed, Port of Seattle, Position 3
- Joe Mizrahi, Seattle School Board, District 4
- Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Seattle City Council, Position 8
- Carmen Rivera, Renton City Council, Position 2
- Sharn Shoker, Kent City Council, Position 6
- Vivian Song, Seattle School Board, District 5
- Girmay Zahilay, King County Executive
Yakima County
- Raquel Isquierdo Lopez, Sunnyside School Board, Position 2
- Anna M. Saenz, Sunnyside School Board, Position 1
- Evaristo Salas III, Sunnyside School Board, Position 3
- Sandra Zesati, Sunnyside School Board, Position 4
Walla Walla County
- Kathy Mulkerin, Walla Walla School Board, Position 1
To our endorsed candidates who did not win this year, Monica Guillen and Catti Alvarez Villanueva, running for school board in Sunnyside, thank you for stepping up and running. You centered our communities in your races and started building for the long term. Let’s keep building together.
Next Steps
Elections are only the first step in building a thriving home for immigrants and refugees in Washington. We also need to build governing power and pass policies that will benefit our communities too, including protections for immigrants and refugees who make Washington a place we are proud to call home.
Over the coming months, we will be working with our incoming elected leaders to shape policies that matter to us. To that end, OneAmerica will be represented on transition teams for incoming King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, and Seattle City Attorney, Erika Evans. We also are cohosting a training for school board members with Local Progress.
We’re going to be continuing our canvassing program this year too, building deeper relationships in our communities, testing messages to move people to action, and inviting people into our regional chapters to build power with us.
Finally, at the state legislature this winter, we will be working with a broad coalition to win policies and protections for immigrants. In the face of federal attacks, we need our state to stand firm and hold the line for our communities.
To get involved in our legislative work, join us for our kick off event on December 2. You can sign up to volunteer with us or join our email list to make sure you get regular updates about our work.
At OneAmerica Votes, we remain committed to acting collectively to build a thriving home, no matter where we come from or what language we speak at home — and no matter what the federal government says.