DelBene, Celis give 1st District a clear choice for Congress
By Kyung M. Song, The Seattle Times | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Yet the Medina Democrat has devoted much of her freshman term to issues concerning the other 99percent: raising the minimum wage, college affordability and job training for people on food stamps among them.
That populist focus is a central piece of DelBene's re-election strategy against her Republican challenger and fellow former Microsoft employee,
DelBene won her first term in 2012 with 54 percent of the vote, the narrowest margin among the 10 House members of the state's congressional delegation. Though Celis squeaked through the top-two primary election in August with 16.5percent of the vote, with two other Republicans splitting the field, DelBene may be this year's most vulnerable incumbent.
DelBene, 52, ascribed her gravitation toward issues of equality, economic opportunity and concerns of working-class families to her childhood experience with financial upheaval. Her stepfather, a pilot for
Today, DelBene is the second-wealthiest woman in
For voters in the
Celis for his part denounces Obamacare, which requires virtually all Americans to carry coverage, as a federal power grab that should be repealed.
DelBene supports the so-called
DelBene was appalled by the
As a member of the
She followed that up by enlisting 57 of her fellow House Democrats to sign a letter urging
After classified records leaked by
In May, DelBene voted against a successful House bill to limit the NSA's dragnet collection of phone records as not stringent enough. Civil-liberties groups also dropped their support for the bill.
DelBene, however, did not express similar outrage to recent reports that
DelBene declined to describe her reaction to the ruling, saying it would be inappropriate to comment on a court case.
DelBene also has offered few detailed ideas on how to pay for spending on roads and infrastructure, education, research and other programs she advocates. She said she would do away with subsidies for oil companies and "tax exemptions that are not working for us." She favored letting Bush-era income-tax cuts expire, but that applied only to households earning
Asked if entitlement programs should be part of the discussion about reducing the federal deficit and debt, DelBene brought up her support for increasing the current
As for
DelBene, a former Microsoft marketing executive, has raised nearly
DelBene has consistently used the threat of outside spending against her by conservative groups as a fundraising hook. But Celis has received scant financial support from Republican political-action committees, "super PACs" and other groups.
By contrast, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) exempted DelBene from having to chip in to help elect fellow House Democrats. Her fellow freshman U.S. Rep.
DelBene has drawn her heaviest financial support from Microsoft employees and executives. Donors to her current campaign include Microsoft co-founder
Perhaps the biggest boldface names among Celis' donors are
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