John receives recognition as a Candidate of Distinction on gun control (the highest ranking) from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
November 2, 2020
John participates in the Rainier Avenue Radio World
Candidate Debate for State Representative LD 37, Position 1. Excerpts from the debate are below.
October 29, 2020
[ VIDEO — Rainier Avenue Radio World Candidate Debate ]
John participates in the 8th Annual Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Empowerment (APACE)
General Candidate Forum.
October 21, 2020
[ VIDEO — APACE General Candidate Forum ]
Watch the rest of the candidate forum here:
Asian and Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Empowerment General Candidate Forum
John emphasizes how he can make a difference in education within the Black community and the key differences between him and his opponent at the Africatown x King County Equity Now: Candidate Forum.
October 18, 2020
[ VIDEO — Africatown x King County Equity Now: Candidate Forum ]
Watch the rest of the candidate forum here: Africatown x King County Equity Now: Candidate Forum.
To read Seattle Subway’s Election Endorsements, click here.
John emphasizes the importance of climate change during the Seattle King County NAACP Candidate Forum.
[ VIDEO — Seattle King County NAACP Candidate Forum — climate change ]
The 37th Legislative District Environment and Climate Caucus expresses its support and appreciation for John’s candidacy at its September meeting.
John participates with other candidates from 37th LD in the Seattle King County NAACP Candidate Forum.
September 29, 2020
[ VIDEO — Seattle King County NAACP Candidate Forum — 37th LD candidates ]
John participates in Skyway-West Hill Debate with three other WA State Representative candidates from 37th Legislative District.
September 22, 2020
Click here to watch this Facebook Live event: 2020 West Hill Voter Town Hall.
Primary Election Announcement:
I am pleased to announce that I have finished in the top two in the Primary Election, and will now be going on to the General Election. I very much appreciate your support.
- Here is a link to the election results.
- Here is a link to the South Seattle Emerald’s article on the election.
One strategy that I will be using going forward is a volunteer-based, word-of-mouth campaign on social media. This is an extremely simple means of supporting the campaign as a volunteer. If you are interested in participating as a volunteer, please fill out a volunteer form here.
Listen to my interview with Jason Rigden on the Talk to Seattle podcast, on July 29, 2020.
[ VIDEO — Talk to Seattle podcast — interview with Jason Rigden ]
Dick Burkhart–community leader, public policy expert, and local activist–develops an annual list of voting recommendations. He has just released his voting recommendations for 2020, and is endorsing me for State Representative, Position 1. Please see the complete list below.
I am glad to be endorsed by the following organizations:
To see all of John’s endorsements, click here.
[ VIDEO — John’s lecture on the 2020 WA State Legislative Session ]
Watch John’s lecture on the 2020 WA State Legislative Session and Implications for 2021
John Stafford for State Representative
Bold Structural Change, Not Just Incremental Reform
WHY I AM RUNNING FOR OFFICE
Dear 37th District Resident,
I am running for the position of State Representative for the 37th Legislative District, Position One, which is currently held by Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos. I acknowledge the service of Representative Santos to the 37th Legislative District and the State of Washington.
However, in my view, this is an altogether different era, and one which demands a very different approach – one characterized by Major Structural Change, not just Incremental Reform. Our era is defined by five crises: the pandemic, the recession, the pending budgetary crisis in Olympia, climate change, and racial injustice. Meaningfully addressing these concurrent crises will be a tremendous challenge, but it also represents a tremendous opportunity.
To deal with these challenges, it will be critical to restructure the manner in which the state conducts its operations in many realms (e.g., K-12 Education, Affordable Housing, Homelessness, Transportation, Energy Systems, etc.). I have five policy priorities (see the Policy Priorities tab for more detail):
- Address the pandemic, recession and budgetary crises by restructuring how the state conducts its operations, not via across-the-board spending cuts.
- Focus limited available resources on low-income and minority communities, not on universal programs.
- Institute a new source of progressive revenue in Washington State – to help address the budgetary crisis and also to deal with the regressivity problem in the state’s tax code.
- Address the climate change via high impact, low cost programs.
- Address the racial justice crisis by adopting a broad perspective – one that focuses on the underlying, enduring inequities in our society (in education, employment, earnings, health care, etc.), not merely on police reforms.
I believe that I have the background and ability to play a leadership role in the State Legislature in addressing these major challenges. I am a 20-year resident of our community, and I am highly involved. I am on the Executive-Board of the 37th District Democrats, I am a long-serving PCO, I am on the leadership teams of two climate change advocacy organizations, and I have written numerous articles on politics and policy. I have had two careers – as a partner with a management consulting firm that specialized in corporate strategy, and as a teacher.
My website provides details on my background, my policy proposals, and my policy articles. It also describes how to contact, endorse and donate to my campaign. During the campaign, I am hosting a 30-minute slide presentation and discussion on an important policy challenge each Saturday morning (via Zoom). I have entitled these, “Substantive Saturdays with Stafford.” If you are interested in receiving the weekly newsletter announcing each week’s topic, please click on the link above. We would welcome having you on the calls. In addition, each session is recorded, and you can watch sessions of interest by going to the “Substantive Saturdays” tab.
Thank you for visiting my website. I look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail.
John Stafford
Please explore the links at the top of the page to learn more about my policy positions and priorities.
For further reading about current policy issues facing the 37th district and Washington State, click the Articles link for the list of articles I have written for the South Seattle Emerald, as well as blog posts from my 2014 campaign period.
To see me talk about why I am running for office, my background and qualifications, and policy priorities, please see my videos below:
[ VIDEO — Why I Am Running For Office ]
Why I Am Running For Office
[ VIDEO — Background and Qualifications ]
Background and Qualifications
[ VIDEO — Policy Priorities ]
Policy Priorities