Municipal/Other Questionnaire
Candidate Info
Candidate Name: Erica Tomas
Position Sought: Auburn City Council, Position 4
Are you an incumbent for this position? Non-incumbent
Home Legislative District: 47th LD
Are you a Democrat? Yes
Campaign Info
Campaign Manager or Point of Contact: Erica Tomas
Website: www.ericaforauburn.com
Facebook:
Twitter:
Part I – Candidate Background
1. Please briefly describe your qualifications, education, employment, community and civic activity, union affiliation, prior political activity, and other relevant experience. Beyond your qualifications, what makes you the best candidate for this position or office? Please describe any specific background or unique perspective you offer and how those will help you accomplish your goals for the position sought. If possible, give practical examples.
I have built a career in public service at the state level, working for the Department of Health for 7 years. I started as a Research Investigator, doing data analysis and evaluation on our state's nutrition programs – WIC, SNAP-Ed, Farmers Market Nutrition Program – before transitioning a few years ago to a role as an epidemiologist working with chronic disease and cancer. My work at the state level has always been with underserved communities who are looking for supports to live healthy lives. I've spent time traveling all over the state to meet with and learn from low-income, uninsured, unhoused, or just generally struggling people on how resources from the state and federal government can help them achieve the life they want to live.
When I moved to Auburn, I wanted to find something I could do to get to know my new home better and serve the community. This led me to applying for and being appointed to the Human Services Committee, a group of community volunteers who review and decide on which organizations to award the city's human services grants to ever 2 years. Being on the Committee and serving as its Chair for two years helped me really understand what are the greatest needs in Auburn, what services and community groups we have that are doing their best to uplift the community, and what the city was investing to support residents.
The combined professional and voluntary experience in government, as the city, state, and federal level, gives me a deep understanding of how government works and, importantly, how to use data to guide policy and programming, and then evaluate their outcomes.
2. What prompted you to run for this office?
As I mentioned above, I had already been considering running for office due to my experience as a member of Auburn's Human Services Committee. However, after Larry Brown retired earlier this year, I knew this was the time to step up and launch my campaign. Larry Brown has been a huge figure in organized labor, and that loss of perspective is a huge detriment to the city.
As a proud and active union member (WFSE Local 443), I believe it is very important for Auburn city council to have a representative for organized labor on the council. Auburn is home to many people who are union-represented – from our MultiCare and Valley Med healthcare staff in UFCW-3000 and SEIU1199NW, to our Boeing workers in IAM 751, to our teachers in AEA, as well as many other industries and labor sectors. Having someone who comes from a union background, with experience in collective action and working class issues is extremely important for a city full of working class people.
3. What steps are you taking to run a successful campaign?
I have retained the services of a campaign consultant through Overton Political (https://www.overtonpolitical.com/) who has experience in state and federal campaigns, as well as local initiatives. I was able to raise $1400 in my first two days of outreach, and am pulling together a plan for voter outreach focused on door-knocking and community events, where I can meet my neighbors face to face to talk about the issues and dreams they have for Auburn.
4. What are your campaign’s most important themes, issues, or priorities (three to five)? Share issues or priorities specific to the office that you’re running for.
My top priorities are:
– Increasing affordable housing, making sure there are a diversity of units for different income brackets and family sizes
– Building supportive infrastructure alongside increased housing density; that means grocery stores, community spaces, roadways, etc.
– Expanding public transit to accommodate increased density, improve safety on roads, and decrease reliance on cars
– Attract and maintain living-wage, union-represented jobs
Part II – Yes/No Questions, please qualify your answer if necessary
1. Do you support steps to build a fairer economy through tax reform and progressive taxes as wealth increases? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #1 Absolutely, yes. Our state will continue to fall into budget deficits as long as we rely on regressive taxes that disproportionately affect the lowest earners (like sales tax).
2. Do you support robust investment in publicly owned housing/subsidized housing for elderly and low-income individuals/families, and zoning changes to support such housing? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #2 I would be very interested in pursuing social housing in Auburn, and making sure we are keeping housing affordable for people at all stages of life.
3. Developer impact fees are allowed under the Growth Management Act. Should they be increased to help pay for needed improvements to our roads, parks, and schools? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #3 Yes; our state's constitution says "It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders", and I firmly support any method to help fund their education.
4. Do you support building a municipally owned and operated broadband system in your city or jurisdiction? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #4 Internet is a necessity of life, and should be regulated like any other utility. A municipal broadband system would ensure equitable access without hidden fees or throttled data.
5. Do you support local investments to address climate change where applicable? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #5 Yes. Climate change is very real, and while the greatest impact will come through enforcing large scale regulation on the greatest polluters, there are many small- and medium-scale impacts that can be done locally to improve conditions in Auburn. That could include installation of solar panels on city buildings and new construction, increasing shaded areas through tree canopy or other cover, and decreasing reliance on cars.
6. Do you support women’s unrestricted access to reproductive healthcare? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #6 Absolutely, 100%, the full spectrum of reproductive care, from birth control, to abortion, to infertility treatment.
7. Do you support laws regulating the purchase, ownership, and carrying of firearms? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #7 Yes.
8. Do you support the right of workers to unionize and bargain, including public employees? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #8 With all my being – I am a public employee, and a proud union member who has fought hard for my fellow state employees and shown up in support for my other union siblings.
Part III – Free Response (Please answer at least four fully, and consider the additional three optional)
1. Why are you requesting Democratic endorsement? What aspects of the Democratic platform most resonate with you?
I have been aligned with the Democratic party my entire adult life. I believe in the party's platform of justice and equality, and within the state's party platform find particular resonance in the Labor platform to protect the right to unionize, equal work for equal pay, and especially the statement "The institutions of government should endeavor to protect the interest and safety laborers above the interests of capital." The Democratic party is also the only major one espousing any sort of support for social justice, as well as continued support and investment in public education. As we see increasing attacks on the rights of queer people, anyone who is not the right kind of white race, anyone who is not the right kind of man or woman, it is essential that the Democratic party and its supporters hold fast to these central beliefs and put ourselves on the line to defend ourselves and our neighbors against unlawful actions and hate.
2. What public policy reforms do you support to achieve greater equity and inclusion for BIPOC and LBQIA+ individuals in our communities?
Codified anti-discrimination policies are a first step, and frankly are low-hanging fruit. Those policies then have to be enforced, and systems have to be adjusted to address any inherent biases. In an example of making sure that more BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ businesses have opportunities to bid on city contracts, it's not just enough to put out an open RFA, there needs to be additional work to make sure the RFA is advertised in places where BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people are present and getting their information. And then there needs to be support for them to apply for these type of contracts. In my work on the Human Services Committee, I often saw that newer, BIPOC led organizations may not have as robust an application as established groups like the YMCA, which would hurt them in the scoring process. However, its not that they didn't provide an important and impactful service, it was that they didn't have the advantage of years of grant-writing experience or teams steeped in the non-profit world.
Additionally, investment in low-income communities, which are disproportionately BIPOC and queer, is a perfect example of a rising tide lifting all ships. Programs that can help connect low-income people to rental or utility payment assistance, to job training or applications, to mental health services, and community activities will help the entire city of Auburn, while having the biggest impact on our black, brown, indigenous, and queer neighbors.
3. What steps do you think need to be taken to improve voter turnout and increase voter trust in our election process?
Misinformation is incredibly hard to combat. Working in public health, I have learned that the best way to engage people and change minds is to meet them where they're at, and make the content understandable. Despite the importance of local politics in everybody's daily lives, the procedures and language of city council meetings is incredibly boring and can be difficult to understand. Sharing updates on what local government is doing in plain talk and on channels people regularly engage in (things like Facebook, TikTok, local news outlets) removes the mystery and makes it easier to understand why its important to be involved.
4. What important local issues have you worked on (or taken an interest in) that you feel aren’t getting enough attention from elected leaders and the local media?
The lack of public transit options in Auburn is exceedingly problematic, especially for a city with such a booming population and large number of working class people. There needs to be an investment in local routes so people can get around the city without relying on cars and increasing the congestion on streets not designed for our current population. There also needs to be more options for inter-city routes. The expansion of Light Rail to Federal Way will increase the number of scheduled buses going between Federal Way and the Auburn Transit Station, but do little else to help people get around south King County, especially in any area west of I-167.
5. Please list at least three specific, concrete actions you would support to ease the homelessness crisis.
1. Increase the supply of affordable and supportive housing with a policy of housing-first for our unhoused neighbors.
2. Increase funding in community services designed to identify and help people who are at risk of being unhoused before they've entered the cycle of homelessness by connecting them with rent assistance, job training or applications, transportation issues, or whatever they need to stay on top of their finances and stay house.
3. Push for city-owned, permanently affordable social housing to be built in Auburn.
6. What safety, law, or justice issues are currently facing your jurisdiction, and how will you address them?
In the community conversations that Auburn conducted last year, public safety came up again and again. Reading into what people meant when they said "public safety", the issues largely fall around visible poverty, exemplefied by the unhoused people in our city, and open substance use. I would push to focus Auburn's resources and funding towards greater investments in our human services, and building partnerships with community organizations to provide multiple, supportive paths to help people exit the cycle of homelessness and substance use.
7. What are the transportation/transit challenges which face your jurisdiction and how would you address them? What role does green energy play in your proposed solutions?
A major issue in Auburn is that we have very limited public transit. There are currently only two bus lines that run through the city, and they only travel on two major roads, connecting people with the Auburn Transit Station. It is absolutely necessary for us to invest in greater public transit and pedestrian travel options in our city, especially as we continue to add density throughout the city. The east side of I-5 is benefiting from the expansion of Light Rail; we need to have equal investment in local bus routes, express routes, and increased Sounder services that can move people to all the places the want to visit within Auburn and in our neighboring cities.
I would be very supportive of looking into expanding the electric bus fleet as we expand bus routes across Auburn, especially for local routes. While not a green energy project, increasing the number of bus stops with shaded, covered areas to wait in would be highly necessary to provide safe areas for people to wait in all weather, and also helps perform a passive cooling by decreasing the amount of sun being absorbed by blacktop and cement.
By typing my name below, I declare under penalty of perjury the foregoing is true and correct.
Printed Name: Erica M. Tomas
Date (mm/dd/yy): 07/15/2025
