Justin McMahon announces candidacy for open 21st District House seat:

Justin McMahon
Justin McMahon

Another Democrat has tossed his hat into the ring for the 21st Legislative District House seat being vacated by Mary Helen Roberts. Justin McMahon of Edmonds said in an announcement that he is running based on his belief that “the state needs to be more responsive to our state’s most vulnerable.”

Two other candidates have already declared they are seeking the seat: Current Edmonds City Councilmember Strom Peterson and Mukilteo Navy veteran Scott Whelpley.

McMahon, who was raised in Lynnwood, said it was the fight over mental health funding that motivated him to file for office.

“Our state’s social safety net has been slashed due to the recession. That has real impacts on families in Washington state,” McMahon said. “My family wouldn’t have survived without safety net resources and my success later in life is attributed to those resources available to me and my family when I was younger. I want to go to Olympia to fight for more funding for our state’s most vulnerable.”

McMahon said he has received the early endorsements of several state and local elected officials, including former 21st District state Representative and ex-Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper.

“Justin will be a much-needed champion for mental health, education and the environment on the 21st District team,” Cooper said. “I trust his integrity and will to do the right thing for our students, for our struggling families and for our environment despite the fiscal challenges our state faces.”

McMahon also has received endorsements from Karen Cooper, former executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington; Snohomish County Councilmember and former 21st District State Representative Brian Sullivan; and Rod Hearne, former Executive Director of Equal Rights Washington.

Added State Representative Luis Moscoso, a Mountlake Terrace Democrat who represents the neighboring 1st District: “Justin McMahon comes from a union household so I know he’ll fight hard for working families. His dad worked at Boeing and was a machinist for thirteen years, was a Teamster and is currently an SEIU teacher’s aide for special needs kids. Justin is uniquely in tune with the struggles of working families in his district because he and his family have struggled right along with them,” he said.

You can learn more at McMahon’s website. The 21st Legislative District covers all of Mukilteo, most of Edmonds and parts of Lynnwood and Everett.

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