Walkinshaw and Jayapal tout progressive optimism in 7th District ads

The race to represent Washington’s 7th Congressional District is going full throttle. That’s the seat being vacated by longtime Representative Jim McDermott. Two Democrats are seeking to replace him: State Senator Pramila Jayapal and State Representative Brady Walkinshaw. So far, both candidates are mostly taking to the airwaves with a vision of optimism.

TRANSCRIPT

The latest ad from Brady Walkinshaw opens on a slightly dark note.

Walkinshaw in ad: “Donald Trump represents everything that’s wrong with American politics. But we can’t just blame Republicans.”

Here the music changes. Walkinshaw gives examples of his own legislative achievements in Olympia.

Walkinshaw in ad: “It’s how we expanded access to mental health care. It’s how we reformed our criminal justice system.”

That bill helped people coming out of prison enter more professions.

Pramila Jayapal’s latest TV ad takes a similar approach. First the villains – men in suits in some kind of closed-door meeting.

Jayapal in ad: “Think the system’s rigged? You’re right!”

Then we see Jayapal and her supporters, knocking on doors in a sunny residential neighborhood.

Jayapal in ad: “I’m listening. What I hear is, we need to expand social security, not privatize it. Guarantee sick and medical leave, not deny it. And we need to move toward single payer, to take on insurers and drug companies who jack up costs.”

Jayapal’s campaign has also released a more irreverent ad online urging support for women candidates.

A little girl is drawing stick figures on a wall to show that four out of five members of Congress are male.

Girl's voice in Jayapal ad: “Too many boys.”

In the final shot she gives more of the stick figures long hair and pigtails before the word “vote” appears in giant letters.