State Rep. Alicia Rule is seeking a third straight two-year term for the 42nd Legislative District House Position 1.
Rule, a Blaine Democrat, is one of two House members serving the 42nd District, which includes the northern neighborhoods of Bellingham and the northern part of Whatcom County.
In the other 42nd District state House race, Kamal Bhachu, a Republican from Blaine, is challenging state Rep. Joe Timmons, D-Bellingham. The district’s senator, Belllingham Democrat Sharon Shewmake, was elected in 2022 to four-year term so she is not on the ballot.
Voters in the 42nd District elected three Democrats to the Legislature in 2022, taking control of a district that had been represented by Republicans for more than a decade.
One Republican and one Democrat are challenging Rule in the primary, where the two candidates with the most votes advance to the Nov. 5 general election regardless of party.
Following are the candidates’ biographies, in the order that they appear on the ballot:
Raymond Pelletti
Blaine real estate broker and appraiser Raymond Pelletti is seeking the 42nd District House seat as a Republican.
At his campaign website, Pelletti said he is a U.S. Air Force veteran, who “has always prioritized serving his country and community.”
He is a member and former president of the Whatcom County Association of Realtors, and a former board member of Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center and the state Make-A-Wish Foundation.
According to his website, Pelletti is focused on public safety, the economy, and social issues such as his opposition to abortion and gender-affirming care for minors.
“We need to make a change. We need to restore common sense in Washington,” Pelletti said at his website.
In an interview with the League of Women Voters of Bellingham-Whatcom County, he called himself a “moderate conservative” criticized recent legislative reforms aimed at police accountability .
“I think the Legislature in the last several years has done a disservice to our state. They’ve almost made the police the victim in all cases in the sense that they then become prosecuted for doing their job,” he said.
He lists no endorsements at his website.
Pelletti raised $7,297 for his primary bid, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission. Of his contributions, $5,000 came from the party caucus, and $1,250 from the party. About $105 came from individual contributions.
Janet Melman
Janet Melman of Bellingham describes herself as a progressive Democrat.
She has a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of California at Irvine, and studied performance craft at UCLA Extension.
“I am a health-care and transgender rights advocate , working with lawmakers in Olympia and in Washington, D.C., to protect the rights of transgender Americans in this increasingly hostile political climate,” Melman told The Herald in an email.
Melman said she also “works with organizations to help relocate LGBTQ youth and adults affected by anti-trans laws in other states, providing housing outreach, healthcare on-boarding and planning, and job resources.”
She is a content creator, voice actress, comic book author and a 20-year member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
“My work in our marginalized communities and beyond gives me a firm grasp of the challenges that we all face in our daily lives, and I seek to keep corporate and religious interests out of policy-making in Olympia in order to protect our hard-won victories to make Washington one of the best states to live in,” Melman said.
She is endorsed by the Washington State Stonewall Democrats and LPAC, which works to support LGBTQ women and nonbinary candidates.
Melman raised $5,352 for her primary bid, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Alicia Rule
Alicia Rule, who has served in the state House since 2020, is a social worker and a therapist in private practice.
She’s also a former member of the Blaine City Council and founder and former head of the Blaine Downtown Development Association.
In her first year in the House, Rule worked to secure funding and commitments to support small businesses and farmers that became part of a $20 million budget proviso for a statewide program to assist small businesses recovering from the November 2021 flooding, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting.
In the most recent legislative session, Rule sponsored House Bill to extend a tax preference for dairy, fruit and vegetable and seafood processors statewide. It would help food producers thrive, Rule said during floor discussion on the measure.
“We produce some of the very best food in the world right in our own backyard and across Washington. It’s critical that we stay competitive in the global market and keep our locally produced food products as affordable as possible right here at home. With grocery prices skyrocketing as they have, my priority was and will continue to be to work to keep costs down and local food on the table,” Rule told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
Her priorities for the next legislative session, she’s planning to introduce a diaper tax exemption.
“Good hard-working families are struggling to keep the lights on and that will continue to be my focus and priority until this pressure eases up along with fighting for protecting and creating good paying union jobs, and creating opportunities for more local businesses to be better supported and thrive in our community.” Rule said.
In addition, Rule told The Herald that “reproductive choice and freedom continues to be of critical importance at the state level and I am working on multiple bills to protect access to birth control, protecting IVF, and ensuring women maintain decision making over their own bodies.”
She’s also been a leader on public safety and behavioral health issues, forming a caucus to promote this issues.
“We believe we need to do better in addressing both violent crime and property crime because it’s vulnerable people who are traumatized and impacted the hardest by these crimes,” Rule said.
Rule is endorsed by several dozen statewide and local elected leaders and a range of labor unions, including those representing the skilled trades, teachers and nurses. Further support comes from the 42nd District Democrats, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the Washington Council of Police & Sheriffs and the Washington Fraternal Order of Police.
She raised $148,659 for her primary bid, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission .
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