Through the Static

By Gray Trammel

The biggest challenge facing Washington’s 37th Legislative District is not just affordability or public safety, but that too many decisions have been made for the community instead of with it, according to Tatiana Brown, who is running for the state Senate seat. She said the district’s history of redlining and racial covenant laws shaped generations of inequality, leaving many residents feeling disconnected from the people elected to represent them.

“It came through a series of very aggressive and racist policies,” Brown told Through the Static (TtS). “There’s never been genuine consultation.”

Brown, who grew up in Virginia, moved to Seattle in 2021 after years of organizing around immigrant and refugee rights, food access, and urban farming. She said Washington’s reputation for progressive policy-making inspired her to pursue master’s degrees in public health and public policy, and history influences nearly every priority of her campaign. If elected, she would expand community assemblies and participatory budgeting so residents help shape legislation before it reaches Olympia.

“What that actually means is we are trying to reduce the power differential between an elected leader and their constituents,” Brown said. “I’ve met a lot of community members, especially in Othello and Rainier Beach, and they’ve never had anyone come to their door once— they’ve been living there for 60 years.”

If elected, Brown said early steps would include widening access to healthy food in schools and reinforcing environmental justice programs. Brown believes Washington should address the affordability crisis in part by changing tax policy rather than cutting programs residents rely on. She supports a wealth tax, corporate taxes, and changes to the state’s real estate excise tax, capital gains tax, and tax exemption for data centers.

“We need to go find genuinely sustainable sources of revenue,” Brown said, adding how lawmakers’ budgets should reflect their priorities.

“A budget is simply your values and your actions,” she said. “When we decide not to fund something, it means that something else is being funded, and something else was being considered more valuable.”

Public ‌safety, ‌Brown ‌said, is also an area that needs a wider lens. She supports the funding of youth programs that are aimed at bringing down gun violence, and wants safer sidewalks and crosswalks so that older residents are better protected. She also called for closer review of how artificial intelligence is used in surveillance systems, because AI-powered surveillance technology has documented accuracy issues, and it should not be relied on for or in criminal investigations.

“If your technology is not accurate and it’s being used to prosecute and jail people, you need to stop using the technology,” Brown said.

Brown ‌highlighted how ‌residents should not be burdened to seek out their elected officials, and that lawmakers instead need to be present in the districts they serve, spending time in those communities and working with people there as policy takes shape.

“The communities know what we need,” Brown said. “This is the time to lead with that.”

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