Candidate Statements
PASS has endorsed Desirée C. Toliver for US House Representative CD 10 and Syd Locke for WA House LD 22. As a part of the endorsement process, both candidates have filled out our questionnaire and spoken at a PASS General Meeting, after which a direct vote for endorsement took place.
Get to know each candidate here and check out their websites to learn more, including how to volunteer to help with their campaigns and get out the vote. Neither take corporate money and their success depends on us – community power!
Vote Toliver!
https://toliverforcongress.com/
Vote Locke!
https://www.sydlocke.com/
Desirée C. Toliver for Congressional District 10
How do you view your role in advancing human rights for Palestinians? Please address your goals during this election period and goals in office.
My goals for the election period and during my time in office are to highlight the strength in expanding definitions of community. To resolve issues with the for profit system, change the focus to how to take care and strengthen communities as a whole. Bring the voice of the people, as well as the organizations that have done the work directly to the table. Looking up stream to dismantle core parts of the oppressive systems as well as utilizing my understanding of how systems weave together to ensure further policies are not implemented under the radar.
What has been your previous experience with human rights struggles? What ties do you see between the liberation struggle of Palestinians, and issues affecting your constituents?
My entire family history has been an experience with human rights struggles. Living in Washington for the majority of my life since I was 6 years old, I have personally seen the impact of relaxed policy and enforcement against domestic terrorist at the detriment of black and brown community members. I plan to dismantle the problems at the source, instead of berating what type of people are more likely to be unhoused, or uneducated or have higher negative outcomes. I will work to dismantle the strength of corporations not only stateside but internationally as well. I will fight and advocate for trade agreement standards with every country the USA works with. I will ensure that the voices that are already doing the work to show success through taking care of the community are not only heard, but acted on.
What is your sense of the support among community members for a permanent, sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, and Palestinian liberation?Every person I have spoken with at a minimum agrees civilians should not be involved, I plan to rally the community around that messaging.
Are you willing to introduce initiatives, bills and funding for initiatives addressing anti-Palestinian racism, ceasefire and BDS? Please tell us an instance in which you have led or plan to take the lead on such an initiative.
Yes. There aren’t many instances where I have led that are community facing. But, as an Executive Board member of Thurston county democrats I have taken every opportunity to question elected officials on their voting records, their policies, and why they avoid using alternative measures than what the establishment currently follows.
What is your opinion of the student encampment movement for divestment? How do you see your role as a community leader as it relates to students?
My role as a community leader is to ensure all the work the students have done is supported. My role as a member of congress is to stop any laws that would violate their rights, as well as to enforce and introduce laws that provide the opportunity for lasting change.
Please pick one key issue and share your thoughts on it: Genocide in Gaza, Two state solution, One state solution, The apartheid/separation wall, Illegal settlements, Healthcare in Gaza, University students in Gaza, Palestinian refugees, Right of return.
I feel like realistically these are all connected. Since I studied to be a nurse, and I was the supervisor of a lab, I will talk to the healthcare aspect. In America we have seen the negative impacts of medical abuse on black and indigenous communities over and over and over. We know that women and children are being forced into vulnerable conditions not only by the lack of access to proper medical supplies, but with Israel using Chemically banned weapons such as White Phosphorus, that starts to burn at 30 degrees air temperature and is so reactive that even clothing has to be separated and isolated. The lack of access to healthcare for civilians, including mental health supports, menstrual products, no access to food, soldiers carrying weapons into hospitals and the intentional slaughter of health care officials shows that they are desperate to use all and ensure that the damage they have done lasts beyond a ceasefire. And, that is where more intense conversations come up, because it will be America’s job to provide support to Palestine beyond just money to work from what has been done and take a different path. This is not something that can be corrected.
Syd Locke for WA House LD 22
How do you view your role in advancing human rights for Palestinians? Please address your goals during this election period and goals in office.
By running for office I have been highlighting human rights for Palestinians. I hope to gain a bigger public platform as an elected official to speak and act on behalf of justice for Palestine, but even as a candidate I am pointing out Israel's ongoing persecution and genocide of the Palestinians. Most candidates don't want to strongly and publicly support the Palestinians, but I'm making this issue front and center. If I do win, my first bill will be a House Joint Memorial demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire and peace and justice for Palestine. I will also introduce a bill to get the state of Washington to divest from Israel and from companies that profit from Israel's oppression of the Palestinians. I will work with PASS when writing both these pieces of legislation. I will also work with PASS on organizational/educational efforts in the community. I will work both inside and outside the state legislature.
What has been your previous experience with human rights struggles? What ties do you see between the liberation struggle of Palestinians, and issues affecting your constituents?
I've always been anti-war and anti-imperialist. I protested against the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions even when the vast majority of people were supportive. Immediately after October 7, I was in the streets protesting Israel's actions. I was at the Tacoma Port protest. I have been active in the BLM protests, and I did court support for two young Black men who were shot by Olympia police officer Ryan Donald. Israel is a settler colonial state and there are striking parallels with our own US history and the genocide of First Nations peoples. People in LD 22 do not want our government to be complicit in oppression and genocide. I also support human rights in its many forms, including economic rights. I believe that housing, health care, a guaranteed income, higher education and other supports are human rights. The economy should be based on providing everyone with what they need to flourish, not on short-term corporate profits.
What is your sense of the support among community members for a permanent, sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, and Palestinian liberation?We are gaining support! I see it when I am canvassing and campaigning. We all have more work to do, but people's views are changing. They are now seeing the genocide in real time – not through the corporate media, but through social media. People are unlearning the pro-Israel narrative that has been dominant in the US for many decades, and are learning the real history of the region. But even if we were seeing little progress I would be protesting and standing in solidarity with my Palestinian siblings because it is the right thing to do.
Are you willing to introduce initiatives, bills and funding for initiatives addressing anti-Palestinian racism, ceasefire and BDS? Please tell us an instance in which you have led or plan to take the lead on such an initiative.
Yes. I worked behind the scenes during off-work hours to suggest that activists ask legislators to introduce a House and/or Senate Joint Memorial calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Legislators were telling constituents that they couldn't do anything because there was no legislative nexus, but that was a dodge. In the past they introduced memorials and resolutions about Russia/Ukraine and they could have done so with Palestine, too. Telling constituents that the legislature couldn't do anything was disingenuous. If I am elected, my first bill will be a House Joint Memorial demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire and peace and justice for Palestine. I will also introduce a bill to get the state of Washington to divest from Israel and from companies that profit from Israel's oppression of the Palestinians. I will work with PASS when writing both these pieces of legislation. Anti-Palestinian racism is a big problem and I will work with PASS and other organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace to counter the hate. I will work with the Washington State Human Rights Commission to educate the public and highlight more legal protections for activists and those of Palestinian descent.
What is your opinion of the student encampment movement for divestment? How do you see your role as a community leader as it relates to students?
I strongly support the student encampment movement. I was at the TESC encampment on their first day and a few times after that. The students are demanding, and in some cases have been successful in making, real material gains through college/university divestment from companies profiting from the occupation and genocide in Palestine. My role is to support the students in their efforts, and to help protect them from any possible retaliation from the police, institutions of higher learning, or from violent Zionist mobs. We need to alert and educate the public. Protesting a genocide should not be grounds for disciplinary actions by a university, or violence from anyone.
Please pick one key issue and share your thoughts on it: Genocide in Gaza, Two state solution, One state solution, The apartheid/separation wall, Illegal settlements, Healthcare in Gaza, University students in Gaza, Palestinian refugees, Right of return.
The genocide in Gaza is like the "Trail of Tears" of our era. We will be remembered for how we respond to this slaughter. We must do everything we can to stop the genocide. We must educate and build real power to stop it. Marches are good, but they are much better if they actually translate into building power with a real material impact. BDS, strikes, robustly countering the corporate propaganda in a way that actually changes public opinion, and winning elective office – those are the things that have a material impact and will make the establishment take notice. If we primarily write emails and march, they will be polite to us but they will think of our actions as us just blowing off steam. I have worked up there for years so I do have some insights. We have to build power to make change. I hope you will support me because the local political establishment is watching this race. If I win, they will sit up and take notice. If I get wiped out they will note that, too, and even if we have twice as many marches they will know that we haven't built power. They will think of our rallies and marches as unthreatening to the status quo.
