CD5

Former Spokane Valley City Council candidate Jennie Willardson (D-Spokane Valley) announced her intention to run for Congress in the 5th District, according to Jim Camden. Willardson joins Democrat Mark Mays in challenging the incumbent, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

Willardson says on her website, "It is going to take a woman to win agains a woman and I am that Democratic woman.an to win agains a woman and I am that Democratic woman."

For more than a decade Mark Mays has been something of a mainstay in Eastern Washington politics. He served as Peter Goldmark's campaign chair during his 2006 congressional race, acted as one of Gary Locke's Eastern Washington campaign coordinators, and sat on Tom Foley's finance committee during the days that he was the speaker of the House.

But through all of this, the professionally accomplished Mays, who works as a psychologist, holds a law degree and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, has never been a candidate. That all changed earlier this spring when Mays expressed interest in running for the 5th District position for U.S House of Representatives.

Beginning Monday morning, PolitickerWA will launch a series of profiles of the nine candidates who have announced their intention to challenge an incumbent member of Congress in 2008. Every weekday morning for the next nine days PolitickerWA will publish a profile of a challenger. The schedule, which starts in Eastern Washington and moves counterclockwise around the state, is below:  read more »

The Spokesman-Review is reporting that Spokane psychologist and attorney Mark Mays will challenge Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for her 5th District Congressional seat this fall. Mays has also served on the Board of Trustees at Eastern Washington University, where he was appointed by Gov. Gary Locke in 1997, and as the head of the Washington State Psychological Association.