Melanie Stambaugh (second from right)
Melanie Stambaugh organizes anti-bullying workshops in high schools and provides career mentoring for college students alongside her mom and sister. It’s that connection to the community and her focus on relationships that Stambaugh thinks will distinguish her from incumbent Dawn Morrell, a critical care nurse in Puyallup’s Multicare Good Samaritan Hospital.
The challenger spent her 24th birthday campaigning. The young Republican who calls Puyallup home, is challenging Rep. Dawn Morrell for her state House seat and even her birthday wasn’t reason enough to slow down on the campaign trail.
“It was a birthday like no other,” said Stambaugh on Friday, the day after festivities.
If elected, Stambaugh would be one of the youngest lawmakers in Olympia, an asset, she perceives, in a district with a history of electing young politicians. She’s running with the endorsements of Senator Bruce Dammeier and Representative Hans Zeiger, the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Washington State Farm Bureau in a swing district already strongly Republican.
“What’s really exciting is that I go door-to-door and my age is embraced by people,” she says. “I tell them ‘age is not an indicator of ability.’ And voters understand that.”
Stambaugh knew even as a student in junior high that she wanted to enter a career of politics. While interning in Representative Joyce McDonald’s office one day, she remembers carrying papers to a neighboring politician’s desk. Stambaugh looked down at the papers and wondered what it would be like if she had been holding her own legislation.
“That really set a line in the sand for me,” remembers Stambaugh.
Stambaugh worked as a Research Assistant for the Washington Policy Center and was named a Generation Liberty Fellow by the State Policy Network. She studied business at the University of Washington and at 24 already owns a small business called You Impression.
“There isn’t a lot of confidence in the political process,” says Stambaugh. “But [I’ve been] having heart-to-heart conversations in my door-belling and I want to be a part of rebuilding that confidence…Let’s put people and our vision before other things.”
Stambaugh outlines two main areas she’d like to focus on in her political career if elected–transportation and schools. As a student at the UW, she volunteered in Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School, one of the state’s lowest performing schools. That experience, contrasted with her childhood in Puyallup, taught her the diversity of needs in education. This legislative session will be a linchpin budget year for addressing the McCleary ruling, which in 2012 found Washington’s education system was not properly funded. Earlier this month, the State Supreme Court found lawmakers in contempt for failing to find a timely financial solution. Under the ruling, if the Legislature hasn’t put together a plan between then and the 2017-18 school year, the court has threatened sanctions. That concern is echoed in stories Stambaugh hears while door-belling. She says rallying in earnest around education will be critical to helping students avoid falling behind.
The extension of Highway 167 will also register as a big-ticket item in the 25th District. After more than 30 years of empty promises, it still has not been connected to I-5. Many Democrats have advocated for a gas tax increase. At a July forum, Stambaugh was among 10 other Republicans and a Libertarian who indicated they weren’t interested in a gas tax as a funding option for Highway 167. Stambaugh says a growing list of stalled or botched projects have led many constituents of the 25th District to advocate for a reform of transportation spending and a more thoughtful transportation package.
While the learning curve for Stambaugh’s political career is steep, she draws on the lesson plan of her business to derive confidence. You Impression offers confidence building workshops and mentoring for a range of clients from 6 to 67-years-old, many of them facing various transitions in their lives.
On one recent occasion, Stambaugh worked with a group of young women in 7th, 9th and 12th grade. All of them were either involved with, or on the brink of joining a gang. You Impression treated the girls to a fancy dinner and walked them through a basic etiquette lesson, a metaphor she says, for respect. The girls walked away with an inner confidence and a broader horizon for their own futures.
“When those girls left, they gave us a hug and [told us], ‘you’ve really impacted the vision I have for my life,’” recalls Stambaugh. “It gives them a guiding light to navigate life with…That impact can be so great.”
Stambaugh says her two years managing and running You Impression have taught her a thing or two about politics: “One of my many mottos is that it’s about people and not about politics. I think so often issues are put in black-and-white. But many grey areas are suppressed…At the end of the day, my relationship with people and business owners will [be an asset] for the 25th District.”
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