Another Democrat has come forward to run for the 49th District state senator seat being vacated by Vancouver Democrat Craig Pridemore.
Vancouver businessman and equal rights advocate Ty Stober, 40, said he is running to address the area’s double-digit unemployment rate.
“Vancouver is a place with a great history, yet two and a half years after the Great Recession supposedly ended, we’re still struggling,” Stober said Monday. “We need to be doing everything we can to attract, encourage, build and grow businesses here in Vancouver.”
This is Stober’s first time running for public office. He works as consumer products manager for the nonprofit Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, where he encourages retailers to stock and promote their most energy-efficient products. He is board chair for Seattle-based Equal Rights Washington, one group that played a hand in bringing the same-sex marriage bill before the 2012 state Legislature.
If elected, Stober said he would try to make sure the state is working in conjunction with what the Vancouver area needs. He also wants to address Vancouver’s problem with buildable land so more businesses will come to the area.
“I want to use my business and organizational skills to fight for the future of the 49th District,” said Stober, who has a bachelor’s and a master’s degrees in business administration.
Some of his other campaign priorities include quality health care and education, as well as “making Vancouver families feel safe, secure and valued,” Stober said in a news release.
Stober has spent most of the past two decades living in Vancouver, where he has served on the Felida Neighborhood Association board and volunteered at the Fruit Valley Community Resource Center. He lives with
his domestic partner in Vancouver’s Hough neighborhood.
Pridemore, the current 49th District state senator, has announced he will not run for re-election to that position to instead run for state auditor in the fall. Annette Cleveland, who does government affairs work for Legacy Health, also announced she will run as a Democrat for the state senate seat.
Stober said Cleveland has a great reputation in Vancouver, but he would like the public to have multiple candidates to choose from.
Stober will host a campaign kickoff event 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Angst Gallery, 1015 Main St., Vancouver. The event is free and open to the public.
