Our endorsement for the Washington State Senate 37th District is Tatiana Brown! As the underdog in a race against Rep. Chipalo Street, we chose Brown due to her unabashed commitment to environmental and social justice.

With Rebecca Saldaña leaving to run for King County Council, her 37th District Senate seat is now up for grabs. Soon after Saldaña announced her intention to run, Rep. Street announced his bid for the newly opened position. 

Street’s campaign did not respond to our request for an interview, which is a shame, considering the questions Brown had about his track record. In particular, Brown raised doubts as to Street’s commitment to environmental justice, given that he works with Microsoft’s chief technology officer, Kevin Scott, who is one of his emerging-technologies advisors (Scott has been the main driver behind the company’s partnership with OpenAI).

Her biggest contention is that Street will be much more lenient about the fate of eight AI data centers along the Columbia River Gorge in votes coming in the next legislative session. Without verification from the Street campaign as to whether her critiques hold any weight, we cannot say for certain how he would vote the issue.

However, considering that Microsoft has committed $2.5 billion to AI implementation, it isn’t a stretch to assume Street as a senator would be more sympathetic to his employer and other tech companies, who are very keen to begin data center construction despite their very negative environmental impacts (a single AI data center can go through up to 5 million gallons of water per day!). A 2024 report by ProPublica and the Seattle Times found that more than 65% of Washington’s data center tax breaks since 2018 had gone exclusively to Microsoft.

One thing we know for certain is that Brown is running a campaign that is unequivocally against those negative environmental impacts. In fact, she is in favor of passing a statewide moratorium on new hyperscale AI data centers, and would pursue regulations to require developers of data centers to pay for their energy use, as well as lower their usage during peak hours and comply with existing energy laws.

But her commitment to environmental advocacy is not the only draw Brown’s campaign has for us. She has plans for the 37th that span from closing corporate loopholes and adding more brackets to our capital gains tax to helping residents get proper sidewalks.

An unapologetically Queer woman, Brown says she was inspired to pursue public service because of the legacy of “badass women” in Washington who have fought for her and other people’s rights, including Sen. Saldaña and US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who both served as the 37th District’s senator. 

In 2019 she worked on the campaign to expand Medicaid for immigrants in Virginia (her home state and one of the states to do so). Her work in mutual aids groups, where she says people fill in the gaps where public policy fails, inspired her to move to Washington and pursue a dual master’s program at the University of Washington.  

Young and bright, Brown offers representation for the 37th District that we believe would not be influenced by the demands of tech companies and corporations but rather everyday people’s needs. 

Vote Brown.