State 32nd District Rep candidates Davis, Siddiqi face off in forum
Friday, October 23, 2026
 |
| Candidates Lauren Davis, left, and Imraan Siddiqi, right, after the debate on Sunday, October 18, 2026 in Shoreline. Photo by Jamie Holter. |
By Jamie Holter
MyMLTNews.com
Six candidates running to represent three separate offices for Washington state’s 32nd Legislative District came together Sunday afternoon in Shoreline to share their priorities and positions. More than 100 people showed up and remained for the entire two hours of discussion and debate.
Moderated by the League of Women Voters, the 30-minute discussion was an opportunity to meet the candidates Lauren Davis and Imraan Siddiqi, who want to fill the Position 2 House of Representatives seat for the 32nd District.
Davis is the incumbent.
They also shared opinions on ranked-choice voting, a new topic raised during this event.
This is the third of three articles summarizing candidate questions and answers.
You can see the earlier reports on 32nd District State Senate candidates Jesse Salomon and Cindy Ryu here and on State Representative Position 1 candidates Danica Noble and Keith Scully here.
Lauren Davis: It has been truly the honor of my entire life to represent all of you in the state Legislature for the past eight years. I spent my early career actually as a Head Start preschool teacher. Then I worked in international development for a few years. I lived and worked in West Africa.
In the Legislature, I’ve centered my work in the healthcare and public safety committees on which I serve. Our district, unfortunately, has been plagued with some pretty significant public safety challenges that I spend a lot of my time on.
Some of the challenges are related to [sex] trafficking on Aurora, and then in the northern end of our district, challenges related to gun violence and juveniles engaged in violent crime.
I’ve spent a lot of my time working on addressing individuals with untreated behavioral health challenges throughout the district, including from the pediatric to the geriatric population.
Imraan Siddiqi: My background is the child of immigrants who came to this country in the 1960s. Born in Alabama, grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. My life has taken a lot of different places. I’m a small business owner. I’m a father of three sons, and for the last 16 years, I’ve worked in civil rights, standing up for our Constitutional rights as the executive director of the Arizona Chapter of Council on American Islamic Relations, and then here in Washington State since 2020.
I’ve been on the front lines of standing up for civil rights, and in talking to the voters, they care about a lot of different things.
We’re seeing what’s happening in our district each and every day. You see the people who are out on the streets protesting right now who really care about their immigrant neighbors? I’m standing up against this federal overreach right now.
Our political system has been infected by corporate dollars. I want to get all corporate money out of politics, like the State of Hawaii did.
And then finally, making life more affordable. I’m a homeowner, but I’m also paying two college tuitions right now, we’re really struggling. I mean, I make a good salary, my wife makes a good salary, but the middle class is getting squeezed right now. So we need to do more on a state level to make sure that life is more affordable for the middle and working class.
Closing statements
Imraan Siddiqi: I feel like we’re in the most consequential election of our lifetime. A lot of a lot is at stake in about 16 days from now. You know what you see with Congress, Senate, House of Representatives, how we hold this administration accountable.
This is not a normal time for us to just go out there and cast ballots.
And I would say the same exists on the state level. We have a lot of great candidates that are coming in here and talking. When we’ve talked about these key issues, when we talk about the concerns of this district and our neighbors being picked off by ICE, these affordability issues, the corporate dollars that flood this system, this is not a normal time.
And when you want that ballot cast in Olympia, you want to think about your own conscience and who’s the person of conscience who’s actually going to stand up and actually vote their conscience in that situation.
I’m a person who’s been living my conscience in my profession in my advocacy world for 16 years, actually 25 years, and I’ve stood up against some of the toughest challenges. I was a plaintiff in the first Muslim ban lawsuit against Trump, so I’m unafraid to stand up even when things are tough and the odds are against us. So I would look to you and say, who do you want? They’re casting that vote on your behalf.
Lauren Davis: Thank you for being here. I would also encourage all of you, implore you really, to continue your engagement with the Legislature, with whichever candidate in the three races prevails.
The statistic is jarring that 2% of the American public, even those who know who their state lawmakers are, engages with them. But the truth of the matter is that because there’s so few who do, people who actually engage with us really have outsized power and influence. It’s not lip service. You can make a tremendous difference.
Before I accidentally got elected to the state Legislature, I was an advocate. I was not a real lobbyist, not a real anything. I was 20-something years old, and I was a professional pain in the ass. I talked to my lawmakers, and I took my vacation days, and I chased people around the Capitol, and got a law passed called Ricky’s Law, but I say that to say you have enormous capacity to to make a difference, and I would really encourage you to do that.
You’re doing that today. I hope to continue to serve you, to represent you. I sort of like the hokey pokey. I put my whole self into this work. I really do. I don’t have a lot of hobbies because my hobby was service, and then that became my job, and it’s just really an honor. And I learn every day from all of you. I am always hearing about new problems, new issues to solve, it’s a joy.
Read more...
Six candidates running to represent three separate offices for Washington state’s 32nd Legislative District came together Sunday afternoon in Shoreline to share their priorities and positions. More than 100 people showed up and remained for the entire two hours of discussion and debate.
Moderated by the League of Women Voters, the 30-minute discussion was an opportunity to meet the candidates Lauren Davis and Imraan Siddiqi, who want to fill the Position 2 House of Representatives seat for the 32nd District.
Davis is the incumbent.
They also shared opinions on ranked-choice voting, a new topic raised during this event.
This is the third of three articles summarizing candidate questions and answers.
You can see the earlier reports on 32nd District State Senate candidates Jesse Salomon and Cindy Ryu here and on State Representative Position 1 candidates Danica Noble and Keith Scully here.
Because of the length of the report, only the opening and closing statements are included here. Go here to read the entire report on this race.
32nd Legislative District State Rep. Position 2: Lauren Davis (incumbent) and Imraan Siddiqi introduce themselves
32nd Legislative District State Rep. Position 2: Lauren Davis (incumbent) and Imraan Siddiqi introduce themselves
 |
| Lauren Davis Photo by Claudia Meadows |
When my best friend Ricky was struggling in our behavioral health system, I did a career swap and ended up working at suicide prevention, mental health promotion, and substance use treatment and recovery services.
In the Legislature, I’ve centered my work in the healthcare and public safety committees on which I serve. Our district, unfortunately, has been plagued with some pretty significant public safety challenges that I spend a lot of my time on.
Some of the challenges are related to [sex] trafficking on Aurora, and then in the northern end of our district, challenges related to gun violence and juveniles engaged in violent crime.
I’ve spent a lot of my time working on addressing individuals with untreated behavioral health challenges throughout the district, including from the pediatric to the geriatric population.
 |
| Imraan Siddiqi |
I’ve been on the front lines of standing up for civil rights, and in talking to the voters, they care about a lot of different things.
We’re seeing what’s happening in our district each and every day. You see the people who are out on the streets protesting right now who really care about their immigrant neighbors? I’m standing up against this federal overreach right now.
Our political system has been infected by corporate dollars. I want to get all corporate money out of politics, like the State of Hawaii did.
And then finally, making life more affordable. I’m a homeowner, but I’m also paying two college tuitions right now, we’re really struggling. I mean, I make a good salary, my wife makes a good salary, but the middle class is getting squeezed right now. So we need to do more on a state level to make sure that life is more affordable for the middle and working class.
Closing statements
Imraan Siddiqi: I feel like we’re in the most consequential election of our lifetime. A lot of a lot is at stake in about 16 days from now. You know what you see with Congress, Senate, House of Representatives, how we hold this administration accountable.
This is not a normal time for us to just go out there and cast ballots.
And I would say the same exists on the state level. We have a lot of great candidates that are coming in here and talking. When we’ve talked about these key issues, when we talk about the concerns of this district and our neighbors being picked off by ICE, these affordability issues, the corporate dollars that flood this system, this is not a normal time.
And when you want that ballot cast in Olympia, you want to think about your own conscience and who’s the person of conscience who’s actually going to stand up and actually vote their conscience in that situation.
I’m a person who’s been living my conscience in my profession in my advocacy world for 16 years, actually 25 years, and I’ve stood up against some of the toughest challenges. I was a plaintiff in the first Muslim ban lawsuit against Trump, so I’m unafraid to stand up even when things are tough and the odds are against us. So I would look to you and say, who do you want? They’re casting that vote on your behalf.
Lauren Davis: Thank you for being here. I would also encourage all of you, implore you really, to continue your engagement with the Legislature, with whichever candidate in the three races prevails.
The statistic is jarring that 2% of the American public, even those who know who their state lawmakers are, engages with them. But the truth of the matter is that because there’s so few who do, people who actually engage with us really have outsized power and influence. It’s not lip service. You can make a tremendous difference.
Before I accidentally got elected to the state Legislature, I was an advocate. I was not a real lobbyist, not a real anything. I was 20-something years old, and I was a professional pain in the ass. I talked to my lawmakers, and I took my vacation days, and I chased people around the Capitol, and got a law passed called Ricky’s Law, but I say that to say you have enormous capacity to to make a difference, and I would really encourage you to do that.
You’re doing that today. I hope to continue to serve you, to represent you. I sort of like the hokey pokey. I put my whole self into this work. I really do. I don’t have a lot of hobbies because my hobby was service, and then that became my job, and it’s just really an honor. And I learn every day from all of you. I am always hearing about new problems, new issues to solve, it’s a joy.
.png)
.png)
Posts
