Candidate Letter: Senate Seat 6 - Katherine Paul

(To all of you, all of you are my beloved people, my relations.)

My name is Katherine Paul (See-muth and Kuppikutak) and I am running for Senate Seat 6 this year. I grew up here in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. My parents are Kevin and Pat Paul, my grandparents are Isabella Yakanak and Alexander Paul Sr., my great grandparents are Elizabeth Scott Sampson and George Alexander. My husband is Camas Logue and I am stepmom to Finn and Oliver, all from the Klamath Tribes. Thank you for taking the time to read my statement of goals and objectives.

First and foremost, I believe that every community member’s voice deserves to be heard and in my journey in running for Senate, I would like to learn from all the families about what is important to you with our community. I am committed to open communication and relationship building amongst our people.

I am passionate about protecting Mother Earth, our right to housing and living on our homelands, and the right to equal opportunities for us in the workforce and within our education. I believe that our youth and elders need to be uplifted and that we must put every effort into fighting for our sovereign rights as Indigenous people as we continue to express ourselves with our culture, our language, and our connection to place. Our health and wellness are important to me as we journey through this pandemic. I know that there are many issues that each family within our community cares about and my goal as a community on a local, regional, and national level. I believe in yehaw– in going forward as a community with our common language. If elected to Senate, communicating on a regular basis with community members would be an objective of mine to help us reach the goal of working together as a community.

(Thank you folks.)

Editor's Note: The content in the brackets are originally written in the Lushootseed language, but is replaced with only the English words. The qyuuqs online publisher does not always support the Lushootseed font.