In-person voting for two positions on the Swinomish Senate will take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 9 at the Swinomish Senate Chambers. Voters will choose among four general election candidates, with the winners sworn in to serve five-year terms on the tribal community’s 11-member governing panel.
Fred Cayou, Jr., vice chair of the Swinomish Fish & Game Commission and the tribe’s new port authority, faces former longtime senate chair and past two-term National Congress of American Indians president Brian Cladoosby in the race to succeed retiring incumbent Sophie Bailey for Senate Seat No. 1.
Alana Quintasket, the current senate vice chair who holds the same post on La Conner’s school board, is paired opposite Didgwalic Wellness Center counselor Holle Edwards for Senate Seat No. 2.
Senate Seat No. 1 candidates
Cayou, a fisherman who serves on the Skagit River System Cooperative board of directors, has an extensive background in natural resources. He is also the Swinomish cemetery manager, a member of the tribe’s legal affairs committee, and an advisor to its culture panel. Cayou could not be reached for comment.
“Fred is well-spoken, humble, and very unselfish,” a Swinomish voter, who asked not to be named, told the La Conner Community News after Cayou led a Jan. 18 primary field of four candidates vying for seat No. 1. He polled 115 votes, 18 more than Cladoosby, the runner-up.
Cladoosby served on the senate from 1985-2020 — 23 of those as chairman. During his tenure, Swinomish experienced unparalleled economic growth, emerging as one of Skagit County’s largest employers. An advocate for Skagit River salmon enhancement, Cladoosby was a leading proponent of the ground-breaking Swinomish Dental Health Aid Therapist Program.
If elected, Cladoosby said he would focus on ensuring last year’s courtroom victory over BNSF Railroad Company — where U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik ruled the railroad must pay the Swinomish tribe $394 million for trespassing by sending trains carrying crude oil from North Dakota through reservation — leads to benefits for tribal members and investment in infrastructure.
“There are needs we have — building infrastructure for health, for fishermen and their needs, and looking at an assisted living facility for our elders,” Cladoosby said. “My people know me and they know my dedication to my community. They know I’m about improving the lives of our people and breaking the cycle of generational trauma.”
Senate Seat No. 2 candidates
Alana Quintasket, 32, who received 133 primary votes last month, has provided a bridge between the Swinomish and La Conner communities with her service on both the senate and school board.
A graduate of the University of Washington and Arizona State University, Quintasket focused her collegiate studies on education, indigenous rights, and social justice. She has taught the traditional Lushootseed language to tribal day care and pre-school students and in kindergarten and third grade classrooms at La Conner Elementary.
Having previously worked at a clam garden on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Quintasket has been active in the development of the Swinomish clam garden, the first of its kind in modern times in the U.S.
“The clam garden work is an incredible project that I’m very passionate about,” she said.
Among her public service priorities are environmental protection, community planning, livable wages for workers, and access to housing and healthy foods.
Her opponent, Holle Edwards, is a niece of Swinomish Senate chair Steve Edwards who garnered 90 primary votes and advanced to the general election ballot by a 17-vote margin. Having spent much of her life fishing and crabbing, Edwards has long championed the tribe’s fishers.
Her counseling career, she maintains, would likewise serve her well should she be elected to the senate, where the ability to weigh varied perspectives and respect multiple viewpoints is essential.
Edwards has campaigned for affordable family housing, fostering inclusivity, and building generational wealth. She has taken that message and her willingness to listen door-to-door, revisiting a traditional approach embraced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think people appreciate the visits,” she said. “It helps bring back that sense of connection, something that was interrupted by COVID. It really helps build a sense of community.”
Edwards said she welcomes the opportunity to be a servant leader.
“I aim to be a role model,” she said, “who breaks the cycle of generational trauma.”
