Maia Espinoza for Senate in the 28th District

Maia Espinoza is running for state senate in the 28th district which en compasses University Place, Lake wood, Fircrest, Dupont, Steilacoom, Elk Plain, Anderson, Ketron, and McNeil Islands. Maia lives in Lakewood with her husband and four kids. She was born in Biloxi Mississippi, grew up in a military family, and lived all over the country with her four siblings. Her family eventually came to be stationed at Joint Base Lewis McChord where she attended Keithly Middle School in Parkland and Woodbrook Middle School in Tillicum before heading to Lakewood to attend Clover Park High School. Maia graduated early as a Running Start graduate from Pierce College at the age of 17 and went on to earn both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. During her time in high school, she was also a member of the Civil Air Patrol and JROTC.

“So, Lakewood has been the closest thing to a hometown that I’ve ever had. I have lived here basically since middle school,” Espinoza laughed. She did spend some time living in Olympia due to her husband’s job and she says that’s really where her thoughts of working in politics took shape. She held various jobs in Olympia such as a Session Aid for the Senate Majority Coalition as well as the Legislative Liaison for the Governor's Commission on Hispanic Affairs where she was able to help get several bi-partisan policies passed. She also spent time serving on the Race and Ethnicity Student Data Task Force at OSPI.

“I took a session job at the capital and that’s really what opened my eyes to how policy works and how policy is crafted and negotiated. That was really exciting and fascinating to me. I have always been kind of a political junkie, but being able to see on the state level the actual real-world impact and immediate kind of effect that policy at the state level has, for me was really inspiring.”

Maia originally ran for office in 2018 for the 28th District Representative seat and in 2020 for Superintendent for Public Instruction. She spoke to how the district has changed and how she hopes to bring better constituent representation to Olympia.

“Lakewood is probably the biggest part of the 28th District. Little did I know when I first ran in 2018 that it was a swing district and that it changes quite a bit. So, the seat I’m running for now had previously been held by a Republican for fifty years. Even recently to see that top to bottom on my ballot was represented by Democrats and I was like this is not reflective of my neighborhood, my community, our values,” Espinoza said as she explained the shift in the district boundaries to district out West Tacoma and include more of Lakewood. “I think the political tides are shifting and it seems like if there’s a time to be able to win this seat back for my community, it would be now.” 

Maia is extremely proud to be the Founder and CEO of the Center for Latino Leadership which is a non-partisan group that’s main goal is to improve civic engagement among Latino communities in Washington. They  were a big community voice during the recent redistricting in the Yakima area where the lines have now been redrawn to redistrict the only Latina senator, Nikki Torres, out of her own district. She also contracts with the Washing ton Policy Center, another non-partisan policy group, and she runs her own marketing and consulting business with her husband.

In the free time Maia finds between running for office, her work, and raising her family, she enjoys cooking and singing.

“I will spend hours cooking and that’s part of the creative so me for me that’s fun,” Maia said as she told me about making a huge portion of Peruvian food for her volunteer doorbeller’s one Saturday afternoon. She also enjoys concerts and gardening though she does acknowledge she doesn’t have the biggest green thumb when it comes to keeping all her plants thriving. She also likes to sing and enjoys opera and any concert she is able to attend. 

Our conversation also covered the current rental housing industry, and I asked Espinoza about her thoughts on the current state of the rental housing market in Washington and she spoke to her personal experience. 

“Being able to save up and buy a house was like a moving target. When we finally embraced renting, we left the apartment complex and went into renting, you know an individual person’s property. Their one rental property and that was such a good experience. We have always had good relationships with our landlords.”

Maia informed me that she and her husband were actually able to purchase their rental home from their landlord a few years ago and she understands the current policies and cost issues facing small housing providers. “I like to think that I can personally narrate and navigate why, cause and effect for some of this stuff, the positive obviously side of the landlord rather than the evil landlord narrative and I think that’s missing. I think there’s not enough people in our legislature that have that perspective and can speak from that experience.” 

If you would like to donate to Maia Espinoza’s Senate Campaign for the 28th District head to maiaespinoza.com to show your support. Don’t forget to vote in our state’s primary election on August 6th to help determine which candidates will be featured on the November 5th ballot.