washington business out . And it ’ s not specific just to rural or urban areas . I mean it ’ s happened at some of the best universities , so it ’ s something that really needed to be addressed for the first time ever . Every single maternal death can be investigated , and we are starting to get the data from that to help inform how we change that trend . I love that one . That one I ’ m very , very proud of .
AWB has visited a number of high-tech companies over the years in the Vancouver area as part of our Manufacturing Week bus tour , including SEH America , HP , and Analog Devices . With the national focus on ramping up domestic production of computer chips , how do you see Southwest Washington ’ s place in America ’ s tech landscape ?
I think the sky is the limit . We used to be known primarily as a resource-rich area and it was timber forest , right ? I keep telling people we have a growing silicon forest in Southwest Washington and with it comes really good jobs either where you have to have skills or they ’ ll upskill you to do them with good pay , good benefits . And our ability to produce wafers to be made into those specialized chips is a boon in terms of manufacturing in the state . But the reality is this is not a sure thing . If we as a state don ’ t take the steps necessary to protect our energy sources , especially our hydroelectric resource , there will not be growth in those areas . Period .
You mentioned logging and your district does have a rich history in logging , fishing , and other resource-based businesses . How can we support those industries going forward ?
It ’ s the one thing people don ’ t realize about agriculture , aquaculture , or even forestry is the amount of government
jaime herrera beutler at a glance
Jaime Herrera Beutler was first elected to Congress at age of 31 to represent Southwest Washington ’ s 3rd District . She is the first Hispanic person in history to represent Washington state on the federal level . She won reelection six times before narrowly coming in third in the 2022 primary election .
Herrera Beutler earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of Washington and then worked on the congressional staff of U . S . Rep . Cathy McMorris Rodgers .
She served as a state representative in the 18th Legislative District from 2007 until being elected to Congress in 2010 .
Among her legislative activities , she co-founded the bipartisan Maternity Care Caucus , the first of its kind in Congress . She and her husband , Daniel Beutler , have three children , ages nine , six , and three . regulation that they have to deal with . And I would split them up , right ? What ’ s happening off the West Coast is a little different than what ’ s happening perhaps in our forest . But for both of them the similarity is that government regulation has to be smart and effective , not cumbersome and lazy .
It all comes back to how we ’ re going to get our energy and what we ’ re going to do and how we ’ re going to manage it .
Your time in Congress coincided with the deepening of this political divide that we ’ re hearing so much about now . What do you think is responsible for this and do you have any hope that we can come together ?
I don ’ t know if I can tell you exactly what the cause was , but I do think there were certainly a lot of contributing factors . And even before , I would say even during my time in Congress , I really felt like there was an escalation of divisive speaking , really from the people at the top , from presidents . There are people running for high office . I just heard a lot of us-versus-them , whether it ’ s class or age or minority status . And as a young Hispanic woman , I don ’ t say that lightly . I just remember hearing it a lot , like hearing this , identify yourself in one group and then defend your group at all costs . And then you add to that a global pandemic where I think everybody was afraid . Everybody ’ s been afraid .
You add to that , the isolation that came along with that and coinciding with that isolation is when all these social media algorithms started coming out that were literally trying to make people mad . Like this perfect storm , I think , that just kind of bubbled up . So you see right now it ’ s us versus them . It ’ s my tribe versus your tribe . And it doesn ’ t matter what my tribe does , my tribe ’ s right , and your tribe ’ s wrong and everybody ’ s in their corners . And I think the first thing you ’ ve got to do to get out of that is — this is really simple , it ’ s really basic — but you got to start acknowledging other people and other people ’ s feelings . Especially if they don ’ t , they ’ re not on par with yours .
I think as an elected leader , over the last few years , it ’ s been as simple as looking at the mail I ’ d send out to raise money . Fundraising mail is notorious because it ’ s the long-form gripe gripe . Here ’ s the problem and this is why you need me as a solution . And I really started to rejigger how my political team and I put that out . I ’ m sharing if there ’ s a real issue or real problem , but I didn ’ t want it to be fear-based . We ’ ve got to speak the truth and tell people when there ’ s a problem . But that ’ s not the same as playing to their worst selves . And I want to stop doing that . I think we will pull out of this . There ’ s a quote often attributed to Churchill : “ Americans will do the right thing after they ’ ve exhausted every other option .”
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