[CCCNFBW] Three candidates vie to fill 49th Legislative District seat being vacated by Rep. Sharon Wylie

[Merribeth Greenberg]

Three candidates vie to fill 49th Legislative District seat being vacated
by Rep. Sharon Wylie
Candidates cite climate, homelessness, housing, healthcare among top issues
By Will Denner, Columbian Staff Reporter
Published: July 12, 2026, 11:03am
Three candidates vie to fill 49th Legislative District seat being vacated
by Rep. Sharon Wylie - The Columbian
<https://www.columbian.com/news/2026/jul/12/three-candidates-vie-to-fill-49th-legislative-district-seat-being-vacated-by-rep-sharon-wylie/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=Morning+Briefing>

As state Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, makes a run for Clark County
auditor, three candidates are vying to take over her seat representing the
49th Legislative District.

Republican Sarah Mittelman and Democrats Kim Harless and Mike Pond are all
in the race to replace Wylie, a Democrat who’s held the seat since 2011.

Mittelman is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Harless serves
on the Vancouver City Council and works at the Native American Youth and
Family Center. Pond is an organizer for caregivers union SEIU 775.

The 49th Legislative District includes Vancouver and portions of Camas and
Ridgefield.

Currently in her second term on the Vancouver City Council after she was
first elected in 2021, Harless, 39, has the most elected experience of the
three candidates.

Kim Harless
Age: 39
Residence: Vancouver
Occupation: Director of community engagement and policy for Native American
Youth and Family Center
Party: Democrat
Major endorsements: State Sens. Manka Dhingra, Rebecca Saldaña, John
Lovick, Yasmin Trudeau, Adrian Cortes, Lisa Wellman, Rep. Lillian
Ortiz-Self, AFSCME WA Federation of State Employees, American Federation of
Teachers, Sierra Club, WA Conservation Action, Democratic Latino Caucus

Sarah Mittelman
Age: 51
Residence: Vancouver
Occupation: Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner
Party: Republican
Major endorsements: Mainstream Republicans of Washington State, Advance
Practice Registered Nurses of Washington State, Stand for Health Freedom

Mike Pond
Age: 38
Residence: Vancouver
Occupation: Union Organizer, SEIU 775 The Caregivers Union
Party: Democrat
Major endorsements: Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, Vancouver City
Councilor Erik Paulsen, Vancouver City Councilor Sarah Fox, Clark County
Councilor Wil Fuentes, Washington State Labor Council, Washington Education
Association, IBEW 48 Electricians.

Harless also served on the Clark County Charter Review Commission in 2021
and sees plenty of overlap between her local government experience and
working at the state level in Olympia.

During a Clark County League of Women Voters candidate forum July 3, all
three candidates agreed housing and homelessness are among the most
important issues facing the 49th District. But Harless, who holds an
environmental science degree from Washington State University, said she has
also heard from voters that they are worried about the climate crisis.

During her time as a city councilor, Harless helped implement Vancouver’s
Climate Action Framework, which aims for carbon neutrality by 2040.

“Folks are also worried about the climate crisis and how that might limit …
opportunity for their children, how that crisis is going to impact their
health and their children’s health, access to housing and everything like
that,” Harless said.

At 21, Harless became a single mother and had to navigate public assistance
programs while working multiple jobs to earn a college degree. Harless said
that experience gave her an understanding of what families are facing
locally.

“I have a lot of experience myself having been a young mother, going
through poverty, having to be dependent on public transit, all of the
things, while also looking to the future to earn my degree to be able to
support my family,” Harless said. “I want to bring that experience with me
to the state level.”

Harless was reelected to Vancouver City Council last year. Her current term
runs through 2029.

Mittelman, 51, is a relative political newcomer. She formerly served as
chair of the Clark County Democratic Women, but announced in April she was
running as a Republican.

Her campaign is focused on public safety, affordability, behavioral health,
thoughtful community growth and transportation.

Mittelman’s experience as a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse
practitioner includes more than 20 years treating patients in emergency
departments, psychiatric departments and on the streets.

Previously, she served as vice chair of the Oregon Nurses Foundation and
was also a union leader in the Oregon Nurses Association.

“Being a nurse, I have learned how to assess complex situations,
prioritizing competing needs, working collaboratively and making decisions
when there are very limited resources,” Mittelman said at the Clark County
League of Women Voters event.

Mittelman said she wanted to represent Clark County on the state level
because she’s “deeply concerned with what’s happening to our citizens
here,” citing homelessness, behavioral health and public safety as the top
issues.

“Homelessness is one of the most complex and emotionally charged issues,”
she said. “I think we need to start by being honest about what we’re seeing
here. There’s not one problem with one solution, of course. There are
people struggling because of rising rent, job loss and family instability.
But I’m a psychiatric nurse provider, I work in outreach and I can tell you
that many of our highest acuity individuals we’re seeing are also
struggling with mental illness, profound addiction, cognitive impairment or
a sum of all three of those things.”

Mittelman said housing stability shouldn’t be confused with clinical
recovery. To address those issues, she believes the state needs to invest
in behavioral health treatment and workforce development.

A lifelong Southwest Washington resident and fifth-generation
Washingtonian, Pond is a familiar name in Clark County politics.

Pond, 38, previously ran for Vancouver City Council in 2021 and 2019, and
Clark County Council in 2015, before announcing his latest campaign in
January. His elected experience includes serving as a Democratic precinct
officer and 49th Legislative District executive officer.

Pond calls himself a community organizer by trade and currently works for
SEIU 775, which represents more than 60,000 long-term care workers
throughout Washington, Montana and Alaska.

“That has given me quite the education on the healthcare system that we’re
all navigating today,” Pond said at the Clark County League of Women Voters
event.

“The skills and attributes that I bring to the table are somebody that is
able to collaborate, listen and bring folks together that are not
traditionally at the table. … Being able to bring people together to reach
solutions that are practical for our community.”

Among the issues Pond has heard in door-to-door conversations with
residents are housing affordability, homelessness, education funding and
healthcare. But he agreed with his fellow candidates the first two are the
most pressing.

Pond said that while Vancouver and Clark County have made great strides to
address those issues, there needs to be an “all of the above approach.”
Pond calls for streamlining the permitting and building process, and
offering incentives to building up, not out, to focus on more apartments
and condos.

“I’m a renter, over 50 percent of the city is renters and … over 50 percent
of those renters are rent-burdened, meaning they’re paying more than 30
percent of their annual income on housing,” Pond said. “That’s a problem.”
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