Edwin Stickle

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Edwin Stickle
Image of Edwin Stickle
Elections and appointments
Last election

August 6, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Andrews University, 1988

Medical

Loma Linda University, 1993

Personal
Religion
Seventh Day Adventist
Profession
Physician
Contact

Edwin Stickle (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Washington's 2nd Congressional District. He lost in the primary on August 6, 2024.

Stickle completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Edwin Stickle was born in Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada. He earned a bachelor's degree from Andrews University in 1988 and an M.D. from Loma Linda University in 1993. His career experience includes working as a physician.[1]

Elections

2024

See also: Washington's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024

Washington's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 top-two primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Washington District 2

Incumbent Rick Larsen defeated Cody Hart in the general election for U.S. House Washington District 2 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Rick Larsen
Rick Larsen (D)
 
63.8
 
263,750
Image of Cody Hart
Cody Hart (MAGA Republican Party)
 
35.9
 
148,167
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.3
 
1,303

Total votes: 413,220
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House Washington District 2

The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House Washington District 2 on August 6, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Rick Larsen
Rick Larsen (D)
 
48.1
 
106,276
Image of Cody Hart
Cody Hart (MAGA Republican Party)
 
19.8
 
43,637
Image of Leif Johnson
Leif Johnson (R)
 
10.6
 
23,340
Image of Daniel Miller
Daniel Miller (R)
 
5.3
 
11,781
Image of Joshua Binda
Joshua Binda (D) Candidate Connection
 
4.8
 
10,497
Image of Devin Hermanson
Devin Hermanson (D) Candidate Connection
 
4.3
 
9,578
Image of Jason Call
Jason Call (G) Candidate Connection
 
3.5
 
7,787
Image of Edwin Stickle
Edwin Stickle (D) Candidate Connection
 
3.5
 
7,692
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
197

Total votes: 220,785
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Stickle in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Edwin Stickle completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Stickle's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I am a Family Medicine Doctor in Mount Vernon, WA. I have 27 years of experience as a physician. I have been a leader in the medical community, twice serving as the Medical Chief of Staff at Skagit Valley Hospital, elected by my peers to serve for a total of 5 years in that position. My first career was in Aviation as an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic. I work in many areas of medicine; delivering babies (41 last year), working as a hospice doctor, leading out in the nursing home field as a medical director, working in the 4 different hospitals as a hospitalist and teaching many medical students and residents over the years. I have had my own panel of patients in my office clinic for all of those years, at one point recently delivering a baby who was the 5th generation of this family which I had been a personal physician for. Last year I delivered a baby of a baby that I had delivered 21 years ago. I have had to deal with many illogical and frustrating parts of the Medicare system and have seen many patients mistreated and many bureaucratic dollars wasted by our government health care systems. It is time for someone to stand up and say that patients matter, that health care workers who care for these patients know best what is needed to care for them and to tell the bureacrats to stop micro-mismanaging events that they have no personal knowledge about. The treatment of Medicare patients is being micro-mismanaged by bureacrats from thousands of miles away.
  • Medicare needs adult supervision from Congress. Medicare systems need to be reformed.
  • Health care insurance systems need to be reformed and optimized for the care of the actual patient who is ill and needs the medical attention.
  • Technology and Aviation jobs need to be supported and expanded.
Health Care, Housing, Student Loan Reform and Technology training and jobs.
The main principle of governing is creatively building consensus, accomplishing this in increments that are as large as possible. Change takes time, just like anything else, but coming from a long experience of real life work gives perspective on the effort that it takes.
I am a focused hard worker and leader, able to keep track of many complicated facts at the same time, imagining ways to solve problems and then putting those solutions into effect.
The core responsibility is to lead out in congress, to reform and update and reflect on the actual experiences of so many of my medical patients.
I remember the moon landing, standing outside in the dark with my father, who pointed upward and told me that people were walking on the moon that was just above us in the night sky.
My first job was working at Harris Pine Mills in Hamburg, Pennsylvania during high school. I made bookshelves and desks and learned to love the sense of accomplishment and pride that an industrial job can provide. I remain fascinated by industrial work and admire all the workers who "imagine things" and then "make things" that we all then get to use.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. He tells a fascinating story of immigration to the US, training as a doctor and the messiness of family life. Plus he very accurately describes the steps in doing a vasectomy, something I have done many times in my 27 years of practice.
Previous experience in government has advantages but there are disadvantages of limited imagination and limited real world experience that cannot be overestimated.
Abraham Lincoln served for only 2 years in congress but went on to become a great leader. A 6 year term limit for congressional office holders would be ideal.
I believe in finding common ground and building on that. Compromise must never be allowed to become a bad word or approach.
Financial transparency and government accountability should be set up to be easily accomplished by government officials.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign website

Stickle’s campaign website stated the following:

Campaign Issues

I believe in practical solutions to the problems that our area of the country deals with. I will work to protect the rights of all the people who live in this beautiful, wet and windy corner of our state.

We should all want the best for each other, for everyone to feel safe, to feel listened to and for our voices to be heard in Congress. In my many years as a doctor I have heard many of your stories and your frustrations. I am now ready to take those issues to congress with me.

Medicare Reform:

There are so many issues with Medicare that need to be fixed. No one in Congress is standing up to the Medicare bureaucracy and saying No or Stop as they continue to do things that just raise your costs and waste your money. No one is saying firmly that This Is Stupid, Stop It. Congress has oversight of Medicare just like they do for every other government program. My solution is to ask to represent you in congress so someone is standing up for you.

-When you become ill and are admitted to the hospital Medicare requires the doctors who are taking care of you to decide whether you are on “Inpatient” status or “Observation” status. On Inpatient status your medicare insurance is required to pay for your care. If you are on Observation status then you are required to pay for your own hospital stay. Naturally there is a lot of pressure from your insurance to make you an Observation patient so they can keep more of your insurance premiums for themselves. This tugging back and forth not only costs you money but it requires every hospital to hire teams of highly paid clerks, nurses and doctors to review criteria and argue with your insurance for payment when the Inpatient criteria are not met. Can you believe that Medicare and the companies that contract to run parts of Medicare believe that they know you better than your own doctor knows you? By itself, this problem wastes many millions of dollars that never do anything to improve your health or healing. My solution is to combine both types of hospital stays under the same heading, average the current payments for hospital stays between the two, and set that as the new payment, abolishing the medical-industrial complex that consumes millions of dollars arguing and fighting over how to classify someones stay in the hospital.

-Medicare is split into Parts A, B and D. Part A and Part B pay for your doctors office care and your hospital care. Part D was added to help with the cost of your medicines. There is no practical reason for all of this to be separated. My solution is to combine all these parts under just one heading. There is no reason why someone should have to decide whether they want Part D or want to risk it and go without, hoping they won’t ever need to pay cash for medicines in the future.

Medicare starts at age 65 but many people retire and start on social security at age 62. One of the first things I would try to do is to lower the Medicare age to 62. In my work as a doctor I have seen people get cancer, have heart attacks and die during that 3-year gap as they try to avoid needing medical care.

Health Care Reform:

-Medicines are cheaper in Canada and Mexico. There is no reason that Medicare or you should ever pay a lot more for your medicines than you would pay if you lived across the border from Blaine in Canada. My solution is to impose the same prices here as the drug companies have agreed to be paid in other countries.

-All healthcare decisions should be between you and your doctor. No one should be allowed to set themselves in between you and your doctor. It’s no one else business what decisions you make about your healthcare. No one, absolutely no one.

Student Loan Reform:

-Student Loan programs should be expanded to add loan forgiveness to every single person who goes into professions that involve serving the public or producing things. This includes teachers, health care workers, public service employees and similar professions. My solution is to make loan forgiveness equal to the number of years in a service profession. Every year of education that you fund with student loans should be forgiven by one year of work in a job that involves caring for others or producing and repairing things that we all use.

Infrastructure Support

Bridges, Roads, Ferries, Airports, Ports.

-Congress needs to refocus on providing the funds and the motivation to maintain and update the structures we use every day for transportation. Ferries are an incredibly important part of our lives here in this part of Washington state. High quality bridges are essential for our safety and movement. Maintaining and building new high capacity roads are essential for quality of life.

Aviation and Industrial programs:

-I have a fondness for people who work in aircraft production and repair. I support better pay, better benefits and more opportunity.

Housing programs:

-Poverty programs should be fully funded. Additional housing options should be supported by allowing and encouraging more building at every level of housing so you can afford to aspire to a better house, a place big enough for your family, and a neighborhood that you can be proud of.

The campaign focus on Medicare Reform and other healthcare issues has been a great theme to share with voters on my walking tour of House District 2 so far. I have met voters in their homes in Anacortes, Everett, Bellingham, Burlington, Mount Vernon, Sumas, Stanwood, Concrete, Sedro Woolley, Friday Harbor, Ferndale, Clinton, Everson, Lynden and East Sound. Coming up in the next 2 weeks are scheduled visits to Coupeville, Mukilteo, Lynwood, Sedro Woolley, Everett, Langley, Point Roberts and Mount Vernon. I am learning quickly what matters to our fellow voters and friends. Medicare and Healthcare are what I know best but the topics discussed on my front porch visits are expanding my knowledge and adding to the issues that I plan to bring to Congress with me next year. Thank you to my wife and daughter for their help on the walking tours so far. Several other supporters have indicated that they would like to volunteer for these front porch visits. I am happy for the help. [2]

—Edwin Stickle’s campaign website (2024)[3]

Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Edwin Stickle campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* U.S. House Washington District 2Lost primary$4,125 $3,042
Grand total$4,125 $3,042
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 8, 2024
  2. Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  3. Elect Edwin Stickle for Congress, “Issues,” accessed July 19, 2024


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