Camas Councilor Leslie Lewallen to head local Future 42 chapter

A Camas city councilor has been tapped to lead the Clark County chapter of Project 42, a statewide nonprofit that bills itself as “an organization created to change the course of Washington state to prioritize free markets, personal liberty and an individual’s right to prosper.”

Project 42 leaders announced earlier this month that Camas Councilor Leslie Lewallen will direct the newly launched Future 42 Clark County. Project 42 has launched similar efforts in Snohomish and Whatcom counties since its formation in 2021.

Dann Mead Smith, co-founder of Project 42 and the former president of the right-wing Washington Policy Center think tank, said Lewallen “embodies the kind of principled, solutions-focused leadership that Clark County and Washington need right now.”

Lewallen, a former King County prosecutor, clerked for a state Supreme Court justice before moving to Camas in 2018. She became a Camas City Council member in November 2021.

Mead Smith added that Lewallen’s experience in law, local government and community advocacy “makes her the ideal person to lead” the Future 42 Clark County organization.

“We were looking for somebody who was active in Clark County, and having a former prosecutor and attorney on our team is good,” he said. “She ran for Congress and has a lot of contacts with organizations and community leaders.”

Lewallen ran as a Republican candidate for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District last year, but she lost the August 2024 primary election to Democratic incumbent Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican candidate Joe Kent after receiving 12 percent of the vote.

Clark County’s wealth of independent voters and “not too far right, not too far left” political leanings caught Mead Smith’s attention.

Mead Smith describes his organization as being center-right politically, but a 2024 Cascade PBS story noted that Project 42 was among several conservative groups that opposed the state’s cap-and-invest efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent by 2050, and warned that the groups were “banding together to dump carbon pricing.”

That position is not in alignment with Clark County voters who, during the November 2024 general election, voted 57-43 to reject a measure that would have repealed the state’s 2021 Climate Commitment Act and killed the cap-and-invest program.

Mead Smith said Future 42 Clark County will be similar to chapters in Snohomish and Whatcom counties, and it will highlight policies affecting public safety and taxes and publish legislative scorecards showing how legislators voted on issues supported or opposed by Project 42.

In the most recent Future 42 Snohomish County legislative scorecard, the group showed how regional legislators voted on more than a dozen bills. Future 42 opposed the majority of the legislation cited in the scorecard, including bills to expand sick leave and worker protections, limits future rent increases and increase per-pupil funding in K-12 public schools.

Mead Smith said Future 42 Clark County will release its first legislative scorecard this week.

“We’ll be looking at 18 bills that were passed this session,” Mead Smith said.

He said the Clark County chapter will track ordinances before the Clark County Council and probably two cities.

“Vancouver will be one, for sure,” he said.

Mead Smith encouraged people who want to learn more about Future 42 Clark County to visit future42.org/category/clark-county.

“People can access the scorecard for free on our website and will hopefully sign up for additional information,” he said.

Lewallen was traveling this week and referred questions to Mead Smith but said in a news release that she is honored to join Project 42.

“This is a pivotal time for our communities,” Lewallen said in the news release. “We need leadership that listens, works collaboratively, and puts families and taxpayers first..”

Kelly Moyer: 360-735-4674; [email protected]