Boudreau gets re-election challenger for his Longview council seat

Retired Weyco worker and AWPPW labor leader Wayne Nichols said he's fit for the job and wants to bring better leadership to the council

Longview Mayor Spencer Boudreau has drawn a challenger in his bid for a second four-year term on the City Council.

Wayne Nichols, a retired Weyerhaeuser employee and local union leader, filed to oppose Boudreau Tuesday morning, saying he has valuable life skills and experiences and that the city needs better leadership.

Boudreau filed for re-election late Monday. Filing week for local elective office continues through Friday.

“I am a lifelong Longview resident and had a long work career here. I have kids and grandkids here. So I have a vested interest in seeing Longview improve and thrive,” Nichols said by phone Tuesday morning.

“I have the time, energy and drive and a ton of life work experience that matters and dovetails well with council business,” said Nichols, 69.

He worked for Weyerhaeuser Co. locally for 41 years, 15 of them as a hazardous pipe inspector and the last 10 years as an operator of the company’s water and wastewater treatment plants. He retired in 2017. He was union leader for 35 years and negotiated labor contracts for the the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers.

”That experience taught to be a pretty good judge of human nature and to find consensus even with things are contentious,” Nichols said.

Boudreau filed for re-election to his council position Late Monday afternoon. He said he would put out a written statement about his re-election campaign later today.

Boudreau is the only one of the council’s four-member majority bloc who is up for election this year. Progressives have put a target on his back for the majority’s March 2024 firing, without cause, of City Manager Kris Swanson and for its year-long, recently aborted attempt to remove cavity-fighting fluoride from city drinking water.

This one race could end up being a de facto referendum on the work and actions of the majority bloc.

Boudreau, who is in his mid 20s, is the city’s youngest-ever mayor, chosen from among the council membership to run meetings and set the city agenda. The appointment is for two years, so early next year the council will choose a mayor for 2026-27.

As of early afternoon Tuesday, five candidates in all have filed for three open Longview council races: Josh Carter and P.J. Peterson are running for the seat that MaryAlice Wallis is vacating at the end of the year; Chris Bryant so far is the lone candidate to file for the council position that AngieWean is leaving at the end of the year; and Boudreau and Nichols are seeking council position 7.

This story will be expanded later today and will be e-mailed out as a separate column.