Update: Longtime union leader challenges Boudreau for his Longview council seat

This race is critical to control of the next city council

This story expands on an earlier version posted during midafternoon Tuesday.

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,” Nichols said by phone Tuesday morning. “I have kids and grandkids here. So I have a vested interest in seeing Longview improve and thrive.”

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

He worked for Weyerhaeuser Co. locally for 41 years, 15 of them as a hazardous materials 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 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, but he had not done so as of 9 p.m.

Boudreau is the only one of the council’s four-member majority bloc who is up for election this year, and the race is pivotal to the balance of power in the next council.

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.

The council foursome has been sued for allegedly violating the state open meetings law and billing the city for their legal costs. And Boudreau himself has been accused of playing politics with appointments to city boards and commissions.

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; investment advisor Chris Bryant so far is the lone candidate to file for the council position that Angie Wean is leaving at the end of the year; and Boudreau and Nichols are seeking council position 7.

More city council filings are expected later this week.

Nichols said the city needs “calm and balanced and mature leadership. We have financial challenges ahead of us, underfunded police and fire departments, (and) the homeless problem,” among other challenges.

He said the council made a mistake by firing Swanson: “She was highly productive and well liked (The deicsion) demonstrates a lack of foresight, wisdom and common sense,” Nichols said.

“Some of these folks on the present council want to waste trime and resources on issues like fluoride. That is a classic example of a solution in search of a problem. It was a huge waste of time and money” that Nichols contends was here motived by ideology. (Councilmen Erik Halvorson and Keith Young had raised libertarian objections to fluoridation, contending that governments should not force it on people without their consent.)

Nichols calls himself a “centrist who leans left on social issues and a little to the right on fiscal issues. I truly believe that solutions to many problems that come from the far right or far left are not workable. We need solutions that the majority of citizens can feel positive about.”

Nichols does not have any pet peeves or specific projects he’d like to bring to the table. He supports the HopeVillage pallet home community and the city’s attempts to make the project to rehabilitate the homeless more self supporting.

He said the council made a mistake by not adopting a 1% property tax increase — the amount allowed by a voter-approved tax limitation initiative — when it was budgeting last fall. City finances will continue to fall further behind inflation, he said.

Nichols is a former volunteer for the Court Appointed Special Advocates program for children from troubled homes and is active in community theater. He enjoys reading and riding his Harley.

As of Tuesday evening, 42 candidates had filed for 39 county elected offices. Most of the filings were incumbents.

However, on Tuesday Kelso Councilwoman Kimberly Lefebre drew a challenge from Jackie Collins for the position 3 seat. Incumbent Kelso Councilman Mike Karnofski has filed for re-election to position 2 but remained unchallenged as of Tuesday night.

The full list of filings is available at https://voter.votewa.gov/CandidateList.aspx?e=893&c=08.