Currier won the election, but he and Delarosa continue to collaborate
Updated April 19, 2026
This is a story about two candidates — Luke Currier and Teresa Delarosa — who entered the political arena last year as opposing candidates for Anacortes City Council but became friends.
The story comes at a time when many polls show a majority of Americans see politics as divisive and polarizing. And Currier and Delarosa say politics doesn’t have to be that way. Campaigning is an opportunity, win or lose, to bring forth ideas that might result in positive changes, they said.
Currier won the election. But, Delarosa said of her contributions as a candidate, “I always had the feeling that I won.”
Since taking office, Currier voted for the appointment of a council member to succeed Ryan Walters, who became mayor [Ed.: Currier nominated and voted for Suzana Clements, not Marcia Hunt, as originally reported in this story]; voted to issue a development permit for the Port of Anacortes’ West Basin Upland Redevelopment Project, which will include an event center that will be a joint project of the city and the port; and voted to amend the 2026 budget, which moves money around to cover the costs of several capital projects amid a $9 million budget deficit.
The amended budget includes 13 layoffs included in the initial budget approved in December.
Delarosa questioned whether the job losses were unavoidable. “I would not want to add additional expenses and potentially create more job losses or fewer hours for the working class in our community down the road,” she said. “This is just one aspect of city government that I was hoping to learn about to have a better perspective on city and county spending.”
She added, “For what it’s worth, I believe our city government is wanting the best for our residents and are making these difficult decisions based on that.”
Here’s the backstory: Currier and Delarosa met for coffee at Pelican Bay Books in Anacortes during their campaigns for city council Position 4 last fall. They had heard of each other from mutual friends but didn’t know what the other was all about. They are Democrats, sure, but they were entirely different candidates.
Currier has an MBA from Seattle University, owns two businesses, served on the city planning commission and the chamber of commerce board and raised more than $18,000 in campaign donations. He ran for council to, among other things, ensure police and fire departments have the resources they need, streamline the business permitting process, prioritize street and sidewalk improvements and encourage clean technology and remote work opportunities.
Delarosa is a deckhand and former grocery store manager, served on the board of the Anacortes Family Center and is a single mom of two who struggled to keep her family housed and fed while she underwent cancer treatment. She raised $7,000 in campaign donations. She ran for council to give voice to “all who struggle working paycheck to paycheck,” promote inclusivity and to help find affordable housing solutions.
Delarosa also ran to give voters an option. Until she filed her candidacy, Currier was the sole candidate for Position 4. Other candidates ran unopposed as well: Ryan Walters for mayor, Bruce McDougall for council Position 5, Anthony Young for Position 7.
They had different ideas on tourism and economic development, Delarosa recalled later. But they had similar views on affordable housing and strengthening civic engagement. And they left the coffee confab seeing each other not as opposing candidates but as friends.
“I had known about Luke through a mutual friend, and they had nothing but great things to say about him,” Delarosa said in an interview. “They said, ‘You guys are going to be good friends.’ And so when I met him, it truly felt like he was somebody I already knew.”
Currier responded, “That was the same thing for me too. People with whom I served on the Chamber of Commerce board and people who worked with her at the Anacortes Family Center all said, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s so great.’ When I met her, I felt the same spirit. She has a different set of experiences and brings different perspectives to the conversation. And so we kind of made a commitment early on to just stay connected and have each other’s ear no matter what happened. At the core of things, I feel like our values are really aligned.”
They continued to talk during the campaign, which Currier said he found helpful. “We both think affordable housing is an issue in this city, but we didn’t get the opportunity to really go back and forth on the specifics a whole lot during the campaign because we only had two candidate forums,” he said. “There weren’t a lot of opportunities to give voice to the issues.”
They collaborate today. As the interview concluded, Currier and Delarosa branched off into a chat about the establishment of incubator hubs — spaces designed to accelerate the growth of early-stage business startups by providing workspace, mentorship, networking and resources.
“Collaboration was a huge part of my campaign and I know it was a huge part of his too,” Delarosa said. “We are still going to have conversations. The city council, the Port of Anacortes, the schools — we all have to have conversations about how we move things going forward in the future of Anacortes.”
Not an easy experience
Currier and Delarosa shared an endorsement from Skagit Democrats and some voters put both of their campaign signs in their yards. Some of their supporters pushed them to be more competitive to distance themselves from the other.
“But neither of us cared to do that,” Currier said. “And it actually made the rest of the campaign so much more enjoyable, because you realized that there’s a human being who cares that would be great in the job on the other side of this.”
But being a candidate was not always easy for Delarosa.
Delarosa hails from a multicultural family, something she talks openly about because she wants people of color to know they have a voice. And she wants people to know that Anacortes is more diverse than might be apparent — 15% of the community is non-white, according to the U.S. Census, and the Samish Indian Nation is headquartered here – and that knowing our fellow residents can build bridges of understanding and make the community more resilient and open-minded.
Delarosa’s children are of Japanese and Italian heritage through her, and African American and Puerto Rican heritage through their father.
“I don’t know if you were aware, but 51 of my 100 campaign signs were stolen or vandalized,” she said. “There were some people who yelled racial slurs at my kids. I was getting really nervous, but I was like, ‘OK, I’m not going to be afraid, I’m gonna just see this through.’ But it was a different experience for me.”
In addition, time off from work to campaign caused her health insurance premiums to go up, but, she said, “I wanted to inspire people that may not be affluent or have a great education to not be afraid and to go for it, that they can enrich our community by their experiences.”
Currier said those experiences show why candidacies like Delarosa’s is important.
“Going door-to-door across the city and talking to people from all different backgrounds and experiences, you see there’s more racial diversity in the community than you’d think, and their voices need to be heard,” he said to her. “That’s why I think it’s critical that your voice continues to be engaged in whatever way you feel the most inspired to do it. Because without that diversity, we’re really limited.”
Outspent and outpolled
One significant difference between Currier and Delarosa was their approach to financing their campaigns.
Delarosa chose to raise and spend no more than $7,000, a reflection of her grassroots campaign philosophy. The state Public Disclosure Commission does not require candidates to file contribution and expenditure reports for that level of campaign funding.
“I’m not a politician,” said Delarosa, who is now a member of Skagit Democrats’ endorsement committee and an Anacortes Family Center volunteer. “I ran a very grassroots campaign. The money that I raised was basically from door-to-door and some of our businesses on Commercial Avenue. I didn’t get a lot of merchandise other than some T-shirts, mailers, fliers, yard signs and some media.”
Currier raised $18,949 and spent $16,680, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission database. His largest contributions were for $1,200 — he received three for that amount, and two for $1,000. One $1,000 contribution was from the Washington Association of Realtors; the other was from a political action committee operated by H.F. Sinclair Corporation, which owns the former Shell Puget Sound Refinery on March Point.
Donations to Currier’s campaign paid for mailers, yard signs, newspaper ads, website creation and a social media and video campaign. Currier spent twice as much as Delarosa and received twice as many votes, winning 66 to 33%.
‘Kindness and sense of community’
Bottom line, Currier and Delarosa believe politics can be positive and engaging. The stakes are high otherwise — negative politics harms democracy by eroding trust in government and reducing civic engagement, they said.
“I think we need diversity of ideas, and I don’t think any of us has the ability to claim the full truth, right?” Currier said. “We all bring perspectives to the puzzle, and when they come together you have a much fuller picture.”
They hope their collaborative campaigns point to another way.
“What was unique about our campaigns is that they did amplify our collective voice and our individual issues we were able to bring up during this process,” Currier said. “We ran a kind campaign — really caring about each other’s feelings. It really stands in contrast to what I’ve witnessed in the national arena. I’m so heartbroken and frustrated by the division that’s out there. As a candidate, I realized ‘This is bigger than you.’”
Delarosa agreed. “I was willing to run, but I wasn’t comfortable with the politics of it,” she said. “I pushed myself. I was honest and transparent when I didn’t know something. I knew that I had an opportunity to show how candidates can respect and respond to each other with kindness, compassion, empathy and sense of community. I felt like we both did that. Out of this campaign, I’m most proud of that.”
— Richard Arlin Walker