PRIORITIES

As a candidate and now as a legislator, Brianna Thomas has championed a progressive , common-sense platform centered on economic justice, housing affordability, workers’ rights, and equitable public safety.

 

Key themes of her candidacy and legislative agenda include:

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Affordable Housing and Homeownership

Thomas is a strong proponent of housing affordability and anti-displacement policies. A core theme of her 2024 candidacy was that “buying a home shouldn’t feel like winning the lottery” for working families. She advocates protecting homeownership opportunities for everyday people by curbing speculative real-estate practices. In Olympia, Thomas immediately tackled this issue with HB 1732 (2025), a bill to prevent large corporations and institutional investors from gobbling up single-family homes. The proposal prohibits businesses that already own 25+ homes in Washington from purchasing more, with exceptions for nonprofits, home builders adding housing supply, and those rehabilitating derelict properties. The bill also directs the state Department of Commerce to study further solutions to keep single-family homes accessible to typical buyers. This policy reflects Thomas’s priority to preserve the ability of middle-class families to put down roots in the community rather than be outbid by Wall Street landlords.​

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Labor Rights and Economic Recovery

With a career rooted in the labor movement, Thomas centers workers’ rights and equitable economic recovery in her platform. She has consistently “fought for workers,” advocating fair wages, strong labor standards, and support for working parents (such as affordable child care). Her signature accomplishments before taking office – the SeaTac $15 wage and Seattle’s labor standards enforcement (via the Office of Labor Standards) – underscore her commitment to improving conditions for low-income and essential workers.

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In the legislature, Thomas has quickly moved on pro-worker legislation. Notably, she sponsored HB 1879 (2025) to secure more reasonable rest and meal breaks for hospital workers, who often work grueling extended shifts. HB 1879 builds on prior nurse staffing legislation (2023) by fine-tuning it to better fit workers’ needs. The bill passed the House unanimously and was signed into law as Chapter 101, Laws of 2025 – an early legislative victory for Thomas that demonstrates her ability to find consensus on labor issues.

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Thomas’s experience and district needs also encompass a variety of other issues:

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• Education and Workforce Development: Serving on the Postsecondary Education & Workforce Committee, Thomas works on policies to improve college access, career training, and apprenticeships. She supports strong public education funding and making higher education or vocational training attainable for all – a key to economic mobility in her district which spans both affluent and working-class areas. Her own outreach to youth (such as promoting the Legislative Page Program she once participated in reflects an emphasis on civic education and youth engagement.

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• Climate and Environmental Action: The 34th LD’s voters are environmentally conscious (as seen by her endorsement from Washington Conservation Action). Brianna will be a reliable vote for clean energy, climate resilience, and environmental protection measures. Her framing of housing policy as climate policy (upzoning to reduce suburban sprawl) shows she gets the interconnected nature of environmental issues. She can be expected to support legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, invest in transit and electrification (including ferries), and protect Puget Sound (important for Vashon’s ecology).

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• Reproductive and Social Rights: Although not heavily highlighted in her campaigns (perhaps because they are widely shared values in her constituency), Brianna is a strongly pro-choice Democrat and will defend reproductive rights and health care access (essential in the wake of other states’ restrictions). Likewise, given her coalition, she supports LGBTQ+ equality, gun safety measures (she earned endorsement from the Alliance for Gun Responsibility , and voting rights expansions (she co-sponsored a bill on Voting Rights Act compliance to ensure fair minority representation in local elections).