Garcia is challenging seasoned incumbent Cantwell for a seat in the U.S. Senate

“I see it so often in the ER and now at home,” Garcia said.

Another reason to run: Garcia’s wife Jessica told him years ago that if he really wanted change in a Democratic-controlled state, he should run to make it happen.

Moderate Republicans in Washington — faced with a slew of likely unelectable right-wing candidates — recruited Garcia to run for governor in 2020. He came in fourth of seven Republicans in the 2020 primary, with 5.4% of the vote. He advanced in the Senate primary in August, coming in first of five GOP candidates with 21.3%. When all five Republican votes are added together, they come to 38.6% of the vote, compared to Cantwell’s 57.9%.

The campaign’s war chest is more lopsided: Cantwell has $10.7 million to spend, while Garcia has $539,882 to spend, according to the Federal Election Commission.

“I’m the David versus the Goliath,” Garcia said.

Goliath – also known as Cantwell – was first elected to the Senate in 2000. In the most recent contest, Cantwell defeated television personality Susan Hutchinson, who had a large name recognition in Puget Sound, with 58% of the vote.

Garcia, 53, a Yakima resident, has been a physician for 26 years. A native of Cuba, he graduated from the University of Miami and the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. He has served as medical director of two hospitals and is currently medical director of Astria Toppenish Hospital. He founded Opportunity for Washington, a nonprofit that promotes education, and in 2020 helped launch the Partnership for Food & Community Security to promote COVID-19 education.

He wants to introduce a federal bill that would charge fentanyl dealers with manslaughter if one of their sales is linked to a death. “If a plane with 300 people crashes in the Cascades, the government would shut those planes down,” Garcia said.

Another goal of his campaign is to have outside auditors inspect every federal agency for inefficiencies.

Cantwell also believes fentanyl is a major problem nationally and within Washington, and agrees that the numbers in the state are too high. She wants to find out why they are so high and send more money to intercept fentanyl imports across the Mexican border.

The number of fentanyl deaths in Washington has increased from 1,033 in 2022 to 1,984 in 2023, according to Research from the University of Washington. In 2022, Washington ranked 24th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for the rate of fentanyl deaths per 100,000 people at 33.7, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cantwell noted that Congress has addressed the problem with several bills, including legislation targeting the financial assets of foreign fentanyl manufacturers and cartels and requiring U.S. customs officials to change their policies and procedures for intercepting drugs at the border.

A bill currently before the Senate would permanently label fentanyl-related substances as Schedule 1 drugs. Schedule I means a drug has no currently accepted medical use in the United States, which would make it impossible to prescribe. Schedule I drugs include marijuana, heroin, GHB (one of the so-called “date-rape drugs”) and LSD. Fentanyl, a powerful and heavily controlled opioid used to treat intense pain, is currently a Schedule 2 drug.

Cantwell, 65, lives in Edmonds. Born in Indianapolis, she graduated from Miami University in Ohio, moved to Washington in 1983 and served three terms in the Washington House of Representatives from 1986 to 1992. She moved to the House in 1992 but lost reelection in 1994. She also built a successful career in technology, including work for Real Networks in Seattle. Cantwell defeated Republican Slade Gorton in 2000 and has served in the Senate ever since.

As chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Committee, Cantwell points to her work shepherding the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure appropriations through Congress. “We want to bring jobs back to the United States,” Cantwell said.

Cantwell was a key architect of the CHIPS Act, which allocated nearly $250 billion over five years to high-tech research and manufacturing. That includes about $50 billion for the development of a semiconductor industry. The United States lags far behind semiconductor competitors around the world. The Law reserves money for four semiconductor projects in the Pacific Northwest, which would create an estimated 2,880 jobs. The University of Washington will receive $10 million from that fund to train semiconductor workers.

Washington also benefits from several Inflation Reduction Act benefits, including rebates for installing energy efficiency measures, tax credits to cover 30 percent of the cost of installing solar panels and battery storage facilities, tax breaks to create jobs in the clean energy sector, and measures to help farmers reduce carbon emissions.

In 2025, Cantwell wants to revive a pair of programs that were killed in the fights between Democrats and Republicans. One would provide more student placements for girls and women in science, technology, engineering and math. Another would aim to expand housing for low-income people through tax credits.

She also pointed out that she had raised money to replace the Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River.

Both Garcia and Cantwell want to protect Washington’s current abortion laws.

Garcia claims that Cantwell bears some responsibility for inflation by tying pandemic recovery dollars to inflation. He also blamed the federal government’s mounting debt as a factor in inflation. Garcia calls for cuts to unspecified programs, but is actually pushing for government audits.

Cantwell notes that the Inflation Reduction Act’s cash injections, combined with capping Medicare insulin costs at $35 per month, have reduced inflation.

Garcia is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and is reluctant to change gun control laws, citing the confiscation of weapons in communist Cuba.

Meanwhile, Cantwell voted for a 2022 law that provides grants to states to create red-flag laws for gun permit applicants with psychological problems. The same federal law improved background checks for gun permit applicants under 21 and closed a legal loophole that allowed domestic abusers to own firearms.