Updated: August 2026
Spokane County residents need to know that the seat controlling zoning, permitting, and tax abatements for unincorporated Spokane County is on the November 3 ballot, and that there is an independent candidate running to protect their water, land, and power from unchecked corporate extraction.
Background
Most important: Rachelle Miller is a Spokane native, a mom, a licensed clinical social worker, and a small business owner.
Secondary: Rachelle has spent twenty years navigating institutions on behalf of people who had no one else in their corner. She has helped draft and pass bipartisan legislation protecting parental rights in special education, and has been recognized as a disability rights advocate across Washington State.
Core Issue
Rachelle is running because Commissioner Al French had secret discussions for over a year with Apricus Energy Partners, a company proposing to build a massive AI data center on 514 acres on the West Plains. That community already has PFAS contamination in 57% of its private wells. The county has zero regulations covering AI data centers. Three commissioners blocked a moratorium. The candidate in District 4 has said nothing.
Priorities
- No unregulated AI data centers in Spokane County. Protect our water, land, and power.
- Fiscal accountability. Fight Olympia when it dumps unfunded mandates on county taxpayers.
- Affordable housing. Zoning decisions that work for working families.
- An honest accounting of the jail and public defense system.
- Protect funding for programs that are actually working on opioids and homelessness.
Viability
Rachelle Miller cleared the August 4 primary threshold needed to appear on the November 3 general election ballot as an independent candidate. Results are pending official certification by the Spokane County Canvassing Board.
She is running against the incumbent party candidate in District 4, who has stayed silent on the data center issue throughout the summer.
Assets
Get in touch with the campaign: voterachellemiller@gmail.com