Our last endorsement for the August 17 primary is a no-brainer: We recommend three-term Rep. Bob Hasegawa (D-11, South Seattle, Burien, Sea-Tac, Tukwila and the southern part of Renton) without reservation.

Hasegawa represents a faction that is (surprisingly) missing from Seattle's delegation—he's a bona fide social justice liberal. His voice, in sync with low-income advocates and civil rights lobbyists, is critical in Olympia during this era of harsh budget cuts.

In fact, one of Hasegawa's main bills would require corporate tax loopholes to be counted as expenditures in the state budget—a proposal that would give a more accurate picture of the state's budgeting priorities. Other Hasegawa proposals would capture oil industry profits and direct them to community reinvestment; create a state bank; and create a dedicated and stable fund for community colleges.

His class-conscious bills often fail to go anywhere and routinely get their only support from Olympia's other flaming lefties—Rep. Geoff Simpson and Maralyn Chase. But Hasegawa provides a working-class perspective and vote on key issues, including child care workers' right to unionize and civil rights. He also gets high marks from environmentalists (scoring over 90 percent from Washington Conservation Voters and getting an A grade from the Sierra Club), which is not always a given with blue-collar lefties. His southeast Seattle ally, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (D-37), in contrast, prioritized the reactionary fight against 2009's transit-oriented development bill.

Hasegawa has two challengers, a Republican who is fed up with taxes! (he uses the exclamation mark in his voter's guide statement), and another who doesn't list a party preference, but who also comes on strong about "outrageous" tax increases. Neither should represent this deep blue district.

PubliCola picks Bob Hasegawa.