Pakootas makes campaign stops at Colfax, Pullman

Joe Pakootas, the Democrat challenging Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for the 5th Congressional seat, made a campaign stop in Colfax Sept. 24. Pakootas also spoke at the Foley Institute on the WSU campus as part of his campaign swing through the county.

A Native American from Inchelium, Pakootas served 16 years on the Colville Tribal Council and is now CEO of the Colville Tribal Council Federal Corporation.

In a stop at the Gazette office, Pakootas said he believes his campaign is gaining ground on McMorris Rodgers, the five-term Republican incumbent.

“I am running for Congress because our current representative has become a career politician and is out of touch with our Eastern Washington values,” Pakootas said.

Pakootas, 56, heads a Colville Tribal Federal Corporation that manages hundreds of employees and more than one million acres of land which include timber, lumber mills, recreation and retail operations.

During his stop at Colfax, Pakootas said he believes he has been making gains in the race with five weeks to go in the campaign. He said he feels his biggest challenge is to get his name out in front of the people.

Pakootas said McMorris Rodgers served as a leader of the most dysfunctional, inactive Congress in history.

Pakootas earned a master of business administration degree from the University of Washington and has coached high school athletics for decades.

He grew up in Inchelium on the Colville Reservation and married his high school sweetheart, Cheryl.

Pakootas played running back for Inchelium High School where he earned a football scholarship to Eastern Washington University. He moved to Spokane to raise his two youngest daughters who graduated from Mead High School.

Since 1985, they have owned and operated the Inchelium Short Stop, a gas station and convenience store.