40th District House Position 1 candidate Tom Pasma of Bow has been endorsed by former senator Harriet Spanel of Bellingham.

Pasma, a Democrat, is one of eight candidates seeking election to the position being vacated by Dave Quall, who is retiring. The top two vote-getters in the Aug. 17 primary — regardless of party affiliation — advance to the Nov. 2 general election.

This week, Spanel met with Pasma again and offered her public endorsement.

“I am happy to support Tom Pasma for 40th District state representative,” she said in a press release. “Tom has shown that he has the experience, the leadership skills, the community connections and the ability to work with other legislators to solve the problems we face. Please join me in supporting Tom Pasma.”

Pasma is a Bow-area rancher, small businessman and auctioneer. He and his wife, Sue, operate Double S Quarter Horse Ranch. He is the auctioneer at many charity events raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for groups such as Campfire Girls, Boys and Girls Clubs, Skagit Land Trust, Skagit Valley College, Equi-Friends Therapeutic Riding and people who are facing overwhelming medical bills.

In the past two years, he successfully led efforts to change state laws that impacted farmers and ranchers across the state. Among those laws: A farm internship program.

Pasma said of Spanel’s endorsement, “Harriet is the kind of leader that I aspire to be. She listens and then takes action to help the people of her district. I want to get beyond the win/lose political games in Olympia and govern in a way that helps the people we are elected to serve.”