A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
In Washington state, the lieutenant governor has started a project that aims to take some of the venom out of politics. Here's Jeanie Lindsay from member station KUOW.
JEANIE LINDSAY, BYLINE: Washington state's Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck used to be in the U.S. Congress, where he recalls seeing two members in the House of Representatives insult each other after a floor vote.
DENNY HECK: One of the members referred to the other in the vilest of profane terms.
LINDSAY: The memory has stuck with him ever since.
HECK: I guess I just was kind of stunned that that's what's become of our disagreements, our relationships. Frankly, it was incredibly sad.
LINDSAY: After he left Congress and became lieutenant governor in 2021, he started the Project for Civic Health. It includes a new bipartisan legislative committee chaired by Heck, a Democrat. And the project has created a network of organizations and workshops that give politicians tools to help people bridge divisions. At one of them, I met Dan Rankin, the longtime mayor of Darrington, a mountain town of about 1,500 people.
DAN RANKIN: I come from a community that voted for Obama twice. I come from a community that voted for Trump twice.
LINDSAY: He says divisions can be especially harmful in a small town, where there's not much government or spare resources to fall back on in hard times.
RANKIN: When issues come up or trouble is happening, we're all dependent upon each other.
LINDSAY: In his town, he's worried about people who are moving in but commuting to jobs elsewhere. Housing costs are rising, drawing some hard feelings, and the newcomers can be disengaged with local businesses, schools and city government.
RANKIN: How do you reach those people that could be out of your community for 12 hours a day, five days a week?
LINDSAY: And Rankin knows newcomers need to feel welcomed by locals. Drawing from the civic health program, Rankin plans to talk with parents from both groups at school basketball games and wrestling matches. It's a first step.
RANKIN: I need to go to where the people are, and the people are going to be where their children are. Not only can I learn, but introduce people to who their community leadership is, what things are available, what organizations exist.
LINDSAY: People in the program know the obstacles. Julia Carboni, director of the William D. Ruckelshaus Center and a key partner in the project, does training with elected officials. She has them write down why they sought public office in the first place.
JULIA CARBONI: People are saying, oh, I could never collaborate on that, or I could never do that because I won't get reelected. We were able to point to those sheets and say, you're not here so that you can get reelected. Your motivation for public service is to lift up your community, to give voice to those who don't have it.
LINDSAY: Other efforts could touch on hot buttons. The legislative committee has heard ideas for ranked choice voting, which can weaken political parties, and for new standards for civics and media education in schools. But for now, people like Darrington's Mayor Rankin are starting simply.
RANKIN: Be available. Even if it's only one person that becomes engaged, that's a success.
LINDSAY: The official leading it all, Lieutenant Governor Heck, was just reelected with broad support. But he says the pursuit of a more engaged, less divided public will require other leaders to carry the mantle, too.
For NPR News, I'm Jeanie Lindsay in Olympia, Washington.
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