Skip to main content

Kincaid's Plan for Jobs, the Tech Sector and the AI Transition in Washington's 1st District



Policy · Economy, Jobs & Tech Sector

Washington's 1st Congressional District is home to some of the most productive workers and most profitable companies in the world. Thousands of small businesses and startups in between. The people of this district built the modern tech economy with their talent, labor and their decades of expertise.

And yet something has gone badly wrong. American workers in WA-01 and surrounding areas are being laid off at record rates. While the corporations they built. Are filing thousands of petitions to replace them with cheaper foreign labor. Artificial intelligence is accelerating the displacement of workers across every sector. Congress has no coherent plan to help the people left behind. Meanwhile stock buybacks reach historic highs. Executive compensation soars. And the workers who actually create that value are shown the door.

This page lays out Kincaid's policy proposals on three connected challenges. The abuse of the H-1B visa system. The coming disruption of AI-driven job displacement. And the broader question of what a fair economy looks like. In one of America's most productive congressional districts.

"Washington's 1st District is not just a tech district. It is a workers' district. Engineers, nurses, teachers, small business owners, tradespeople and service workers all live and vote here. This economy needs to work for all of them. Not just the shareholders." -- Kincaid

The Crisis Nobody in Power Will Name

We are facing a crisis and too few people in power are willing to say so plainly.

For decades recent college graduates typically enjoyed lower unemployment rates than the broader working age population. That is no longer the case. Since late 2018 the trend has reversed. In recent years the unemployment rate for recent graduates has consistently exceeded the national average. In the first quarter of 2026 recent graduates faced an unemployment rate of about 5.7%. Compared to roughly 4.2% nationally. This is not just a rough patch. It is a warning sign. And the trajectory points not toward improvement but toward worsening conditions.

Why is this happening? Several forces are converging at once. Artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, and the steady influx of foreign labor through an abused visa system. These are facts. We can choose to confront them or we can choose to look away.

Today people you would never expect to struggle are piecing together gig work just to stay afloat. Driving for Uber during the day delivering food at night. All in an effort to survive. A college degree that was supposed to open doors is not opening them. We cannot sit back and watch this continue.

"We need policies that protect American jobs. Invest in innovation without abandoning workers, and ensure that a college degree leads to real opportunity not to underemployment. We must build a future where technology works for us, not against us. And where our own citizens are first in line for the jobs their tax dollars help create." -- Kincaid

Part One: Fixing the H-1B Visa Program

The H-1B visa program was created to help American companies recruit genuinely specialized talent from abroad when no qualified American worker could be found. That was the promise. The reality has become something very different.

In 2025 and 2026 Oracle filed more than 3,000 H-1B petitions for foreign workers while simultaneously laying off thousands of American employees. Including approximately 500 workers in the Seattle area. Microsoft spent $170 billion on stock buybacks over the past decade while cutting American jobs. These are not isolated cases. They are the predictable outcome of a system that has been quietly captured by corporate interests over many years.

The H-1B program is not broken by accident. It has been stretched, exploited and abused because Congress has failed to update it, enforce it or demand accountability from the companies that use it. That ends with this campaign.

The Core Problem

The law requires that H-1B workers be paid the "prevailing wage" for their occupation. But the definition of prevailing wage has been manipulated for years to allow companies to pay foreign workers significantly less than their American counterparts. The result is a program that functions in practice, as a tool for wage suppression and workforce replacement rather than genuine talent acquisition.

In addition there is currently no meaningful federal requirement that companies demonstrate they have made a good faith effort to hire American workers before filing H-1B petitions. The current "attestation" system is largely self-reported and rarely audited. Companies check a box. Nobody verifies it.

Kincaid's H-1B Reform Proposals

1. The Concurrent Layoff Prohibition. No company should be permitted to file new H-1B petitions for positions substantially similar to roles that have been eliminated through layoffs in the preceding 12 months. If you laid off American workers in a job category you cannot immediately import foreign replacements in that same category. This is common sense. Congress has simply never had the political will to write it into law.

2. Real Prevailing Wage Enforcement. The Department of Labor must be required to conduct annual audits of prevailing wage compliance for H-1B employers, with particular scrutiny on companies that are simultaneously reducing their American workforce. Violations should result in automatic disqualification from the H-1B program for a minimum of three years. Not just fines that get treated as a cost of doing business.

3. Mandatory American Worker Priority Documentation. Before any H-1B petition is approved the employer must submit verifiable documentation of their domestic recruitment efforts job postings, application data, interview records and written justification for why no qualified American applicant was selected. This documentation must be publicly available, not buried in federal databases that only lawyers can navigate.

4. Dependent Employer Caps and Accountability. Companies that rely on H-1B workers for more than 15% of their U.S. workforce should face stricter scrutiny, lower petition caps and enhanced reporting requirements. The current threshold for the "H-1B dependent employer" designation has not kept pace with the scale of the program's growth.

"You cannot lay off American workers and import foreign replacements at the same time. Congress must draw that line." -- Kincaid

Part Two: The AI Displacement Crisis

Artificial intelligence is not a future threat. It is a present one. Across WA-01 and across the country. Workers in software development, customer service, data analysis, legal support, accounting, content creation. And dozens of other fields are already experiencing AI driven displacement. The pace is accelerating, not slowing down.

Unlike previous waves of automation which primarily displaced manual and repetitive labor. AI is targeting knowledge workers. The workers who were told that education and technical skills were their protection are now discovering that the protection they were promised is no longer reliable. Congress has no serious plan for this. The political establishment has not caught up to what is happening to real people in real communities right now.

Kincaid believes that the question is not whether AI will change the economy. It will. The question is whether the benefits of that transformation are shared broadly or captured almost entirely by a small number of corporations and their shareholders. The answer depends on the choices Congress makes in the next few years. Those choices will define the economic landscape of the next generation.

The Scale of the Challenge

Goldman Sachs estimated in 2023 that AI could expose 300 million full time jobs globally to automation. McKinsey has projected that by 2030, up to 30% of hours worked in the U.S. economy could be automated. These projections have consistently moved faster than anticipated. Meanwhile the productivity gains from AI are flowing overwhelmingly to corporate profits. Not to worker wages, benefits or job security.

Seattle leads the world in AI-driven job losses. According to data from global financial platform RationalFX, Seattle ranked #1 globally for AI-related tech layoffs in early 2026, with 16,590 employees affected by decisions made at companies headquartered here. More than San Francisco (9,395) or any other city worldwide. Globally tech layoffs reached 45,363 in early 2026, with roughly one in five cuts directly tied to AI implementation and organizational restructuring. If the current pace holds, analysts warn total 2026 tech cuts could exceed 264,000 by year's end. Surpassing 2025's already severe toll of 245,000 job losses. (Seattle Red, March 2026)

Meta's mass layoff hit Puget Sound workers this week. On May 20, 2026, Meta fired 8,000 employees globally. 10% of its entire workforce. As CEO Mark Zuckerberg redirects billions toward artificial intelligence development. Meta employs between 7,500 and 8,000 workers in the Puget Sound region, and the company has not disclosed how many local employees are affected. Washington State workers had already absorbed nearly 500 Meta cuts earlier this year. At the same time, Meta announced it would shift more than 7,000 employees internally to AI-focused roles. Making clear where the company sees its future and who is being left behind. (Seattle Red, May 20, 2026)

In WA-01 specifically the tech sector that employs tens of thousands of residents is ground zero for this transition. The district has more software engineers, data scientists and tech adjacent workers per capita than almost anywhere else in the country. Many of them are watching their job functions change or disappear in real time.

Kincaid's AI and Workforce Transition Proposals

1. Mandatory AI Displacement Disclosure. Any company with more than 500 U.S. employees that reduces its workforce by 5% or more in a 12-month period must publicly disclose whether AI adoption was a contributing factor in those reductions. This is a basic transparency requirement. Workers, communities, policymakers and investors deserve accurate information about what is actually driving job losses. Right now companies can quietly attribute AI-driven displacement to "restructuring" with no accountability.

2. Community College and Technical Training Investment. Federal funding for community college workforce retraining programs must be substantially increased and modernized. Current programs are underfunded, slow to update their curricula and often disconnected from the actual needs of the regional labor market. Kincaid supports a direct partnership model between community colleges in WA-01 and major employers in the district. With federal funding contingent on demonstrated job placement outcomes not just enrollment numbers.

3. Worker Voice in AI Adoption. Companies that receive federal contracts above a defined threshold should be required to establish formal worker consultation processes before deploying AI systems that substantially change or eliminate job roles. Workers have institutional knowledge and practical insight that management often lacks. Including them in these decisions is not just fair it produces better outcomes. This is standard practice in many European economies and should become standard here.

4. No Federal Income Tax for Workers Earning $61,000 or Less. As AI and automation compress wages and increase economic insecurity for millions of working Americans, the tax burden on lower and middle income workers must come down. Kincaid's proposal to eliminate federal income tax for Americans earning $61,000 or less is directly relevant to the AI displacement crisis. When a worker loses a software job and finds work that pays $61,000 or less, they should not be paying federal income taxes while they rebuild. Read the full proposal here.

"The productivity gains from AI belong to the workers and communities that made them possible. Congress needs to stop pretending this transition will sort itself out. It will not. Not without a plan." -- Kincaid

Part Three: A Balanced Approach Innovation and Accountability Together

Kincaid is not anti technology and not anti business. Washington's 1st District has thrived because it is home to innovative, ambitious companies and the talented people who work for them. That is a genuine strength of this district and this country and it should be protected and built upon.

The argument here is not that innovation is bad. The argument is that innovation without accountability produces inequality, not prosperity. A company that generates tens of billions in operating income in a single quarter while laying off 10,000 American workers and filing thousands of H-1B petitions is not a good corporate citizen. Regardless of how impressive its earnings report looks. Congress has a responsibility to set rules that reward genuine innovation and job creation while holding accountable the corporations that exploit legal loopholes at the expense of American workers.

That is exactly what these proposals are designed to do.

Additional Economic Priorities for WA-01

Small business access to capital: The SBA's loan programs must be modernized and better targeted toward the small business owners. Including many immigrant entrepreneurs and women owned businesses. Who are the backbone of WA-01's local economy but who have historically struggled to access federal support.

Federal contracting accountability: Federal contractors should be required to maintain minimum U.S. employment levels as a condition of their contracts. Taxpayer money should not be subsidizing the offshoring of American jobs.

Retirement security: The 401(k) system has transferred enormous investment risk from employers to workers over the past four decades. Kincaid supports strengthening Social Security and exploring portable retirement benefit models that do not depend entirely on a single employer's decisions.

The Bottom Line

Washington's 1st District deserves a representative who understands this economy. Who understands the injustice when a worker gets a layoff notice and sees their job posted on an H-1B petition filing the next week. Who understands what it feels like to watch a company you helped build post record profits while cutting the team that built it.

The current representative, Suzan DelBene, has been in Congress for over twelve years. Her net worth has more than doubled during her tenure in office. The H-1B abuse problem has gotten worse. The AI displacement challenge has arrived with no federal framework to address it. The workers of WA-01 deserve better than a Congress that has grown comfortable with the status quo.

This campaign is built on a simple premise. A thriving tech economy and a fair economy for workers are not opposites. They require each other. And achieving both requires a representative who is accountable to the people of this district not to the corporations that have benefited from the imbalance.

"I am running to be the common sense Democrat in this race. That means holding corporations accountable when they abuse the system, protecting workers from displacement without a safety net and making sure that the gains of the AI revolution are shared by the people who made it possible." -- Kincaid

Related pages: Kincaid on Oracle's H-1B Filings · Statement on Microsoft Layoffs · No Federal Income Tax Under $61K · DelBene's Record in Congress

Paid for by Kincaid for Congress.

Popular Posts

Nurse Assault Prevention and Accountability Act of 2027

Nurse Assault Prevention and Accountability Act of 2027 Protecting the People Who Take Care of Us Overview Protecting the People Who Protect Us Every day across America, nurses, certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and frontline healthcare workers walk into hospitals, clinics and long term care facilities not knowing whether they will be respected or threatened spat on, shoved or worse. They are not asking for praise. They are asking for protection. According to recent data nearly three out of four workplace violence incidents in the private sector occur in healthcare settings. Seventy five percent. Nurses are punched. CNAs are attacked. Emergency room staff are threatened not just during pandemics. But during routine shifts in everyday hospitals in everyday America. And yet in many states. If someone assaults a nurse throws a punch, delivers a slap or spits in their face. There may be no serious consequences whatsoever. In too many places. It is treated as a minor misdemeanor ...
Read more

Kincaid’s statement on Microsoft job cuts

A Few Words on the Recent Microsoft Job Cuts Let me be clear. I am not attacking Microsoft. And I am not looking to start a fight with them. But I do think some of their decisions deserve a closer look. Stock Buybacks vs. Real Investment Over the past ten years. Microsoft has spent roughly $170 billion on stock buybacks. That practice is not unusual among large corporations. But it raises a fair question. Instead of artificially inflating its own share price. Could some of that money have been put to better use? Invested in people, innovation and in the communities that made Microsoft what it is today? Re-examining the H-1B Visa Program We should also take a hard look at the H-1B visa program. Companies claim that America simply does not have enough skilled workers to fill key roles. Others argue that we do but that many companies prefer hiring from overseas. Because H-1B workers often accept lower wages. The data supports this. Most H-1B workers are paid less than thei...
Read more

Kincaid's statement on Olympus Spa " Olympus Spa Is the Hill I'm Willing to Die On "

Let's Save Olympus Spa I was genuinely shocked when I learned what happened to Olympus Spa in Lynnwood. I kept asking myself. How? Why? How is something like this even possible in America? At first  I assumed this would never hold up in court. I thought there was no way the people of Washington had voted for this. And I was right they didn't. The voters never decided this. The state legislature did. They passed a law declaring that a biological male including one with male genitalia could be legally recognized as a woman by the state. And when Olympus Spa a women only business where patrons are nude declined entry to a biological male who identified as a woman. That person filed a complaint with the Washington State Human Rights Commission. The Commission initiated an enforcement action against the spa. Threatening prosecution unless it changed its women only policy. It did not matter that female customers were deeply uncomfortable being unclothed around biological male...
Read more

Kincaid’s Strategy to End Homelessness

Three Crises, Three Solutions: A Smarter Strategy to End Homelessness "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." By that standard America's approach to homelessness has lost its mind. We spend more every year. The crisis gets worse every year. The problem is not a lack of money and it is not a lack of compassion. It is that we keep applying one solution to three completely different problems. Homelessness is not one crisis. It is three  addiction, severe mental illness and economic hardship. Each one demands a different response. Until our policy matches the cause to the cure nothing will change. Decades of Failure Billions Spent For decades  agencies from HUD down to county programs have spent billions to fight homelessness. The spending goes up. The promises pile up. The encampments keep growing. Why? Because most of our programs rest on a theory that does not survive contact with reality. That if a thousand people are home...
Read more

Campaign Update: Making My Case to the Voters and the Math Behind It

March 5, 2026. Updated July 2026 with new field developments and the voter pamphlet. As the race for Washington's 1st Congressional District heats up. I want to share where things stand and why I believe this campaign represents the best path forward for Democrats who value balance, integrity and common sense. This is a crowded top two primary . The two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election regardless of party preference. Seven candidates are on the August 4 ballot. Myself Kincaid challenging incumbent Representative Suzan DelBene , along with Hunter Gordon (a self described socialist), James Etzkorn (running as an independent), Catherine Hildebrand , Bryce Nickel and Mary Silva (the lone Republican). The Reality of the Field Representative DelBene will almost certainly raise the most money and lead the field in resources. She has major incumbent advantages and her public FEC candidate profile reflects the scale of her fundraising...
Read more

Proposal: No Federal Income Tax for Persons Earning $61,000 or Less

No Federal Income Tax or Tax Filing for People Earning $61,000 or Less Updated July 2026 with the latest IRS, Pentagon and NEA data. Summary This proposal would eliminate federal individual income tax liability for people earning $61,000 or less in total wage income. Simplifying the tax system for tens of millions of working Americans. While having minimal impact on federal revenue. In practical terms anyone earning approximately $29.33 per hour or less. Would pay zero federal income tax and would no longer be required to file a tax return each year. Payroll taxes , Social Security and Medicare would still be deducted from paychecks as they are today. Beyond that nothing. No additional federal tax withheld. No annual filing requirement. Rationale Based on IRS data households earning $61,000 or less. Make up approximately 50 to 60 percent of all U.S. tax filers. Yet this group contributes only 3 to 4 percent of all federal individual income tax revenue. Toughly $70 to ...
Read more

The Tragic Failure Behind the Lawrence Reed / Bethany MaGee Case

The System Failed And an Innocent Woman Paid the Price The Tragic Case of Bethany MaGee, Lawrence Reed and Why We Must Reform Civil Commitment Laws When violent repeat offenders are allowed to roam freely despite decades of documented warning signs. Innocent people are left playing Russian roulette simply by going about their daily lives. We must bring back long term psychiatric care. We must reform civil commitment laws. And we must stop pretending that what we are doing is working. Just months after Iryna Zarutska was randomly stabbed in the neck and killed on a train in North Carolina. Another horrifying attack occurred this time on a train in Chicago. According to federal prosecutors. On November 17, 2025  Bethany MaGee a 26 year old woman. Was riding the CTA Blue Line and looking at her phone when Lawrence Reed age 50. Approached her without provocation. Poured a flammable liquid on her and set her on fire. She survived critical injuries burns to more than half her bod...
Read more

Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Female Inmates Forced to Be in a Cell With Biological Men With a History of Violence

A year ago I called Olympus Spa the hill I was willing to die on. I wrote about a Korean owned women's spa in Lynnwood. Forced by the state to let biological males into a nude, women only space. I also mentioned almost in passing.  A lawsuit by a former inmate named Mozzy Clark who alleged she was repeatedly sexually assaulted. By a male inmate housed at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) after he told the state he identified as a woman. That was not a passing detail. It was a preview. On April 27, 2026 the America First Policy Institute filed a federal lawsuit.  Against the Washington Department of Corrections and Secretary Tim Lang. 0n behalf of Fair for All, Inc. and a 28 year old WCCW inmate named Faith Booher-Smith. The complaint alleges that on August 7, 2025  Booher-Smith was attacked from behind in the prison cafeteria by Christopher Williams. A six foot four male inmate convicted of a child sex offense. Who had been transferred to WCCW under...
Read more

The Chinese Car Ban: Who Is Congress Really Protecting?

Trade Policy · Affordability · Consumer Rights May 30, 2026 Congress wants to ban Chinese cars from American roads. The proposed Protecting America from Chinese Cars Act would make it official. But the truth is the ban is already here. It just does not have that name yet. The tariffs currently imposed on Chinese electric vehicles exceed 100 percent. That is not a trade policy. That is a prohibition with a price tag attached. I am against it. And I want to explain why. You Are Already Driving a "Chinese" Car and Do Not Know It Volvo is owned by Geely  a Chinese company. Most Americans think of Volvo as a Swedish brand. They buy Volvos because they are safe, reliable and well designed. They did not buy a Chinese car. They bought a Swedish car that happens to be owned by a Chinese company. The world did not end. National security was not compromised. Life went on. Just days ago  Volvo had to go to the Trump administration and negotiate a special exemption just to...
Read more

KINCAID Exploratory Committee

Today I am announcing my candidacy for Congress in Washington's 1st Congressional District. I have filed official candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. I am a Democrat challenging fellow Democrat Representative Suzan DelBene. Who has held this seat for more than 12 years. State filing was completed in May 2026 and Kincaid appears on the August 4, 2026 primary ballot. Washington State ranks among the worst states in the nation for retirees largely due to the cost of living. But affordability is unlikely to be a personal concern for Representative DelBene. Like so many career politicians. Her personal wealth has grown dramatically during her time in office. According to Quiver Quantitative. Her net worth has more than doubled since she was first elected from $60 million to an estimated $141.5 million. That may sound extraordinary but it is not unusual. More than half of all members of Congress are millionaires. I am not criticizing anyone simply for being we...
Read more