A letter from Brien · November 2026
Thank you, Kitsap County.
The results are clear. David Lewis will serve another term as Kitsap County Clerk, and I congratulate him. Voters had a real choice in this race, and they made it. That's exactly how this is supposed to work.
To everyone who voted for me: thank you. You made it to the bottom of a long ballot, looked at an office most people never think about, and decided it deserved better.
Change can come to this office, and it will. This campaign moved it closer.
Brien Kennedy
Kitsap County Clerk · 2026 Campaign · Prefers Democratic Party
Brien Kennedy
The County Clerk's Office matters. Here are the ideas I brought to this race, and the experience behind them.
Website funded personally by Brien Kennedy.
Endorsed by the Young Democrats of Washington
One of only two county clerk candidates statewide to earn it.
Endorsements & press →Leader
Built and sold companies. Never wanted to run for office. Someone has to stop the bleeding.
Read Brien's story →What Changes If I Win
Pro se filings move faster. There's a trial request form people can actually find instead of digging for it. And the office starts telling the public what it does — passports, protection orders, jury administration — instead of assuming everyone already knows.
How, without more staff or more budget?
Mostly by reprioritizing where the office puts its attention, and fixing processes that cost nothing but a willingness to do something differently than it's always been done. I spent a decade running consulting engagements with a fixed budget where the results still had to move anyway. Same job here.
$201,065 cut in 2026.
Unopposed RacesUnopposed races must stop. 64.5% of the races Ballotpedia tracked in 2024 had no opponent on the ballot.
Countywide · 2027-Projected
$9.8M
$9.8M projected shortfall. Without a proposed sales tax increase, county reserves could run out by 2029.
The Office Right Now
28 Years. Three Contested Races.
Most people in our county have voted for this office multiple times without ever having a real choice. In 2014, the last contested race, voters had a real choice for the first time in 16 years. The full year-by-year dataset lives on Democracy Watch.
See the full dataset →"One person told me they arrived three hours early for jury duty because they were worried about parking and didn't know what the morning would look like. Three hours. Because nobody told them what to expect in a simple, plain-language way."
Brien Kennedy, knocking doors in Kitsap County
That's not their fault. It's a failure of communication that's been building for years — and it's exactly the kind of fixable problem this office should have solved a long time ago.
Read the plain-language court guides →Public Momentum
Recent Media Appearances
Access, Accountability, Trust — Why I'm Running for Kitsap Clerk
One Missed Step Cost Her the Whole Summer With Her Kids
Win or Lose, Here's How I'm Using Data to Get Better
Executive Experience. Relentless Energy.
Running a startup and running a government office have more in common than people think. Both are about doing more with less, making decisions with incomplete information, and being accountable for the outcome. I've spent a career building organizations that had to earn every dollar they spent — starting at Amazon and Microsoft, then in executive roles at startups that scaled through acquisition, then running my own practice. That instinct doesn't turn off when you walk into a government building.
Shannon Kennedy — my partner of 17 years — is the campaign treasurer. I trust her completely.
See the plan →Meet the Full Team
Shannon Kennedy — Operations Director at The Island School on Bainbridge Island, and the person keeping this campaign's finances honest as our treasurer. Seventeen years together, fourteen married. She didn't flinch when I stepped back from consulting for my health — everything I'm building is partly for her.
Sisters from different litters. Fully committed to the cause — mostly because Brien keeps the treats in his campaign budget. They don't know what a County Clerk is. They're still the most popular members of the campaign.
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Or call Brien anytime: (206) 914-0490