Before joining Cascadia Daily News, Racer reported on intergenerational farming in Ecuador and El Salvador for The Guardian, documenting how consumerism, climate change and emigration collide on farms that future generations decide to inherit or leave. In Washington, D.C., he covered the IRS and Congress for Bloomberg. In New York City, he reported on maternal health disparities, riding the city’s subways with mobile mental illness teams to explain how the increasingly popular model of mental health care impacts the workforce.
From producing audio stories on mental health for NPR stations WHYY and WVXU in Cincinnati, Ohio, his hometown, to photographing youth impacted by gun violence in New Orleans, his reporting crosses topics and mediums. During the 2024 presidential election, he was the lone U.S. correspondent for The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine’s English-language media outlet, covering campaigns, foreign policy and Congress. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.
Beat: Health care and public health in Northwest Washington state
The health care and public health reporter produces daily and enterprise stories about barriers to health coverage in a two-county region that includes urban areas, rural agricultural communities and diverse ethnic populations underserved by traditional media. The reporter will delve into the challenges and benefits of a near-monopoly Catholic "not-for-profit" health provider that draws little media attention, with a consumer focus on making services and networks easier to navigate.