With victory near, Obamacare supporters rally in Bothell

Supporters of Obamacare woke up Friday morning thinking they still needed to defend the law from Republican efforts to replace it.

As the political drama played out in the other Washington, a handful of advocates held signs outside Congresswoman Suzan DelBene’s district office in Bothell. They said they came to thank DelBene, a Democrat, for opposing the GOP legislation.

Here's what some of them had to say:

“I’ve never had a political issue be so in front of me. I woke up at four in the morning today to check C-SPAN to see what was going on with the vote today. I’ve never been this conscious before. I’m through Applecare and it’s working great because University of Washington (Medicine) honors everything. You know … I’m in chemo right now. I expect in about six weeks I won’t have any hair left. But I’m out here today." — Lara Lavi

"I just finished paying off the hospital. I did not have insurance for the whole year and a half after I was treated for cancer. So I was just living on faith. So I was extremely excited when the ACA came in and then we were able to get our insurance through the ACA with subsidized premiums.” — Christine Mathews

“We have members of our family who have benefited from the Medicaid expansion and are at a point in their lives now where they wouldn’t be without that help.” — Jim Chatters

“Funny enough, although I’m unemployed right now, I’m covered under my husband’s health care so we’re really fortunate. But ironically the other night my husband had a medical issue where we just got the bill and it was $14,000 without insurance, it’s $1,000 with it. It would have ruined us, with me being out of work right now, that would have just destroyed us.” — Sheri Elgin

“I’m on the ACA and I’m perfectly healthy, I go to the doctor maybe once a once a year. So I’m basically paying for the health care for other people with that premium. And I'm also paying for the CEO's ridiculous paycheck.” — Jennifer Elf

They attended the rally as members of the group Indivisible. Most said it was the first time they have ever been politically active.

Several said they live nearby in DelBene's congressional district. Others said they live in districts represented by Democrats Pramila Jayapal and Rick Larsen.

Soon after their gathering dispersed, House Speaker Paul Ryan withdrew the Republican proposal to replace Obamacare, saying it did not have enough votes to pass.