The most important thing about the primary is to select Democratic candidates who are able to tack to the middle, who can reach the most voters—not the most ideological voters. 

 

 

I say “Democratic” because Republican politicians as a class have no ethics, no courage, no morality, and no respect for democracy or the rule of law. Even so-called “mainstream” Republicans now pander to Trump-cult extremists who want Big Government to determine the most personal medical issues—including, as we know from Clarence Thomas and his ilk, birth control.

 

I say this as someone who was once president of my local Teenage Republicans. Once upon a time, Republicans had principles—whether Margaret Chase Smith, who attacked Republican extremist Joe McCarthy; Ed Brooke in Massachusetts, who advocated for affordable housing;  environmentalist Jay Hammond in Alaska; Bob Dole from Kansas who supported social services; and Arizona’s John McCain who, despite Trump’s slander of him, was a true war hero, ensured Obamacare’s implementation, and defended the integrity of his political opponent, even as he disagreed with him. 

 

Some final reminders about levies and schools:

 

• Electing school boards is insane. Elected boards have no accountability, they engage in group think, and put decision-making in the hands of committees. Let’s do what other cities do: Make the mayor accountability for schools. Since that’s not going to happen here, the best we can hope for is to eliminate obvious crazies. I support charter schools, because, as in healthcare, competition is the only sure way to improve quality.

 

• Managing an operating budget by referenda—levies—is about as idiotic as requiring Congress to approve an increase to the debt ceiling to pay for what it already spent.

 

U.S. Senator

Maria Cantwell. The only other candidate who claims to be a Democrat is a guy named Paul Giesick, who pledges to violate the First Amendment and impose his religion on others. His platform—and I’m quoting: “Our Lord Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.”

 

U.S. Representative

District 1 (Eastside). Suzan DelBene. The only Democrat. To show you how crazy the Republicans are, the other candidates purport to represent “the Republican party,” the “Trump Republican party,” and the “Calm, Rational GOP party.” 

 

District 2 (Edmonds to Bellingham). Rick Larson. Larson has four Democratic or Green Party opponents, plus the usual assortment of right-wing extremists. All of them attack Larson either because they think he’s too left or too right. The truth: Larson’s a mainstream Democratic centrist.

 

District 3 (Vancouver area). Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is being challenged by one leftist and two extremists.

 

District 4 (Tri-Cities, Yakima). This is a tough one. Normally, I’d support one of the three Democrats, but right-winger Dan Newhouse was one of the few Republicans to vote to impeach Trump. Extremists are piling onto him for not rimming Trump. Voters in this overwhelmingly conservative district should reward Newhouse for his integrity, despite his wrong votes on nearly every other issue.

 

District 5 (Spokane, Eastern Washington). No incumbent in this wide-open district, so there are 11 candidates. As of April, Carmela Conroy, a former foreign service officer and county prosecutor, has raised the most money of any Democrat and has the most cash on hand, which gives her a step up over the next-qualified candidate, Bernadine Bank. You’re going to need lots of money to win in this district.

 

District 6 (Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas). Emily Randall. Hilary Franz, the Public Lands Commissioner, would be acceptable, but based on an exhaustive investigation by the Seattle Timesabout how Franz inappropriately pressured her staff to do political work for her, I think State Sen. Randall is the way to go. Randall has impressive endorsements (including Patty Murray) and sounds like she’d be a workhorse, not a show horse.

 

District 7 (Seattle). I’m no fan of Pramila Jayapal, my rep, but honestly, she’s the only candidate who has gravitas. She’s going to win by a huge margin, but I’m not even tempted to cast a protest vote for any other candidate.

 

District 8 (Eastside to Ellensburg). Kim Schrier. Her opponents are either Republicans or one-issue candidates or both.

 

District 9 (South King County, Renton, Kent). Adam Smith. Like Rick Larson in District 2, Smith is a centrist. Accordingly, his opponents are attacking him for being too left or too right. (One candidate, David Ishii, is a DJ running as a publicity stunt; his candidate statement is utterly incomprehensible (Plus He Capitalized The First Letter Of Every Single Word).

 

District 10 (Tacoma). What’s not to like about Marilyn Strickland? One of her opponents is a survivalist and conspiracy theorist. One of the Republicans brags that he has “invaluable leadership traits.” A different candidate has never forgiven Nixon for recognizing China.

 

Governor

Bob Ferguson. If voters can make their way down the ballot of 28 candidates (!), Attorney General Ferguson will win. He’s been one of our better AGs and deserves to be rewarded. Fellow Democrat Mark Mullet is a centrist, but has no chance of winning the primary, only being a spoiler and diverting votes from Ferguson. On the extremist side, you have David Reichert, pretending he’s pro-choice and doesn’t support Trump. He’s not and he does, as the Seattle Times has reported. Although he’s the favorite to get second place in the primary after Ferguson, I wouldn’t put it past the extremists to put Semi Bird there, a guy who makes Herschel Walker look intelligent. Of the non-Republican retarded candidates, my favorite is the one who proposes to spend $1.2 trillion on economic development in Africa. Uh, that’s more than 10 times the size of the state’s budget. And the candidate from the Stand Up America party wants to “Stop dirty-fascist-rats who drink from fat cat toilet.” 

 

Other state offices

• Lt. Governor: Denny Heck. Honorable and decent with a track record to match.

 

• Secretary of State: Steve Hobbs.

 

• Treasurer: Mike Pellicciotti

 

• Auditor: Pat McCarthy.

 

• Attorney General: Nick Brown. Both he and the other Democrat in the race, Manka Dhingra, are qualified in ways the Republican isn’t. But Brown has the best background—as an Army JAG officer, U.S. Attorney, counsel to Governor Inslee, Harvard law degree, and Morehouse BA. 

 

• Commissioner of Public Lands. Incumbent Franz is running for Congress leave a seven-candidate free-for-all. The most familiar name is Jaime Herrera Butler, the former right-wing U.S. Rep who voted to impeach Trump, and was successfully targeted by Trump for elimination. Despite her integrity, her policies are right wing. Although I like King County Council member Dave Upthegrove, who has a degree in conservation, I have to go with Patrick DePoe, who Franz, Marilyn Strickland, the Times, and others have endorsed. He works in natural resources and is also a member of the Makah Tribe.

 

• Superintendent of Public Instruction. Reid Saaris. SPI has always been a cesspool of mediocrity. None of the candidates who are running really impress me; none have mentioned charter schools, probably because they don’t want to piss off the union. The Times interviewed all the candidates and did more background research. I’ll go with its recommendation, Saaris.

 

• Insurance Commissioner: Patty Kuderer. With ex-Group Health optometrist Mike Kreidler retiring at age 80 (and under a conduct cloud so serious that the governor asked him to resign), the race is a free-for-all. The familiar name is Republican State Sen. Phil Fortunato, who pledges to reduce “burdensome” regulations. Translation: The fox will guard the henhouse. The real candidate to vote for is Kuderer, another state senator (from Redmond) who’s a former trial lawyer and prosecutor. She pledges to focus on consumer protection, and, unlike the extremist Republicans, will ensure that coverage of things like birth control (under fire by extremist Republicans) and abortion won’t be touched by insurance companies.

 

Judicial

 

State Supreme Court, position 2. Sal Mungia. Hands down, he has the best qualification and the best and most endorsements, including my former Group Health colleague, Judge Frank Cuthbertson, and politicians I respect like former governors Gary Locke and Chris Gregoire. His endorsement page is the most impressive I’ve ever seen for a non-presidential candidate.

 

Pierce County Superior Court, pos. 15. Ingrid McLeod

 

Legislature

These are only the races where there’s more than one Democrat. You can’t trust any Republican to put the state ahead of extremism. Even if they eschew it, they would caucus with extremists and contribute to the bloc of fear-based politics.

 

Where more than one Democrat is a good candidate, I’m recommending the one with either the most endorsements or the most money so the stupid top-two primary system doesn’t undermine the stronger candidate.

 

D=district

P=position

 

D2, P2 (Pierce). Yanah Cook.

D3, P1 (Spokane). Ben Stuckart.

D4 senate (Spokane). Miguel Valencia.

D4, P1 (Spokane). Kristopher Pockell

D4, P2 (Spokane). Ed "Woody" Wood

D5, P1 (Issaquah). Victoria Hunt

D9, P2 (Spokane). Pam Kohlmeier

D10 senate (Island, Skagit, Snoho). Janet St Clair

D15, P1 (Benton, Yakima). Chase Foster

D21, P1 (Snohomish). Strom Peterson

D22 senate (Thurston). Jessica Bateman

D22, P1 (Thurston). Beth Doglio

D22, P2 (Thurston). Lisa Parshley

D23, P2 (Kitsap). Greg Nance

D24 senate (Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson). Mike Chapman

D24, P1 (Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson). Adam Bernbaum

D26, P2 (Kitsap, Pierce). Tiffiny Mitchell

D27, P2 (Pierce). Jake Fey

D29, P1 (Pierce). Melanie Morgan

D31, P2 (South King, Pierce). Brian L. Gunn

D32, P2 (North King, Snohomish). Lauren Davis

D38, P1 (Snohomish, Everett). Julio Cortes

D39 senate (Snohomish, Skagit). John Snow

D42, P1 (Whatcom). Alicia Rule

D43, P2 (Seattle—my district represented by the retiring great Frank Chopp). 
Andrea Suarez. Here, I’m breaking with the most-endorsed candidate, Shaun Scott, who would bring more nonsolutions to the table that caused voters to oust other so-called ‘progressives’ from city council. It’s not progressive to let junkies decide whether or not they want to be treated and remain on the streets blocking sidewalks, shooting up in public, and demeaning police, most of whom are trying to do an impossible job as fairly as possible. Suarez seems to have a middle-of-the-road platform—plus she herself is an advocate for the homeless through a nonprofit she founded.

D45, P2 (Eastside, Kirkland, Redmond). Larry Springer

 

 

City of Seattle

City Council, position 8. Tanya Woo. Let’s not return to the extreme politics of Kshama Sawant sympathizers. Woo is a community workhorse.