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Democratic state House candidate John Gotts has conceded his race against state Rep. David Taylor, R-Moxee, with a post on his personal blog.
Gotts, who had pulled out of the 15th District state House race prior to the primary only to return when he finished second, said a combination of factors persuaded him to leave the race again. In part, it was a matter of realistically assessing his chances as a relative unknown in a heavily Republican district.
"It would be nearly impossible to achieve victory in November against state Rep. David Taylor, and so for the second time in this race, I am removing myself from the election," he wrote last week at johngotts.blogspot.com.
An internet entrepreneur most recently based in White Salmon, Gotts had said before the primary that he was moving to California to work on an internet startup. When he finished second in the Aug. 18 primary -- ahead of fellow Democrat Donicio Marichalar of Grandview -- he decided to return to Washington for the November general election. Gotts plans to stick with the California venture.
Jumping in and out of things is something of a pattern for Gotts, who made news in 2006 with a $3 million deal to buy the wiki.com domain name. The much ballyhooed deal later fell apart, as did plans Gotts had for upscale developments in Bingen, a small town near White Salmon.
In 2008 Gotts declared himself a candidate for the U.S. House, looking to unseat Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. Three days later he dropped out of that race to challenge state Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, instead. He lost the race against Chandler, taking only 40 percent of the vote.
He was considered an underdog in this year's race against Taylor too. Taylor, who spoke with Gotts last week about the concession, said the departure of Gotts from the race won't affect his own plans.
