Tri-Cities will host GOP Action Conference — with keynote from a Trump 2024 official
Republicans across Washington state will flock to the Tri-Cities next month for the 2023 Republican Action Conference, billed as the state’s “largest Republican event of the year.”
The second-annual event is a gathering for Republican candidates and conservative citizen lobbyists, hosted by the Washington State Republican Party.
Liz Harrington, spokeswoman for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, who has parroted baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen, will give the keynote address.
The event, set for May 5-6 at the Red Lion Hotel at Columbia Center, will also feature speeches from local politicians including state Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, 2020 gubernatorial candidate Dr. Raul Garcia and Richland School Board member and 2024 Republican gubernatorial hopeful Semi Bird.
Hanford High School student and Turning Point USA Ambassador-turned-political commentator Kellyanna Brooking also is expected to speak at the event. She’s also a youth campaign strategist with Bird’s campaign.
A day’s worth of panels and trainings will focus on campaigning, activism, citizen lobbying, fundraising, ballot collection and election integrity. The event will culminate Saturday night in an evening banquet and VIP reception.
Washington Republican Party Chair Caleb Heimlich said in a video that the event would offer a chance for Republicans to “get inspired” and learn how to get involved on the state and federal levels.
“The conference aims to empower and train individuals to make a significant impact in their communities and state elections,” Heimlich told the Tri-City Herald in an email. “Our focus is on supporting school board and city council candidates in 2023 while laying the foundation for success in 2024.”
In Washington, school board and city council seats are nonpartisan positions.
Liz Harrington
Harrington is Trump’s chief spokesperson, having previously served as the national spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee during the 2020 election cycle.
Prior to her work working for the former president, Harrington worked as the editor-in-chief of Steve Bannon’s War Room, as well as for other right-leaning news sites.
During the last presidential election cycle with the RNC, she claimed without evidence that the 2020 election was stolen and fake, even after lawsuits, recounts and audits showed otherwise, per the Independent.
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts in a New York grand jury indictment on charges of falsifying business records and other counts over alleged hush money payments before the 2016 election to an adult film star.
Harrington called the indictment a “sham” and “utter lawlessness.”
Eyes on 2024
Next year Republicans will attempt to bounce back politically after coming up shorthanded in 2022 mid-term congressional elections.
While polls projected a possible “red wave” for Republicans nationally, the party took only a slim lead in the U.S. House while Democrats retained their majority in the Senate.
Republicans even lost control of one safe congressional district in Washington state after former Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler was defeated in the primary by Trump-backed Republican Joe Kent, who went on to lose the 3rd Congressional District to Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
This is also a chance for Semi Bird to garner some statewide clout from his home turf.
The former U.S. Army Green Beret and Purple Heart veteran says he plans to run for governor next year, which would make him the first Republican to win the seat in 44 years as well as the state’s first Black governor.
Bird has served one year on the Richland School Board, where he presided over a controversial “mask optional” vote that resulted in school being closed for two days. A group of voters are currently gathering signatures in an attempt to recall him from office over allegations he and two other board members broke the law.
He continues to say that their actions were legal and did not break state law, even saying in a recent Fox News story that the state mandate from Gov. Jay Inslee was “not a law.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 2:57 PM.
