4 days until the ‘most important election,’ WA Democrats rally Tri-Cities for a new path
With four days to go to the Nov. 5 presidential election, Washington Democrats brushed off soggy weather to get out the vote Friday in the Tri-Cities.
The rally and canvas — hosted in a quiet headquarters off George Washington Way in Richland — brought out U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and attorney general candidate Nick Brown, who showed up to support down-ballot Democrats with an uphill battle in Southeast Washington races.
The 1 p.m. Tri-Cities stop was sandwiched between similar events in Spokane and Yakima that day.
Andy Miller, the Democrat who served 36 years as Benton County prosecuting attorney, recited an admittedly tired trope — but one he says is relevant with what’s on the line — to a room full of candidates and organizers.
“It’s kind of, like, ‘A broken clock is right twice a day.’ It’s right today: This is the most important election,” Miller said. “It’s important we don’t write-off the Tri-Cities, and that’s why it’s so neat to have Nick and Maria here.”
Between federal, state, legislative, judicial and local races, Washington voters will have a lot of decisions to make next week.
They will choose the next president of the United States, either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump. Cantwell is seeking a fifth term representing Washington in the U.S. Senate, and has attracted a challenger in Republican Raul Garcia.
Washington’s 10 seats in the U.S. House are also up for reelection. In Central Washington, Dan Newhouse, a Republican, has garnered a challenger from the right in Jerrod Sessler, a Trump-endorsed former regional circuit NASCAR driver.
Voters will also choose candidates for nine statewide executive offices — including their next governor, attorney general and state superintendent. They’ll also decide whether four voter initiatives mostly backed by Republicans get the green light.
Democrats have majorities in both chambers of the Washington Legislature, in the House and Senate. Voters in swing legislative districts could decide whether or not progressives clinch supermajorities to make constitutional changes, such as enshrining the right to abortion and lowering the voter threshold to pass school bonds.
Return statistics posted Friday showed about 79,000 of the more than 177,000 Tri-City voters had returned their ballot. That’s a turnout of about 45% between Benton and Franklin counties — below the statewide return rate of 47%.
About 750 ballots have been challenged so far in the Tri-Cities, mostly for a mismatched signature.
Maria Cantwell, Nick Brown rally for Tri-City Democrats
Cantwell highlighted the response to arson attacks this week at ballot boxes in Vancouver and Portland, saying it’s mobilized organizers in Southwest Washington to knock on the doors of those voters affected.
“It’s an inspiration for here in the Tri-Cities. We have to get out the vote,” Cantwell said.
She also spoke about a multi-jurisdiction bust this week on a “violent drug trafficking gang” distributing fentanyl through the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
“Nick is going to help us keep doing that as U.S. attorney going into attorney general,” Cantwell said.
She also touched on groundbreaking research and energy development in the Tri-Cities, highlighting an announced $5 billion data center that will bring new jobs and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s work to research the next generation of computer chips.
“We got here because we did an infrastructure bill — the largest investment in our lifetime. We did the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) bill, also an investment in clean energy technology,” she said.
“And don’t listen to the other side over there. Mr. Trump basically said, well, we don’t need that CHIPS and Science Act. I don’t know what he’s talking about because we do need to win in the race to have the best semiconductors in the world. The Untied States needs to win that race,” Cantwell added.
Speaking to the Herald, Brown said he wasn’t fazed rallying in his opponent’s backyard. Pete Serrano, his Republican opponent, is mayor of Pasco.
He said he plans to be an “advocate for everyone” in Washington state, highlighting his experience as the former U.S. Attorney for Western Washington. Brown worked on judicial appointments as general counsel to Gov. Jay Inslee, including appointing Sal Mendoza Jr. to the Benton and Franklin superior court bench.
“Andy joked about it, but it’s not really a joke: Pete doesn’t win cases. And I think that voters should care about, when they’re hiring a lawyer, whether that person is qualified, experienced, and ready to do the job — and I think we’re certainly ready to do that,” said the former “Survivor” contestant.
The attorney general serves as Washington’s chief law enforcement officer, pursuing cases in the public’s interest, proposing bills to the Legislature and advising governing bodies on legal issues and providing opinions.
Is WA-16 a sleeper?
Democrats say Republicans shouldn’t feel too confident about their support in Washington’s 16th Legislative District.
Despite a 30-point blowout in the August primary, candidates running for the seats say redistricting and a presidential election offer them a renewed opportunity to introduce themselves to voters.
The district stretches from the Hanford Reach National Monument to Walla Walla, and includes the communities of Benton City, Richland, parts of West Richland, north Pasco, Connell and Burbank.
Kari Isaacson is a retired nonprofit and charities leader who’s challenging state Sen. Perry Dozier, a Republican and first-term legislator.
“Half the district is new to everybody in the 16th, including our incumbents. And the incumbents are very complacent, they haven’t been campaigning much, and they have not been successful in achieving anything in the Legislature — and they’re very good at coming back and saying, ‘(Democrats) won’t let us do anything.’ Well, that’s not good enough,” she said.
Perry, who serves as deputy whip for the Senate Republican Caucus, has sponsored and passed landmark legislation regulating agreements on groundwater allocation and also secured $42 million in the 2023 capital budget for district projects.
Isaacson and her peers running for the district’s House seats — Linda Gunshefski and Craig Woodard — all of Walla Walla, say they’re campaigning on dinner table issues, like child and health care access, public education funding, housing, and access to job training.
Gunshefski, an eye surgeon and small business owner, says Rep. Mark Klicker is “out of touch” on housing, mental health and reproductive rights. Her pitch is that Southeast Washington should put “a doctor in the House.”
“If I’m elected, I’ll be the only medical doctor in the House,” she said. “I think science and medicine are important, and they’re much-needed perspectives to be represented in the House of Representatives — in particular, here in the Tri-Cities, where there’s so much science, so much technology happening.”
Klicker, ranking member on the House Housing Committee, was elected in 2020 and reelected in 2022. He’s seeking a third term.
Gunshefski says many lifelong Republicans are re-examining their allegiance to the party, especially in recent years with the rise of Trump.
Woodard, a retired union electrician, is challenging Rep. Skyler Rude, first elected in 2018 and seeking his fourth term.
Working class people — and their wages — have been “left behind” in Washington state, Woodard argues. The Legislature needs to invest in affordable workforce training, the trades and support apprenticeship programs. Rural health care access also remains a problem in Central Washington.
“I think that there’s a lot of people here who are just fed up with the status quo and they feel they need more choices, and they’re not getting it,” he said.
