Complaint alleges Let's Go Washington violated campaign finance laws
A campaign finance watchdog has filed a complaint against Let's Go Washington, alleging the conservative political committee failed to properly disclose political advertising tied to two statewide initiative campaigns.
The 24-page complaint, filed by Washingtonians for Ethical Government, alleges that Let's Go Washington failed to report the financial value of more than 150 individual instances of promotional political advertising that the group identified by conservative podcaster and former TV journalist Brandi Kruse, as well as other in-kind, noncash contributions the organization allegedly received.
Failing to disclose advertising and contributions breaks state law on reporting campaign expenditures, said Washingtonians for Ethical Government, a nonprofit that promotes open government and investigates potential violations of state campaign finance law.
I believe that disclosure requirements are one of the few tools that democracies have to counter hidden donors who might be funding ads or disinformation, said Pam Stuart, the spokesperson for Washingtonians for Ethical Government and a member of the Sammamish City Council, at a Tuesday news conference announcing the complaint.
The watchdog nonprofit's complaint, filed Tuesday, requests that the Washington Public Disclosure Commission investigate Let's Go Washington, a conservative group founded by Brian Heywood.
Let's Go Washington is the key architect of two citizen-led initiatives that voters will consider on November's ballot.
One initiative will seek voters' approval to ban transgender girls from participating in girls athletics in Washington's K-12 schools. The other aims to expand the kinds of records that parents can request from their children's schools as part of the state's "parents bill of rights."
Let's Go Washington called the complaint "baseless," in an emailed statement to The Seattle Times.
"Let's Go Washington has never paid Brandi Kruse to talk about or promote the initiatives," said Hallie Herzberg, communications director for Let's Go Washington. "According to the Washington State Supreme Court in 2007, statements made in support of candidates or campaigns do not qualify as in-kind contributions."
In 2007, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled that two radio talk-show hosts who used airtime to request donations for the gas-tax rollback initiative they launched were not required to report their support to the state as a campaign contribution. Kruse cited the same ruling in an emailed statement to The Times.
"I have never received a cent from Let's Go Washington," Kruse said. "I have no formal relationship with the organization whatsoever. I support protecting girls' sports and parental rights because it's the morally just thing to do. It is also my First Amendment right to do so, as the State Supreme Court ruled in 2007."
The complaint
The complaint alleges that Kruse promoted Let's Go Washington and its two ballot initiatives more than 150 times across her digital platforms between September 2025 and February 2026. It estimates the value of those promotions between about $345,000 and $1.25 million.
The promotions described in the complaint include explicit or implicit appeals by Kruse for voters to support the initiatives; attacks against opponents of the two initiatives or of Let's Go Washington; and requests for audience members to sign petitions to get the initiatives on November's general election ballot.
In one livestreamed episode of her podcast from November 2025, Kruse asks viewers to visit Let's Go Washington's website to sign a petition to get the initiative barring trans girls from playing girls sports on the November ballot.
To count these instances, the nonprofit reviewed Kruse's online presence, including her podcast, YouTube channel, Facebook account and Instagram profile. Washingtonians for Ethical Government describes these instances as "political advertising" under the state's definition.
"Kruse is possibly the most prolific of political content creators in Washington, and her promotions of Let's Go Washington's initiatives do not qualify as editorial content," the complaint states. "Kruse is not an impartial journalist or just an opinionated member of the public; she is a commercial advertiser with multiple advertisers."
The complaint cites Kruse's list of advertisers on her website, which includes right-wing group Future 42, a subsidiary of Heywood's nonprofit Project 42.
Kruse - who hosts the political podcast "unDivided" - has more than 185,600 followers on X, 178,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel and 313,000 followers on her Facebook page.
The complaint also alleges that Let's Go Washington did not report "at least two" of Kruse's appearances at the organization's rallies, as well as in-kind contributions from Future 42.
"They're really circumventing the laws to mislead the public," said Stuart, of Washingtonians for Ethical Government.
Previous complaints against Let's Go Washington
This isn't the first time Let's Go Washington has been accused of campaign finance violations.
In 2024, the Public Disclosure Commission fined the conservative group $20,000 for not reporting spending by its subcontractors and for failing to confirm whether its vendors used subcontractors. In 2025, the PDC gave Let's Go Washington a formal warning for not properly identifying sponsors on some of its online political advertising.
The PDC is a state agency that enforces Washington's public disclosure and campaign finance laws.
Washingtonians for Ethical Government filed another public-disclosure complaint against Let's Go Washington in 2024, but the PDC dismissed the case and did not investigate further.
When the state PDC receives a complaint, the agency reviews it to determine whether an investigation is warranted. Agency staff will then notify the person or organization being named in the complaint, according to the PDC website.
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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 4:51 PM.