Hello Democrats! As the end of 2021 approaches, now all eyes are on 2022 and the all-important midterm elections. Action is already heating up!
Big Redistricting News - This morning, the State Supreme Court released an order in the redistricting case declining their authority to draw new maps for our legislative and Congressional districts, and accepting the final map proposal agreed to last month by the bipartisan Redistricting Commission shortly after their deadline. This is huge news for determining our political landscape for the next decade.
The Court didn’t weigh in on the maps other than whether they met the deadline, saying “The court has not evaluated and does not render any opinion on the plan’s compliance with any statutory and constitutional requirements other than the November 15 deadline.”
In other words, the Court ruled that the maps met the requirement as to whether they were turned in “on time.” As to the content or quality of the maps, the Court was silent, and we expect there may be lawsuits on that point from a variety of groups.
There has been a great deal of controversy over whether these maps complied with the Voting Rights Act and Washington state law, and that would likely be the basis of any suits. With all the twists and turns this process has taken, I’m not sure anything would be a surprise anymore. But at this point, we should prepare for 2022 under the assumption that these are the maps until the next Census.
You can see the Redistricting Commission’s Congressional map here and their legislative map here. They have zoomable maps so you can see where you’ll be under these maps and how your district is changing. Make sure you check these out! And remember, all legislative district candidates for 2022 must live in their districts as detailed on these maps.
Also, the legislature can make minor changes to the maps, but changes require a two-thirds vote to do so. As a result,any changes are usually small and not to the advantage of one party or the other. We’ll also get information out to legislative district parties about reorganization as this process continues. But with this big news! Now it’s on to 2022 campaigning!
Congressional Map:
Legislative Map:
Legislative map zoomed in on Central Puget Sound:
2022 Republicans for Office - We had several new candidates declare for office this week - many of them Republicans.
In the 8th Congressional District, Republican King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn declared against our own Rep. Kim Schrier, joining 2020 GOP 8th Congressional District candidate Jesse Jensen and 2020 GOP Attorney General candidate Matt Larkin in the race. We’ll see if all three actually file come May but, regardless of which Republican comes out of the primary, we’ll need to work hard and support Dr. Kim Schrier! Dunn made no secret of his “allegiances” on the first day of his campaign, saying he wouldn’t have voted to impeach Donald Trump after the January 6th insurrection attempt; he is another far-right Republican begging for Trump-allied PAC bucks, and we’re going to have to make sure voters know that.
In the 3rd Congressional District, ultra-conservative Republican state Representative Vicki Kraft of the 18th LD declared that she’d be joining the primary to challenge Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler. GOPer Joe Kent is a super-conservative challenger already running against Herrera Beutler - he had been endorsed by Donald Trump and had Congressman Matt Gaetz come to the district to campaign with him. Looks like those two will battle it out for the far-right. Still, Kraft is one of the most conservative members of the state legislature, so we’ll see what happens between the two of them.
In the Secretary of State race, GOP state Senator Keith Wagoner of the 39th LD announced a challenge to our new Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. Wagoner, of course, has no elections management experience to speak of, and has been a reliably conservative vote throughout his time in the legislature. He voted AGAINST the WA Voting Rights Act, AGAINST same-day voter registration, AGAINST campaign finance transparency, and so much more that’s necessary for fair and free elections. We’ll see who else declares for this seat, but we need to make sure to hold this position for Democrats in this critical special election!
On our side, in the 42nd Legislative District, our Democratic state Rep. Sharon Shewmake is stepping up to run against the repugnant Republican Sen. Doug Ericksen. Ericksen is an absolutely terrible senator, known forworking as a lobbyist for the Cambodian dictatorship instead of on behalf of his constituents,skipping votes to work for Donald Trump,skipping votes (again) to go to El Salvador, andtaking so many free meals from oil company lobbyists that they literally had to change the law to address his behavior. He’s one of the strongest opponents of environmental protections in the entire legislature! He won re-election in 2018 by just 46 votes -- one of the closest legislative races in state history. This race is one to watch in 2022.
We’re also hearing rumblings about Republican legislative challengers in some of our South King County swing legislative districts like the 30th and 47th - it’s critical that we hold these districts, so make sure folks are ready to support our Democrats in these LDs!
So with candidates coming forward, action is heating up! We all need to be ready to give our all in 2022 and overcome the typical challenges of a midterm election in order to win across Washington. Which brings me to...
Our Coordinated Kickoff Fundraiser - I wanted to remind you all about our Coordinated Campaign Kickoff Fundraiser coming up next Thursday, December 9th! We know 2022 is going to be a big year, and it’s critical that we have all of your support to run the very best campaigns we can to win across Washington. Our Coordinated Campaign is proven to be a lean and effective voter contact machine - we’ve been nationally recognized for effective and innovative programs, while having a far smaller budget than other state parties like Wisconsin and Ohio - but we can’t count on big national support to make this all possible. We need Washingtonians to step up to make sure we can fund the campaign work we need to win in 2022.
Senator Patty Murray is joining the event program as our live keynote speaker – rounding out a bill that includes Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, several of our great 2021 Rooted to Win candidates, and our new Democratic Secretary of State, Steve Hobbs!
In recognition of all you do for our Party, we would like to invite you to attend the event at a reduced rate! Please follow this link to purchase a discounted, $25 ticket!
https://act.myngp.com/Forms/8454807271058179840
We hope you can make it!
Sen. Patty Murray and Veterans’ Legislation - President Biden signed four pieces of legislation into law this week that are truly good for Washington state's veterans. They'll create real economic opportunity for when active-duty service members return home, make college more affordable for veterans and their families, help ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs works for all veterans, and help get veteran moms the care they need.
Legislation like the Hire Veterans Health Heroes Act, the Colonel John M. McHugh Tuition Fairness for Survivors Act, and the Protecting Moms Who Served Act are the sort of policies that we need our Members of Congress to be passing so our veterans get the support they need -- and deserve -- after their service to our country. I’m very glad that our Democratic Congress was able to move these bills through - you can read more about these bills here!
Supreme Court on Roe v Wade - This week, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a Mississippi abortion case that threatens to overturn the legal right to an abortion established by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Making predictions during these appearances is always tricky, but the Court's conservative Justices seemed to signal that they were prepared to throw out decades of precedent and overturn Roe altogether. And judging from the loaded lines of questioning pursued by the Court's archconservatives, things do not look good.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett seemed to suggest that abortion wasn't necessary because people can give their children up for adoption. Justice Brett Kavanaugh deemed the potential overruling of Roe v. Wade a return to "neutrality," comparing it to some of the most celebrated cases in the court's history, including those establishing marriage equality, racial equality, and Miranda rights.
The Court's progressive Justices did warn, forcefully, that overturning Roe would permanently damage the Court's reputation as a nonpartisan institution but the conservative Justices seemed unfazed by this.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor led an expert line of questioning, exposing the consequences that repealing Roe would have, describing how the Supreme Court has supported a woman’s right to abortion for decades, and how legally ungrounded a repeal would be. While she dismantled the right wing’s arguments, we know that the GOP is less concerned about truth and what’s right, and more concerned with exercising whatever power they have, however they can.
This was pretty shocking stuff to watch. I don’t know how long the Court will take to come to a decision (it appears that the ruling is most likely to be announced in June 2022) but the conservative majority put in place by Donald Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell is not encouraging. We need to hold the Democratic Senate this year to ensure that President Biden is able to continue to fill court appointments with his nominees. Republicans in Washington’s own legislature have already introduced bills to ban abortion - even in cases of rape. This is going to be a major issue in next year’s elections.
That’s what we’ve got for this week - happy Friday!
With gratitude,
Tina Podlodowski
