Although it may not be too visible after the blue wave of the Nov. 7 general election, there’s still a tinge of red in local politics.
Despite the significant sweep Democrats made both statewide and nationally, area Republicans are already planning a comeback.
“I view this in the long term as an opportunity,” said King County GOP chairman Michael Young, who said the party is still analyzing the impact of the recent Democratic majority.
The new majorities in Washington, D.C. and strengthened positions in Olympia aren’t necessarily a result of a change in philosophy in the country, Young said. With scandals in Washington, D.C., voters deserved to turn some conservatives out of office, he acknowledged, saying he also suspects “straight ticket voting” came into play.
“It was a very Democratic year,” Young said. “I can’t explain it any other way.”
In the 32nd District, where three incumbent Democrats were re-elected, Young attributes this to the vast Democrat population in the area.
“The (32nd) district is overwhelmingly Democrat,” said Young. “We don’t anticipate very often to pick up a seat there.”
It was hoped that some fighting among Democrats would have helped Republican David Baker in his bid for the state senate seat, said Young. Baker lost to incumbent state Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, who got 69 percent of votes in the King County portion of the district.
In the 44th District, which includes Mill Creek, now-lame duck Republican state Sen. Dave Schmidt said his party needs to become more pragmatic and less ideological, particularly on issues like transportation, health care and education.
“We have to have an ideological shift to the middle,” he said. “If we stay on the far right, we should plan to be in the minority.”
Schmidt said part of the reason for the Democratic swing has been an influx of what he called “Microsoft wealth” moving into South Snohomish County and King County’s Eastside.
“They’re more pragmatic and independent. They don’t like the hard conservative right’s message,” he said.
Schmidt cited how the party not only opposed every gas tax increase to fund transportation repairs, but failed to offer any alternative solutions.
“People are willing to spend money if it’ll solve a problem,” he said.
Republicans also face an uphill battle in the First Legislative District, where Democrats like state Reps. Mark Ericks and Al O’Brien and Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe have dominated.
Republicans face two challenges there. First, part of the district is in North King County, a solid, Democratic stronghold. Second, Mountlake Terrace’s 19 precincts go Democratic year after year, said John Bush, who chairs the district for the Snohomish County Republican Party.
“As goes Mountlake Terrace, so goes the district,” he said.
And King County has not been any friendlier for Republican candidates, he added.
“We’ve had three elections in the last six years where the Republican candidate won on the Snohomish side only to be offset by the voting on the King County side,” Bush said. “King County has tipped us in the Democratic direction the last three elections.”
Bush said he’s encouraged by some of the young, up-and-coming Republican candidates on the horizon, people like Joshua Freed, Mark Lamb, Leo Van Hollebeke and Jason Bontrager. Each, with the exception of Van Hollebeke, is in his 20s or early 30s. And, in the four years Bush has chaired the party’s district efforts, the number of Republican precinct committee officers has tripled, from 20 to 60.
“We have a bench, a farm team, if you will,” Bush said.
A dearth of GOP candidates in the 21st District – all three Democrat incumbents ran unopposed – dealt the party a blow.
Regardless of the reason, the GOP in Snohomish County must refocus its energy on issues affecting voters in their everyday lives if they are going to regain power, district Republicans said.
“As far as where Republicans want to head from here, candidates will have to make a point of bringing solutions to the table in areas people care about (such as) education, transportation, keeping a balanced budget while keeping an acceptable tax burden,” said Eric Earling.
Earling, a member of the Snohomish County Charter Review Commission and son of Dave Earling, a former Edmonds City Council president, said, “Big, hot-button issues are important, but people aren’t putting them at the top of their agenda.”
Earling said the GOP’s shellacking could be attributed to a perceived weak stance by the party on immigration, gay marriage and abortion.
Earling, who works for the U.S. Department of Education, said he’s not active in party politics at the local level. He thinks of himself as a “local Republican who’s active in the community.”
For Renee Radcliff Sinclair, a Republican and former state legislator, “There’s nothing to do but pick up and go on.”
Sinclair, a 14-year veteran of the state House of Representatives who now works as director of Congressional and public affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said, “The average voter is more concerned about ‘what are you doing about the roads I drive on every day … and my kids’ schools?’ They want to see results in their everyday lives.”
Sinclair, a north Lynnwood area resident, said, “What the party needs to do is get back to the basic message of … what the Republican Party can do to make their everyday lives better.”
Peggy Pritchard Olson, who serves on the non-partisan Edmonds City Council, said, “The saddest thing for me is that (moderate Republicans in the state) Legislature just got decimated … and they didn’t even have the power in Olympia, anyway.”
Pritchard Olson said she is more active in her support of the GOP at the state level and beyond than the local level, because, “They tend to be extreme.”
She said, “(President) Bush poisoned the well” for candidates in Washington state. If there is an upside, she said it is that “the Democrats have two years to do well and if they don’t, it’ll open the door for the Republicans in a presidential election year.”
The daughter of the late Rep. Joel Pritchard, a Republican from the First District who served in Congress for 12 years, Pritchard Olson urged all candidates to return to more civil discourse in their campaigns and show willingness to work across the aisle.
“You don’t make an enemy out of your opponent. You’re going to need him,” Pritchard Olson said, paraphrasing her father.
Enterprise reporters Brooke Fisher, John Santana, Sue Waldburger and Oscar Halpert contributed to this report.
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