In 2024, Washington state races will include: Governor, Attorney General, and Insurance Commissioner, just to name a few. The one major thing about these races – none of them will include an incumbent. This means we are starting (mostly) on equal footing. It will be imperative for conservatives to work together to get good people elected into positions so that we can see an effective change in our state. But will we?
One of the biggest issues we have had is what seems to be the inability to work together toward a common goal. In 2022, we had an opportunity to take more seats in our legislation, but we didn’t. Why? We had Republicans running against each other in an off-election year that could have been decisive, rather than spending time and effort working together toward a common goal. We know you can’t stop someone from running and being primaried by another conservative isn’t the issue as much as those who lost rarely supported the person who won. (Joe Kent’s race is a good example of this.)
Next year, the WSRP [Washington State Republican Party] caucus will include an election convention to endorse candidates prior to filing week. This will give Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs) the opportunity to not only hear from the candidates who want to run, but to do an early endorsement prior to filing week. This action will allow Republicans the opportunity to support one candidate, rather than splitting the vote. This will not be a top-down decision, but a bottoms-up decision – the way things are supposed to be.
One thing the Democrats seem to do better is stand up and get behind their choices. They stand singularly and manage not to drag their in-fighting out into the public eye. Rather, they keep it behind closed doors. Further, they take action in their decisions rather than doing nothing and complaining about what is taking place. They have a strong, active volunteer base who will do the work. They use time-tested strategies (such as the Saul Alinsky method) to attack, harass and attempt to bully people into compliance. As well as putting their money into action. Ballot harvesting? No problem. We have seen the negative side of what the liberal movement can do. However, not all Democrats fall into this category.
It may surprise you to learn there are also conservative Democrats who don’t want to see the world implode. These are the people who want to fight for the rights of children to be children. The ones who want to protect freedom of speech and second amendment rights. They believe in the Constitution. They are the unicorns among what the liberal movement has become. However, they DO exist. They may not have decided to work across party lines yet. We see more “walk away Dems” as they feel their party is failing them. As their party has become more influenced by Marxism, Communism, and Socialism.
Republicans can’t fall into the same pit that the “hard Dems” who believe in only following party lines are in. As conservatives, we should become flexible and know that each person needs to be judged on their own merit. We need to stop assuming that everyone is coming from the same place and not only listen, but hear. We need to open the doors of communication so that we have full representation. Not a one-sided, “my way or the highway”, leaning political machine that exists to think “we serve it” rather than the intended, “they serve the people” mentality. True balance comes from true representation.
Perhaps that is a dream and won’t work. We are where we are now, not from an overnight decision, but from years of careful planning. In order to push things in the other direction, we need to put things back in order. Something that will take time. We can start with prayer, action, and becoming united.