‍“Thank you!” to the CCRP
Clark County Republicans, we want to thank all of you who participated in the wonderful Clark County Republican Party Convention yesterday, at the Fairgrounds. We had 285 delegates and alternates attended. With guests we had 335 at our convention.
We want to also thank the dozens of volunteers who spent hundreds and hundreds of hours for the past few months working behind the scenes to make yesterday a success. WSRP Chairman Jim Walsh told the assembled crowd it was the best organized County Convention he had seen!
For all those people who stepped up and were elected to represent Clark County as a Delegate to the WSRP State Convention in Spokane in April, thank you. Now you MUST register ASAP (11:59 PM Monday night) and pay the $150 minimum registration fee. (Here). If you want to attend other events, you can “update” your registration later or do so now for the Friday night banquet or other events. For details on the various events and schedule, click here for the full set of options.
We look forward to leading the Clark County contingent in Spokane April 18-20th. There are three hotels with room rates for the republican party convention here. Several people have also chosen to look for AirBnB rooms and are sharing with friends.
The State Convention will provide delegates the opportunity to endorse a republican candidate for 9 statewide candidates, plus the US Senate and each Washington state member of Congress. This is a hugely important opportunity for your voice to be heard not only in our Governor's race, but our Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Public Lands Commissioner, State Auditor, Lt. Governor, and Insurance Commissioner.
Core Principles and Platform
We would like to offer special kudos to Kirk VanGelder and the people who reviewed our Core Principles and gave our Platform a major upgrade. This is the first time since 2016 this has been done. There were some appropriate suggestions made to tweak a few items at the convention. We look forward to the final version being uploaded on the CCRP website soon!
Initiatives
Recently, Glen Morgan (We the Governed) did a long interview with Brian Heywood about various aspects of the 6 Initiatives from Let’s Go Washington. He broke it into three 14 to 18 minute segments. It’s worth your time to learn more about the games the legislature played regarding public hearings, the 3 initiatives that shortly become law, and the remaining 3 initiatives that will be on the Nov. 2024 ballot. Watch each of the 3 videos here. This background will help you inform your neighbors about each topic that they will be seeing this fall.Â
New Leg District Maps
On Friday, a judge picked a new map for Washington state legislative districts. This was based on a lawsuit brought alleging minority hispanics in the Yakima area were underrepresented in the map adopted two years ago. (Story here). Several jurisdictions and the republican party are considering appeals and seeking a stay on the judge’s ruling.
The new map makes a significant change to the 17th LD, and takes it into Klickitat County. According to data on Dave’s Maps (here) the new 17th is 50.9 percent democrat voting and 47.7 percent republican. This is based on 2016 to 2022 voting patterns.Â
The new 18th LD is 50.3 percent republican and 48.1 percent democrat voting. The new 49th LD is 59.7 percent democrat and 38.6 percent republican. The 20th LD is 64.3 percent republican and 34.3 percent democrat.
From one news report:
The new map means changes for three Republican senators.
It pushes GOP Sen. Nikki Torres of Pasco, the chamber’s lone Republican Latina, out of the 15th District into the neighboring 16th. State law will allow her to finish her term – which runs through 2026 – even though she doesn’t live within the boundaries.
However, she’d need to move into the redrawn 15th to seek re-election. Or she could move into the newly drawn 14th district and run this year. A third option is she could challenge fellow Republican Sen. Perry Dozier of Waitsburg who is up for reelection in the 16th district this year.
The new map splits Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. That means Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, who represents the 12th District, finds himself in the 7th District now served by Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy.Â
On Friday, he announced he’ll move the short distance to Wenatchee, where he grew up, in order to remain in the 12th district and run for re-election this year.
Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, represents the former 14th district but is now in the 15th district. His term expires this year. It wasn’t immediately clear Friday if he would relocate in order to run.
In the House, Republican Reps. Chris Corry of Yakima and Gina Mosbrucker of Goldendale, who currently represent the 14th district, will both be in new districts. Corry will be in the 15th and Mosbrucker in the 17th.
Filing Week
This year, filing week for candidates is May 6-10. This includes Precinct Committee Officers! If you would like to serve your community as a PCO, we welcome your involvement and suggest you attend our PCO 101 training on March 27th at the CC GOP HQ if you’ve never been a PCO before or would like a refresher. (here).
Additionally the following positions are up for election this cycle. The Senator and both Representatives in the 17th, 18th, 49th, and 20th Legislative Districts. Clark County Council positions in District 3 and 4.Â
As always, we are here to serve you.
Sincerely,
Matt Bumala, Anne O’Neill, and John Ley
