As someone who's recently moved to WA, I have to ask. What is wrong with the WA GOP that they're so irrelevant? Do they just have no somewhat competent candidates? Or is it more a branding issue? Gotta be some reason that they haven't won in literally decades.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s when Washington State was a swing state, the WA GOP M.O. was to run by demonizing King County in general and Seattle specifically. This sometimes worked until growth in the Greater Seattle region rendered the strategy unworkable. The sign the tipping point had been reached was when three-term incumbent U.S. Senator Slade Gorton was defeated by Maria Cantwell in 2000 in an ultra-close race. Cantwell only won five counties in that race but racked up huge margins in King County.
As the 2000s wore on, the WA GOP continued the same losing strategy even as Seattle and King County got more populous. The result is irrelevance in statewide races. The WA GOP remains competitive at the district level.
I was living in Seattle at the time and remember that race well! I believe it took around 2 weeks and 1 or 2 recounts before the race was finally decided.
It was kind of shocking at the time given that WA lurched pretty far rightward in the '94 midterms and there were some pretty right-wing crazies running for statewide offices then: Linda Smith against Patty Murray in '98 and Ellen Craswell against Gary Locke for governor in '96. Is Pam Roach still haunting the state capitol these days?
