Fellow Democrats – here’s the big news in Washington politics this week:
A New Republican In LD 45
We know the importance of winning the state Senate special elections this year, and the 45th district race is one of the most important. Trump only got 28% of the vote in this Eastside district, opening a great opportunity for Democrats to win this seat.
Republicans have found another candidate for this race, and she’s seriously out of touch with what we need for our state legislature. Jinyoung Lee Englund has spent her entire career working for the Republican Party and politicians, including the RNC, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dino Rossi, the Heritage Foundation, the Rommey/Ryan campaign, and more. Besides her political work, she’s been a lobbyist and spokesperson promoting Bitcoin, an online currency often used to sell drugs, child pornography, and other contraband via the internet.
She’s taken stances well out of the mainstream of the district – anti-choice, denying the importance of fighting climate change, opposing minimum wage increases, and defending Jeb Bush’s infamous “anchor babies” comments during the 2016 campaign. She even opposes the voter-approved estate tax on the estates of the very wealthy and she backed the Bush plan to lower taxes for the richest 1% at the expense of schools and health care.
Englund would be a party-line vote for Republicans on important issues like the state budget, where Republican Senators propose to raise $5.5 billion in property taxes (including an annual $763 property tax increase for the average homeowner in the 45th LD’s Lake Washington School District), raise college tuition, cut essential services like homelessness prevention and early learning for kids, and fail to fully fund education.
With values like these, Jinyoung Englund is clearly the wrong choice for the 45th LD. We all need to unite and support our Democratic candidate to win this critical race!
Internet Privacy Bill Held Up By Republicans
Americans of both parties were shocked when the Republican Congress repealed internet privacy protections put in place by the Obama Administration. Under the Republican bill passed and signed by Trump, your Internet Service Provider will be allowed to sell your private internet browsing history to the highest bidder!
After this breath-taking invasion of privacy, state-level officials got to work. Democratic legislators here in Washington introduced legislation to protect your internet privacy, and on Friday the House moved the legislation out of committee towards the floor for a vote.
But the Republican Senate doesn’t seem interested in acting on this important issue. Under pressure from lobbyists for Comcast and other telecom companies, Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler told reporters this week that he isn’t interested in acting on the bill this year.
It’s clear – if we want our privacy protected, we need a Democratic Senate. Schoesler will do whatever Comcast tells him to instead of representing our needs and concerns. This is yet another issue which shows how important it is that we retake the state Senate this year!
Action You Can Take To Help
1. Volunteer To Help Us Retake State Senate!
We’ve got a great shot to win back our state Senate this year with Manka running in the 45th LD and Republicans seats up in the 31st and 7th districts as well – but we’ll need your help.
Republican Party Chair Susan Hutchison has vowed to raise $5 million from elite donors to fund the race for the 45th LD, and with Jinyoung Englund’s career connections to GOP special interests, there’s no doubt they’ll have plenty of money. We’re going to have to win the old-fashioned way – with people power and organizing. But we need you to be a part of that.
Sign up here and we will be in touch with you about helping us win these critical special elections.
2. Help Win A Congressional Seat!
We have a chance to win a Congressional seat back from the Republicans in Georgia next Tuesday – Jon Ossoff is running a great campaign for the Congressional seat vacated by Tom Price, and we have a very real chance to win! Jon is an investigative journalist who has uncovered wrongdoing by corrupt politicians, organized crime, military contractors, and foreign governments and held them accountable to keep America safe and save taxpayers’ money. He’s running to create jobs, raise the minimum wage, and defend civil liberties. You can learn more about Jon here or sign up here to make get-out-the-vote phone calls from here in Washington. We all need to pitch in to help win this one by next Tuesday!
3. Help Fund Our Grassroots Organizing – Join The Resistance!
We’ve rolled out our new program to fund grassroots field organizing across the state – The Resistance! We’ve heard from the activists of the party that field organizing working with local party organizations is the most effective thing we can do to help, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. This is an exciting new program that will help us build the progressive movement, win elections, and retake our state and our country!
Click here to find out more and help fund our grassroots efforts at $3, $7 or $14 dollars a month – even $27 – makes a huge difference! Thanks for considering and again, here is the link.
Thank you for your support!
