WA GOP Remains Trump’s Party as Top Republican Statewide Official Bungles Candidate Filing Week
Predictable Errors at SOS’s Office Mirrors Incompetent Leadership from the White House
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | May 15, 2020
SEATTLE — This week, as candidates all across Washington filed for office, Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman’s VoteWA system was riddled with bugs prompting her Democratic challenger Rep. Gael Tarleton to call for an immediate audit. Meanwhile, the rest of the Washington Republican Party continued its march towards another historic defeat in November in lock-step with Donald Trump:
- WA GOP Stays Course Against Public Opinion: Public opinion poll, after poll, after poll, after poll, after poll shows the vast majority of Washingtonians and Americans support strong public health measures like the ones Governor Inslee and Democrats in Olympia have put forward, and yet the Washington GOP is running on mass infection, herd immunity, and partisan stunts.
- GOP Gubernatorial Candidates Take Pro-Trump Pledge: Every single GOP candidate for governor isn’t politically distancing themselves from President Trump, they are embracing his failed leadership and his agenda to “terminate” health care for more than 550,000 and strip pre-existing condition protections more than 3.1 million Washingtonians ….during a pandemic.
- WA GOP Silent on Anti-Science Cover-up: Not a single Washington Republican leader condemned the Trump administration’s decision to suppress the advice of CDC scientists, in the same week that the president unveiled his new strategy to reduce coronavirus infections: just deny that Americans are dying.
- Anti-Science That Threatens Lives and Jobs: The GOP opening plan, supported and pushed by members of the state GOP and candidates for office, is mass infection and death. Their calls for “herd immunity” are reckless, irresponsible, and not based on any scientific or health expert guidelines. These dangerous prescriptions betray every health care and essential worker on the frontlines and the sacrifice of millions of Washingtonians who are staying safe and following health guidelines. The WA GOP has yet to put forward a single public health expert to support this mass infection plan. And worst of all, these protests and mass gatherings make it harder for our state to reopen our economy and get back to work.
- Anti-Domestic Violence Protections: Yes really. This isn’t a typo. On Saturday, against the wishes of prosecutors and local sheriffs, Washington Republican Leadership blocked an extension of emergency protections for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
“For every position on the ballot this fall, the Washington State GOP is putting forward candidates who simply aren’t fit for office and aren’t up to the challenge this pandemic presents for our state,” said Tina Podlodowski, Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. “While millions of Americans are out of work and tens of thousands are dying of COVID-19, the WA GOP’s only response has been to cover up for the president’s incompetent and chaotic mismanagement of this crisis — a political strategy that will earn them another landslide defeat in November.”
