Washington Congressional Candidate Chris Armitage vs COVID-19

Chris Armitage is a progressive running for Congress in the Spokane area of eastern Washington, a seat occupied by Trump toadie and enabler Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Chris, who served abroad in the U.S. Air Force, says he's running because "it’s time the working people of Eastern Washington have a voice that doesn’t sell them out to the highest bidder." Blue America endorsed him back in January and this week we were thrilled to see him present his constituents with a bold, comprehensive response plan for the battling the pandemic. Please take a look at it below and consider helping him replace a hard core, do-nothing conservative with a working class progressive by clicking on the thermometer on the right and contributing what you can in these tough times for us all.

COVID-19 presents an unprecedented threat to our nation. Dealing with it requires a bold response on par with the actions taken during World War II. As we observed from the rapid spread of Coronavirus COVID-19 in other nations, the result of continued inaction will be the death of millions domestically. This is a summary of how we can mobilize all resources at our disposal a nation to create a united front and save lives as a national community. We must unite against these threats if we are to save more than just our economy.

COVID-19 DOMESTIC RESPONSE

UTILIZING THE DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT

Temporarily nationalize the medical supply chain using the Defense Production Act.

• Create or augment medical fluid, gear, and equipment production lines with active duty military. Research long-term supply chain disruptions and bring some of this production capacity back to the US permanently.
• Use military transportation assets and personnel to condense time between production stages and reduce the time between production and market.
• Mandate production of required medical protective gear and equipment (masks, gowns, gloves, ventilators, etc.) from companies with the capability and provide grants to do so.
• Mandate production of medical fluids (hand-sanitizer, hydrogen peroxide, etc.) from companies with the capability and provide grants to do so.
• Provide grants to companies building 3D printers capable of mass producing medical gear and equipment.
• Make current 3D printer designs for medical gear and equipment open-source and mandate production from companies with the capability.
• Begin a competition similar to Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) to design a 3D printed cost-effective ventilator on an accelerated timeline (30-60 days).
• Provide grants to companies to build and deploy mobile hospitals
• Will generate tens of thousands of jobs.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY FOR ALL

Heavily subsidize or even temporarily nationalize the renewable energy industry in the US, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process.

• Saudi Arabia and Russia were able to further crash the US and world economy by infighting over oil supply. Thousands of Americans in oil and shale companies are losing their jobs.
• Federally contract the erection of solar energy infrastructure across the country with immediate start dates.
• Provide substantial grants to companies to build and expand production o renewable energy storage (a.k.a. batteries).
• Use military engineers and planners to identify ideal areas for solar farm placement and use the resources of the federal government to begin purchase of required land.
• Workers in the oil and shale industry will get dual-priority placement in new renewable energy jobs, the shared priority will be paired with current subject matter experts in the relevant fields.
• Provide grants to companies that can create online courses to certify people in operation and maintenance of solar systems.

CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY

Stipulate that a bailout of the Airlines is contingent on activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) to help transport all the supplies and equipment we will create.

• Suspension of CEO/Executive Pay Increases during crisis, Suspension of Stock Buybacks for duration of crisis
• Mandate Paid Sick Leave, Freeze Layoffs
• Turn diminished demand for passenger travel to increased cargo traffic.
• Ensures support crews can keep their jobs.
• Ensure we don’t diminish readiness by overburdening our vital military airlift assets and crews.

CENTRALIZING EXPERTS AND OUR RESPONSE

Create a new Joint Task Force or the 1st Homefront Support Wing (HSW), primarily comprised of Civil Engineers, Supply Chain Managers, Vehicle Fleet/Transportation Specialists, Aircraft Mechanics.

• This would be an extended deployment for all personnel assigned. Families would remain at home station. If the requirement extends beyond 1 year, begin rotations.
• Place a well qualified Air Force Logistics Officer in Charge. (i.e. Brigadier General Hurry or Brigadier General David J. Sanford).
• Put logistics officers (Army and Air Force) in charge of procurement and disbursement of goods.
• Model off of Supply Chain Operations Squadrons (SCOS) and Vehicle Supply Chain Operations Squadrons.
• Establish a rapid response cell that sends military logistics experts to hard-hit areas or companies in need to diagnose logistics problems and implement solutions.
• Place an Army Logistics Officer in charge of a geographically dispersed vehicle fleet comprised primarily of long-haul tractor trailers and pickup-trucks. Ensure sufficient drivers are attached to the fleet.

Place civil engineering officers in charge of rapid engineering responses within the United States, modeled off the 1st Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group (ECEG) in CENTCOM. Place a former 1 ECEG Commander in charge.

• Begin constructing field hospitals outside hard hit areas or where needs are projected.
• Create designs for hospitals that can be rapidly executed by civilian construction companies.
• Rapidly repurpose government buildings into hospitals. Many states are also mobilizing plans to convert unused dormitories (from closed universities) and hotels into temporary housing for quarantine or medical care. Kuwait is using several resorts as quarantine facilities, for example.
• For people who've been exposed but are not yet symptomatic.

Include a rapidly deployable Services Squadron to respond to dire need throughout the country.

• Provide with specialized, mobile kitchens, tents, and beddown equipment.

COVID-19 FOREIGN POLICY RESPONSE

Part of the reason we are in such a precarious position as a nation, with vulnerabilities left unattended, is because the U.S. has degraded our standing and relationships with the international community for years. Whether through endless wars, trade deals that enable human rights abuses, or backing out of agreements previous presidents have entered into; these are not behaviors that would gain our nation support during challenging times. If we hope to receive a helping hand when we are in need, we must be ready to extend the same kindness to others. Selfishness begets selfishness, and a nation that has no true allies is a nation that is lost and alone like any individual person who has spurned friends, family, and community members.

MOBILIZING THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY

Organizing a multilateral response

• Call for virtual UN Security Council Meeting
• Call for virtual UN General Assembly Meeting
• Call a joint virtual meeting with Canada and EU

Immediate humanitarian relief

• Immediately remove sanctions on Iran, Venezuela and North Korea on a temporary basis (i.e. 60 days), except for weapons. Include automatic renewal of relief at intervals dependent on the status of the COVID-19 situation.

Bolstering fair trade to support American worker

• Declare global free trade if countries reciprocate.
• Immediately remove tariffs on Chinese goods if they agree to reciprocate.

LEADING A TRULY GLOBAL RESPONSE

Afghanistan

• Express support for the Ghani government.
• Facilitate negotiations with the Taliban for an immediate, indefinite ceasefire between Taliban and Government Forces.
• Begin airdropping food and medical supplies to tribes, Afghan government forces, and particularly hard-hit regions.

China

• Immediately begin coordination between American, Chinese, and International Scientists on COVID-19 origins, containment, treatment, vaccines, etc.
• Take initiative to end all tariffs if China reciprocates.
• Coordinate with China on measures the international community can take.

Iraq

• Express support for the Alawi government.
• Begin airdropping food and medical supplies to villages, government forces, and particularly hard-hit regions.

Iran

• Temporarily remove all sanctions on non-military equipment.
• Facilitate humanitarian aid to Iranian people.
• Begin trading in food and sustenance items with Iran without restriction.

North Korea

• Temporarily remove all sanctions on non-military equipment, contingent on humanitarian aid and organizations being allowed into the country.
• Coordinate with China and South Korea to begin humanitarian aid shipments to North Korea.

Venezuela

• Immediately remove all sanctions and enter into talks with the Maduro government to allow flow of humanitarian aid.

How A Progressive's Bumper Sticker Ended Up Next To Trump Bumper Stickers.

Washington's 5th congressional district takes up the entire eastern end of the state, from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and right along the Idaho border. The biggest population center is Spokane and most of the votes come from Spokane County, a swing county. The other three counties are Walla Walla, another swing county, Whitman, a blue county and Stevens, a red county. It's a winnable district, although Democrats have been doing badly there in recent years. Obama lost the district both times he ran and Trump crushed Hillary 52.2% to 39.1%. Last year, a former state legislator from the district, Lisa Brown, went toe-to-toe in the money-raising department with conservative incumbent Cathy McMorris Rodgers-- $5.7 million each-- but still lost by 9 points. Brown's moderate, New Dem message didn't work, not even in an anti-red wave election year.

This year's Democratic candidate, Chris Armitage, isn't a former legislator and isn't going to raise $5.7 million. Nor is he going to align with the New Dems or any other faction of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Chris Armitage is a working class FDR kind of Democrat who is speaking to working class families about working class issues from a working class perspective. Blue America endorsed him today and he wrote this guest post to introduce himself.

Winning Back A "Trump District" With A Progressive Message
-by Chris Armitage

“What are we doing differently?” I get asked this often. My name is Christopher Armitage and I am a 27-year-old who has never run for office. As an Air Force Security Forces veteran, former first responder, and 911 operator, politics was not exactly a direction my life seemed to be headed.

In mid-December, I sat down with a family in our district. They told me about how their son died of stage 4 cancer at 19 years old. It was entirely preventable, but the insurance company would not approve payment for a test they deemed “exploratory.” By the time Colin told his football coach he wasn’t feeling well and was rushed to the hospital it would be too late. The cancer had, by the doctor’s measure, been advancing undetected since age 12 and would ultimately take his life at the young age of 19.

Once Colin's mother Trina finished sharing his story, I told her about how, while Active Duty, I had incredible insurance that involved no profit margins or insurance haggling. When a military doctor felt you should get a test, they sent you to get it because your safety was their top priority, not billing. When they sent us for those tests, the military doctors didn’t need to fill out endless forms to justify their referrals and recommendations. Doctors just focused on one thing-- being doctors to patients in need.

Why does someone come to a person running for office and share their story? Simple: advocacy and change. Because they hope to prevent future tragedies from hurting others like they have been hurt. So I told this family about how I was simultaneously receiving incredible military healthcare while I was helping a family member of my own out from under crippling medical debt. I told her I had met a woman two weeks before who was splitting a single insulin prescription between three family members. We talked about how our corrupt and predatory for-profit healthcare system is destroying lives in our communities every single day.

Concerned friends and family immediately asked: “How are you going to pay for it?” It’s a question we get daily anytime we bring up how critical a single-payer healthcare system is. But this is not something we expected to hear from a loved one to a grieving mother. It was hard for me to hear that question during such an emotionally charged discussion. However, as a mother who faced the preventable death of her son first hand, she has turned that tragedy into a life of advocacy and she kept telling us her son’s story. Once the conversation was done and everyone was leaving, one of Colin’s relatives walked up to me and surprised me with a big hug.

They said “I am a Trump supporter, and I disagree with you on some things, but I know you’re straightforward. I want to put your bumper sticker on my car next to my Trump bumper sticker.” He is a family man, works at an auto repair shop, and really wants to see healthcare and jobs come to his district.

What about the other bumper stickers out there? As a former 911 operator, the smallest of three brothers, and a stand up comic, I have been in many positions where avoiding physical confrontations was ideal. Early on in the campaign, we had the idea of running a Facebook ad targeted to Trump supporters. The ad had my picture on it and said “Mad at Democrats? Feel free to call and yell at one.” So, needless to say, someone must be pretty mad to call the number in that ad. They were.

Sure, some people cursed at me and hung up, but for those who stayed on the line? All my life experiences from serving in the military to staying on the phone talking people down from self-harm and suicide to getting a bully laughing became incredibly useful. I actually made some friends over those few days. Some of them I spent hours on the phone with. Most importantly, though, I discovered what was darkening people’s hearts. Economic despair, healthcare challenges, underemployment and unemployment, these are what we are all concerned about out here-- regardless of our political parties.

We have an interesting story from Washington State’s 5th congressional district. Former Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D) held this seat until the early ’90s until he was defeated by a Republican challenger who focused his campaign on term limits. Even in defeat, Tom Foley’s legacy still resonates here. A few months ago I met Sally, an 89-year-old fellow comedian who remembers Tom Foley’s first campaign, and she put me in touch with his widow, Heather. Both of these incredible women echoed the same sentiment on how he won even the most rural of counties: he did it by visiting every small town tavern across the district.

“Yeah, I know Tom. Saw him at the grocery store more than a few times” was a common refrain throughout the community. I doubt many members of Congress, let alone Speakers of the House, could claim to have such a close relationship with the working-class members of their district. He was the kind of man who would take a minute to chat with your 12-year-old child about whatever they wanted to talk about. Those are the conversations and relationships where a person shows their genuine passion and care for a community. Those are the barside chats and grocery store run-ins that win votes in our district.

Today, under 25 years of Republican House Representation in this district, we currently have counties with over 10% unemployment and more than 1/3rd of residents in some counties under the poverty line-- triple the national average. In Walla Walla public schools, over 60% of the students are on reduced or free lunch. We are struggling out here and we are feeling left behind by our representative. We are ready for representation that is part of this community and someone who keeps themselves accountable to the people of Eastern Washington.

We can win this race. My opponent is Trump’s Washington State Fundraising Chair, someone who has sought and received the endorsement of white nationalist leaders locally, who has abandoned us with bill after bill crafted to bring in more money for corporate donors while selling out our farmers, our families, our livelihoods.

We will win this race by bringing a campaign directly to the people that speaks to folks with respect and that demands accountability. Americans, regardless of their political party, know corruption is a problem in our political system. The same people who have continuously sold us out and fought to keep us poor for decades will not be the ones to fix this. We have to fix it ourselves. We will win by building a campaign focused on improving the lives of people who live here in Washington’s 5th District, not lobbyists and billionaires in D.C. That message resonates from the amber grain fields of the Palouse to the dense green forests in Colville.

This is what we are doing differently. This is why we are going to win.

Republicans May Be Sorry For Rigging The Way Congress Works

In Sunday's Spokesman-Review, the most read newspaper in Washington's 5th district, Lisa Brown published an important OpEd, Divided We Fall. "The situation in America today," she began, "with pipe bombs mailed to political figures, the shootings of Representatives Gabby Giffords and Steve Scalise, and the killing of journalists, here and abroad, should be a wake-up call for us to protect our democracy. Leaders of all political parties must denounce violence and threats of violence as ways to address political differences, without qualification, without attempting to justify or rationalize, and without pointing fingers at our political opponents."

We should teach our children and remind each other that free speech, free assembly, and voting are how we resolve political differences in America. Doing that can help rebuild trust and bridge the toxic divides that plague our politics today.

All political leaders should reaffirm our support for the free press. President Trump was wrong to call the media the “enemy of the people,” and wrong to speak approvingly of physical violence against a journalist. A “body slam” could be metaphorical, but in this case, it was real, and nothing to joke about or condone.

...I call on leaders in both political parties to take action to set a different tone. This means not only not succumbing to the rhetoric and obvious attempts to divide us, but resolving important issues like health care, immigration, and budgets, in a bipartisan way. The failure of this Congress and of my opponent to make meaningful progress on these issues that are important to Eastern Washington’s families and economy, is the main reason I left my position as WSU chancellor to run for Congress.

...I believe the root of the toxicity in the current political environment is connected to growing income inequality, and associated economic and social insecurity experienced by many Americans. And these trends are unfortunately exacerbated by policies of this Congress... Above all, to improve trust, and bridge these divides, we need to tell the people the truth-- the truth matters and trust is impossible without it.

Lisa is talking about bi-partisan, even non-partisan, norms of our society, norms that are unrecognized by a profoundly ignorant, self-centered illegitimate "president," who has trampled on them and dragged the rest of his party along for the ride. That ride is likely to get very bumpy very soon. And I don't just mean, bad election results a week from tomorrow. "A GOP rule change," wrote Anthony Adragna for Politico Sunday, "handed unilateral subpoena authority to many House committee chairmen. Democrats cried foul, but now they hope to use it against Trump." Another clear example of the GOP stomping all over the norms. So what happens now? Democrats who are looking forward to investigating the kleptocratic and fascistic Trump Regime will have the Republicans to thank "for one of their most potent tools-- a sweeping subpoena authority that Democratic lawmakers denounced as an abusive power grab three years ago." The shoe is about to change feet-- on 14 of the 21 standing committees where the GOP rules allow chairmen to issue subpoenas without any bipartisan cooperation. When the Republicans were passing the new rules, some of them worried that giving committee chairmen subpoena power would eventually come back to haunt them. It's about to.

House Republicans changed the rules in 2015 to allow many of their committee chairmen to issue subpoenas without consulting the minority party, overriding Democrats objections that likened the tactic to something out of the McCarthy era.

Now the weapon that the GOP wielded dozens of times against Barack Obama’s agencies could allow Democrats to bombard President Donald Trump’s most controversial appointees with demands for information. And many Democrats are itching to use it.

“The Republicans have set the standard and, by God, we’re going to emulate that standard,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) told Politico.

Oversight would be one of the few concrete goals that Democrats could accomplish with control of only one chamber of Congress and Trump still in the White House. They have a long list of potential targets, including likely demands for Trump's tax returns and probes into Cabinet members such as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Before the 2015 rule change, most House subpoenas needed at least some bipartisan cover, requiring a majority vote of committee members and consultation with a panel’s ranking member. The change erased those requirements and allowed the chairmen to proceed unilaterally, although the exact rules vary by committee.

Many Democrats argue that Republicans only have themselves to blame for weaponizing the subpoena process, and that their own party should not unilaterally disarm now that the power has been unleashed.

“What goes around comes around,” said former Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI). “Would I expect them to give up the unilateral subpoena power by chairman? No. And I don’t think they should.”

That’s not the uniform viewpoint of everyone in the party. Rep. Bill Foster (New Dem-IL) led a group of 38 Democrats in an October 2016 letter urging GOP leaders to abandon the power during the next Congress. He told Politico he still thinks chairmen should not have it.

“I would continue to oppose unilateral subpoena power,” Foster said in a statement. “During my time in Congress, I have seen the majority party use this power to compel individuals to testify who differ from the committee chairs on policy matters. Committees should be expected to hold a vote on a subpoena to determine if the committee issues a subpoena.”

Most House Democrats think Foster is a pompous, self-serving, spoiled asshole and don't pay any attention to his constant whining. Two of the biggest abusers of the subpoena power were House Financial Services chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and House Science chair Lamar Smith, bother of whom saw what was coming and announced their retirements. Devin Nunes, the poster child for the abuses, will-- if he gets reelected-- be the poster boy for the retribution.

Primary Turn-out Surged. But Far More For Democrats Than For Republicans

Trumpty Dumpty by Nancy Ohanian

On Wednesday Axios posted a fascinating chart about the blue vs red primary surge in swing districts this cycle. You can probably read it if you click on the image:

They compared 19 battleground House districts to see how much of a primary vote surge there was for each party in each district. And there was a surge for each party in each district-- but the surges were disproportionately stronger for the Democrats in every single one of the 19 districts, all of which have Republican congressmen now

Now let me make a few things clear that Axios didn't look at. First off, even in districts where there were non-competitive primaries-- take WA-08-- for example, there were much bigger Democratic voter surges than Republican. The incumbent, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, saw a modest 1.6x jump from the 2014 midterms, the second biggest of any of the 19 districts for a Republican. But that was dwarfed by the 2.8x jump for Democrats who came out in droves to vote for Lisa Brown. And that isn't an outlier... that was the story in every one of these districts.



Look at CA-45, the Orange County district where Trump rubber-stamp Mimi Walters is desperately clinging to life. There were no other Republicans in the primary. However there were 4 Democrats participating, from a right-of-center New Dem, Dave Min, to Katie Porter, who won. But all that activity drive up Democratic participation from 2014 3.3 times among Democrats but just 1.4 times among Republicans.

How about where was no incumbent and there was a real Republican contest? Let's look at the CA-49 race (southern Orange County and northern San Diego County). Darrell Issa had announced he was retiring and the primary was wild-- 9 Republicans and 4 Democrats. You'd think all those Republicans would drive up turnout, right? But no. Democratic turnout zoomed up 2.7 times while GOP turnout lagged at 1.5 times.

It was even worse for Republicans in WI-01, where Paul Ryan withdrew from the race. There were 6 Republicans in the hunt but just 2 Democrats. 61,087 Democrats participated and just 59,870 Republicans. Democrats were so charged up to vote for Randy Bryce-- 36,397 did-- that Democratic voter participation surged two and a half times, while barely ticking up among Republicans at all-- 0.9 times. Ryan's handpicked candidate, corporate lawyer Brian Steil, was endorsed by Trump but he only managed to get 30,883 votes.

There was no circumstance or combination of circumstances that created a greater-- or even equal-- surge among Republicans than there was for Democrats.

Axios says this matters because 'poor turnout has been the scourge of Democrats' efforts to win congressional elections in the last decade. But this data suggests that a surge of anti-Trump enthusiasm could boost their turnout in November-- and not just in already-blue areas, but in parts of the country that could deliver control of the House to the Democrats."

OK, they have that right, but you know who's all wet? The DCCC. Notice that what's driving this is "anti-Trump enthusiasm," not enthusiasm for the shit candidates the DCCC recruited or for the so-called message the Democrats are supposedly pushing. The ridiculously unpopular "big tent" party is incapable to coming top with a popular message-- say Medicare-For-All or Job Guarantee or free state colleges-- because the DCCC recruits so many conservative Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the party. The only thing the DCCC is good at is digging a grave for the Democratic Party and setting in motion another anti-blue wave for the 2022 midterms. When Pelosi listed her 3 inane priorities, the most memorable one was also the most horrible: PayGo. There is no blue wave-- just an anti-red wave.

So how many of these 19 seats will the Democrats take? Probably 17. Possibly 18. And 19 wouldn't be a shock.

Why Are There So Many Zombies Hanging Around Spokane?

The eastern Washington state congressional district (WA-05) is one of the hottest in the country. The highest ranking Republican woman in the House, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a pure Trump enabler and rubber stamp, is under pressure from former majority leader of the Washington state House and former Washington State University University (Spokane), Lisa Brown. The two candidates have raised $6,170,863 so far, far more than any other race in the state. As of the July 18 FEC reporting deadline, McMorris Rodgers had $1,232,499 left in her campaign account and Lisa Brown had $920,575 in her account.

Paul Ryan's Adelson-funded SuperPAC has set up office in the district and is spending a great deal of money to bolster a weak incumbent. McMorris Rodgers has turned to arch-villains like Devin Nunes, one of Putin's favorite comgressmen to help her raise more money. Although WA-05 backed McCain narrowly against Obama-- 51.2% to 46.3%-- Hillary was just the wrong candidate for that district. Bernie was a big winner in the Democratic primary there. Trump beat her 52.2% to 39.1%. Bernie took the 3 biggest counties by big numbers-- Spokane County 78.1-21.7%; Stevens County 80.8% to 18.4% and in Walla Walla County, 70.8-29.2%. If you'd like to contribute to Lisa's campaign, just click on the thermometer on the right.

The PVI is R+8, a point in the wrong direction from 2015. But there are enough independent voters in the district to give Lisa a great overcome the odds. She's running on a strong, forthright campaign embracing, for example, the idea of an economy that is more equitable for American workers. "True economic growth and jobs," she told us, "come from investing in people (through education) and in infrastructure."



One of the things I like most about Lisa is that she understands how to work across the aisle to find shared interests in order to get good, solid legislation passed. That's the advantage of electing experienced, skilled legislators to Congress, people like Ted Lieu, Pramila Jayapal, Karen Bass, Jamie Raskin, Judy Chu, Katherine Clark, Adriano Espaillat...



All that said, the way I first met Lisa was from Krist Novoselic, former bass player with Nirvana. He persuaded me to talk with her based on his own experiences with her. Lisa has always taken the arts seriously. In fact, in the state House, she sponsored the Washington State Motion Picture Competitiveness Program 10 years ago and just renewed last year. The bill helped lay the foundation for the creative economy in eastern Washington resulting in shows like Z Nation, which is filmed in Spokane. In fact, the show likes her so much that they sent a zombie to her campaign announcement event!

What Happened In Washington State On Tuesday?

Well we still don't know all the details. Only around 70% of the votes were counted by Thursday morning in Washington's top-two jungle primaries. But in the statewide race-- Maria Cantwell's reelection-- about twice as many Democrats voted as Republicans. That filtered down to the three crucial congressional races as well. The big picture for the House is that there are 6 Democrats and 4 Republicans in the Washington House congressional delegation. None of the Democrat seats are in jeopardy. But 3 of the Republican seats are. There's a better than 50/50 chance that in January the Washington delegation will be 9 Democrats and one Republican (Dan Newhouse). These are the 4 Republican-held districts with their PVIs:

• WA-03 (Jaime Herrera Beutler): R+4
• WA-04 (Dan Newhouse): R+13
• WA-05 (Cathy McMorris Rodgers): R+8
• WA-08 (open- Dave Reichert): even

Trump won the third district with 49.9%, won the fourth district with 57.9%, won the 5th district with 52.2% and lost the 8th district 44.7%. Thursday morning, Dave Wasserman from the Cook Report tweeted that the 3 districts with big urban/rural divides as exactly where Republicans are apt to be in trouble in November and used as examples the seats occupied by Herrera Beutler (Portland suburbs), McMorris Rodgers (Spokane) and Reichert (Seattle suburbs). Wasserman and most others who follow House elections closely attribute that to "pathetic Republican turnout, which then allows anti-Trump energy in suburbs to put Democrats in contention." That was the real story in Washington on Tuesday.

In the 8th district, Republican voters coalesced around Dino Rossi and with 77.6% of the precincts counted, he was the top voter getter with 49,071. When you combine his vote with the 2 other GOP candidates, the Republican vote in the 8th district adds up to 53,,570. But when you add up all the Democratic votes you get 58,032, a big warning sign for Rossi as we head towards November. At this point, I'd bet on Kim Schrier being the next member of Congress, not Dino Rossi.

The big deal race where no one thought there would be a real battle is WA-05, the eastern third of the state. It's a huge district that includes Spokane and a lot of rural and small-town Washington and the seat is occupied by Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the highest ranking Republican in the House, a dull Trump rubber stamp. Her Trump affinity score is a stunning 97.8, one of the most disgraceful in Congress-- total Trump enabler.

Two-thirds of the WA-05 voters live in Spokane, which was represented by Lisa Brown while she was the Majority Leader of the Washington state House. When she retired from the legislature she was named chancellor of Washington State University (Spokane), where her most important achievement was building a medical school that trains doctor for rural medicine, a crucial development in the lives of the people outside Spokane. On Tuesday she stunned the district by coming within one point of McMorris Rodger-- and that was before the story of McMorris' crackpot fundraiser with Devin Nunes broke. With 78.6% of precincts counted last night (162 of 206), McMorris had 68,475 votes  (47.8%) to Brown's 67,040 (46.8%).

Back in April, the Spokesman-Review was already predicting a tight race, largely based on voters' mostly negative views of Trump.

The race between U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and former WSU Spokane Chancellor Lisa Brown is shaping up to be a bruising race, said H. Stuart Elway of Elway Research Inc.

In a recent survey of 403 registered voters in the district, incumbent McMorris Rodgers had a 6-percentage-point lead over Brown, with 44 percent saying they plan to vote for the Republican incumbent and 38 percent saying they plan to vote for the Democratic challenger. Another 3 percent said they plan to vote for someone else, and 16 percent are undecided.

The overall poll has a margin of error of 5 percentage points, so the race is within the margin and McMorris Rodgers’ lead is “not statistically significant,” Elway said. Being under 50 percent is a worry for any incumbent.

...One of the biggest indicators of how survey respondents say they are likely to vote was their view of the job President Trump is doing. Half of the people polled said they disapprove of the job Trump is doing, while 45 percent said they approve.

When asked whether they “strongly” or “somewhat” approve or disapprove of the job he’s doing, men were about equally divided, with 26 percent saying they strongly approve and 30 percent saying they strongly disapprove.

Yesterday WXLY reported that new numbers have been going better for Brown. "As of Wednesday evening, the Spokane County Elections Office announced that incumbent Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, had 44.25 percent of the vote while Lisa Brown, a Democrat had 50.93 percent of the vote... Typically, primary elections typically see 30 percent of voters cast their ballots at most, but yesterday some 45 percent decided to make their voices heard. “We've seen turnout just skyrocket,” shared Spokane County auditor Vicky Dalton. Please consider contributing to Brown's campaign by clicking on the 2018 Blue America congressional thermometer on the right.

Even before the new numbers had been released, the Spokesman-Review reported that Washington Republicans are in big trouble.

Up and down the long primary ballot, there were signs of unusual Democratic strength and few Republican bulwarks. They start, of course, with the 5th Congressional District, where Democratic challenger Lisa Brown is fewer than 600 votes behind incumbent Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers at the end of the first night’s count.

...In southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, incumbent Republican Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler is at 41 percent, about 5,000 votes ahead of Democrat Carolyn Long. But like Brown, Long has a lead in Clark County, the home of Vancouver, and unlike Brown, she split the Democratic vote with three other candidates.

In the 8th Congressional District-- a suburban, exurban and rural Republican stronghold of King and Pierce counties that was made even stronger in the most recent redistricting by reaching across the Cascades to add Chelan, Douglas and Kittitas counties-- Republican Dino Rossi finished on top of a crowded race for an open seat. Democrat Kim Schrier, a physician, has a lead of less than 1,400 votes for the second spot. But Democrats Jason Rittereiser, a deputy prosecutor, and Shannon Hader, a public health official, finished third and fourth, and the combined total of those three is greater than Rossi’s total at this point.

If Rossi can’t capture the seat in November, it would be the first time it wasn’t in Republican hands since it was created after the 1980 census.

...In Spokane County, Democrats fared better than they have for years in some races, particularly in the 6th Legislative District. Jessa Lewis, a single mom and former national delegate for Bernie Sanders, is nearly 500 votes ahead of Jeff Holy, former law enforcement officer and a three-term House member trying to move up to the state Senate. Kay Murano, an executive director of the Low Income Housing Consortium, is leading incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Volz, the chief deputy county treasurer, by almost 1,500 votes.

Nunes Should Resign From Congress-- And Take Cathy McMorris Rodgers With Him

This morning, conservative writer Jennifer Rubin penned an OpEd, Devin Nunes, Trump's Political Stooge, Is At It Again, based on the Maddow report last night. If you missed it, watch the video above. She wrote that "The Post reports on the secretly recorded remarks of Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) at a fundraiser for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)":

[Nunes] appears to have moved from criticizing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election to strategizing about how to blunt its impact should it imperil President Trump...

In comments captured in an audio recording aired Wednesday by The Rachel Maddow Show, Nunes laid out in stark terms the rationale for preserving the GOP majority in Congress.

“If [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions won’t unrecuse and [special counsel Robert S. Mueller III] won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones, which is really the danger,” Nunes said… “I mean, we have to keep all these seats,” Nunes added. “We have to keep the majority. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away.”

Nunes also suggested the impeachment of Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein is just a matter of “timing,” claiming that impeachment (which has yet to be formally taken up) would impede the Senate confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. (It’s hard to tell if Nunes is offering a weak, illogical excuse for not impeaching Rosenstein or is promising that Rosenstein will get impeached if the GOP keeps its majority in the House.)

Nunes also seemed to imply that a candidate [McMorris Rodgers in this case] would be in trouble if a foreign national gave a candidate stolen information that the candidate later released. (“Well, if that’s the case, then that’s criminal.”) Like Trump, Rudy Giuliani and so many Trump spinners, Nunes seems unaware that soliciting something of value from a foreigner to be used in a campaign is illegal, whether the valuable item is stolen or not.

There is nothing illegal in Nunes’s admissions, nor do they seem particularly new. All but Trump partisans realize that Nunes is acting as the president’s political stooge, not as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. We knew he cared only about protecting Trump, not the country, when he made up the “unmasking” scandal, put out a patently misleading memo concerning the FISA warrant application to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, started demanding confidential documents relating to an ongoing investigation (of Trump and his cronies), had a role in outing a confidential intelligence source and began his crusade to smear the FBI. The admissions, however, do reveal Rodgers, a member of the House leadership, to be joined at the hip with Nunes, perfectly content to let him run amok as a partisan hack. (She at one point seems to try to bolster Nunes’s excuse that they cannot impeach Rosenstein because the Senate would have to take it up and divert attention from the Kavanaugh confirmation.)

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) has played dumb when asked about Nunes’s antics. That’s for the Intel Committee. Not really aware of that. Not something I know much about. That’s preposterous. Not only do Ryan and Rodgers know exactly what Nunes is up to; they are also more than willing to let him raise money for them and to allow him to pursue his base-- pleasing partisan gamesmanship. In short, Ryan and Rodgers are weak, non-leaders who haven’t the nerve or the sense of obligation to remove Nunes from his chairmanship to protect the country’s national security interests. Without Rodgers and Ryan, we might have a responsible House Intelligence Committee chairman.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) tweeted, “Under our Constitution, the duty of Congress is not to clear the President. The duty of Congress is to be a check and balance on the Executive Branch, and to pursue the facts wherever they may lead.” He added, “Devin Nunes should resign for perverting the oath he took.” True, but the very same thing could be said of Ryan and Rodgers, who indulge Nunes. None of them seems to understand the oath of office. If we want representatives to uphold their oaths and quit acting like Trump’s TV lawyers, voters will have to turn the House over to the Democrats. There is no way on Earth that Ryan, Rodgers and Nunes are ever going to put country over party.

Nunes and McMorris Rodgers seem prepared to commit treason on behalf of Trump. They should both resign. I'm not especially a fan of Andrew Janz but he would certainly make a better congressman than Nunes. And McMorris' opponent, Lisa Brown, is one of the best candidates for Congress running anywhere. She's likely to win the contest between them anyway.

Let's Watch 2 Friday Night Videos

The first video is the first TV ad for the Chicagoland district (IL-03) by progressive reformer Marie Newman, the Democrat working to unseat Blue Dog Dan Lipinski, one of the most pro-Trump Democrats in Congress. It's pretty self evident what Marie is doing to create a plausible narrative to replace Lipinski. Recent polling shows that if the messaging in the video gets out to voters in the district, Lipinski will be defeated. Blue America endorsed Newman over a year ago and we have been imploring progressives to contribute to her campaign. See that thermometer a couple of paragraphs down? You can use that to contribute to her campaign. Meanwhile Lipinski's labor support is finally starting to crumble. The SEIU dumped him today and the teachers unions and nurses unions will be likely to be next. In the end he'll probably wind up with nothing but the Republican-oriented building trades unions.

The second video (down the page) isn't an ad. It's a live video shot by an independent group, Save Our Healthcare. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is a big deal in Washington-- perhaps these days, less so in Eastern Washington, which is preparing to defeat her and replace her with Lisa Brown, the former majority leader of the state Senate and end-Chancellor of Washington State University. As Joel Connelly explained on Wednesday for Seatle PI readers, this district, usually just ceded two the gOP without a fight, is going to be one of those ground-zero congressional districts in November-- even if no one has alerted Pelosi and her DCCC yet. "'Follow the money!' is a rule of American politics, wrote Connelly, "and in 2018 the path of political dollars is leading to the Inland Empire-- Spokane and Eastern Washington. The latest Federal Election Commission campaign money filings show a donnybrook shaping up between Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), a Trump backer and member of the House Republican leadership, and her Democratic challenger Lisa Brown. The advantage belongs to the incumbent. At year's end, McMorris Rodgers had $1.069 million in the bank, compared to $450,933 for Brown. McMorris Rodgers took in $587,542 in the last quarter of 2017, while Brown raised $383,871."

In a "normal" year Connelly would be correct. The advantage would be McMorris Rodger's, but this isn't a "normal" year. We're going into a wave election-- an anti-Trump, anti-Republican wave election. Being member of Paul Ryan's inner circle is toxic this year. But more important is some research I've done into wave elections. It shows in both Democratic weaves (like 2006) and Republican waves (like 2010), money doesn't determine who has the advantage, Incumbents as whose part the wave is aimed at, can spent five times more than the challengers are still lose. The challenger does need to have enough money to get her message out effectively-- and Brown is certainly doing that. Outspending her isn't going to save McMorris Rodgers. Base enthusiasm means more than dollars and cents this cycle. And Brown has it; McMorris doesn't.

The 5th Congressional District of Eastern Washington hasn't had a Democratic member of Congress since House Speaker Tom Foley was narrowly upset in 1994. Donald Trump carried the district in 2016, while McMorris Rodger was reelected by a 60-40 margin.

But the Democratic Party is coming back to life, witness turnout of 459 people at a Spokane training session for Brown earlier this month.

The reason is Donald Trump. McMorris Rodgers endorsed him during a May, 2016, stopover in Spokane, and has since welcomed him at appearances before Republican colleagues in Washington, D.C.

The first hint of opposition came at a 2017 Martin Luther King Day ceremony in Spokane, where McMorris Rodgers was greeted with chants of "Save Our Health Care."



Of the $383,871 raised by Brown, $348,786 or 90 percent came from 2, 389 individual donors, three quarters of them from Eastern Washington. (Brown had a fundraiser in Seattle earlier this month, with another scheduled for a Belltown condo this weekend.)

By contrast, of the $587,542 raised by McMorris Rodgers, $264,616 or 45 percent came from individuals, while political committees (PACs) gave $199,500 to the incumbent. Transfers from authorized accounts made up the balance.

The McMorris Rodgers campaign dispersed $250,622 during the last quarter of 2017, although the election is not until November of 2018.

Brown is an educator, former majority leader in the Washington State Senate and until recently was chancellor of Washington State University-Spokane. She is also spending money, with $130,00 dispersed in the last quarter.

What do all these numbers mean?

A formerly safe Republican congressional district has become competitive, at least according to a recent grading by the authoritative Cook Political Report.

The political action committee of House Speaker Paul Ryan has opened an office in Spokane, to defend McMorris Rodgers. She is chairman of the House Republican Conference, a down-the-line advocate of repealing Obamacare and the Republicans' tax plan.

Making Congress Better: 2 Great Candidates-- Nina Ahmad in Philly And Lisa Brown In Spokane

This week Blue America endorsed two inspiring candidates for Congress on opposite ends of the country. Nina Ahmad in running in Philadelphia and Lisa Brown is running for the eastern Washington seat based in Spokane. Yes, they're both women and since 51% of the population of this country are women and just 19% of the House are women, its great that two will help right that egregious disparity. But that isn't why we decided to endorse either of them. We endorsed them because they are-- by far-- the best candidates running, regardless of gender. Tomorrow McConnell has scheduled a vote in the Senate for a 20-week abortion ban that impedes a woman’s right to choose what’s best for her health, denies access to life-saving procedures, and criminalizes medical professionals. Paul Ryan has already gotten it through the House and Trump would love to make a big deal of it in an Oval Office signing ceremony.

Yesterday Nina, who is running in a Philadelphia district which Bob Brady, the city's Party Machine Boss, thinks he owns, told her supporters that "the only definition of modern womanhood that I believe is that each and every one of us has the right-- the freedom-- to choose. Whether we want to ensure dinner is on the table at 6pm or decide instead to spend our time as 'nail-biting manophobic hell-bent feminist she devils who shriek from the tops of a thousand tall buildings' [which is how Missouri GOP crackpot Senate candidate Courtland Sykes actually referred to women trying to make the country a better place] we must work together with Americans of all backgrounds and lifestyle choices to solve the real issues facing our nation. Pennsylvania currently has ZERO women in its federal delegation." The Pennsylvania primary is on May 15.

Washington state holds it's primary on August 7 but it already looks like the Democrat who will face off against Republican heavy-weight Cathy McMorris Rodgers is former Washington State University chancellor and former Senate majority leader Lisa Brown, an economist. She is running on a progressive platform of ideas that starts with her belief that "true economic growth and jobs come from investing in people (through education) and in infrastructure. I championed early learning and delivered infrastructure projects to eastern Washington (working with legislators on both sides of the aisle and all corners of the state)." Whether it's net neutrality, affordable college education or marijuana legalization, Lisa and Nina have already been at the forefront of the movements in their states pushing for the most progressive solutions to problems that plague working families.

Interviewing these two women gave me the personal satisfaction of feeling I was talking to people I could learn from and be rallied by. Lisa has to flip a longtime red district blue the way it used to be and Nina has to help a deep blue district throw off the bonds of a corrupt, self-serving machine, two worthy goals for two of 2018's very best candidates. Please consider contributing what you can to both by clicking on the ActBlue congressional thermometer on the right. Lisa wrote a guest post here and Nina wrote a guest post here... in case you're looking for a double dose of inspiration today. These are two of the best congressional candidates I've run across for the 2018 cycle-- and we have some really fantastic candidates this year. I'm getting very optimistic and November and more optimistic about 2019.

Republicans Are In A State Of Denial About What's Headed Their Way In November

Trygve Olson-- sounds like a Norwegian name-- is a national Republican strategist who is from Wisconsin’s 10th senatorial district, the site of the GOP donnybrook Tuesday. "If Republicans are losing districts like this," he said after the counting was done, "they should be in complete panic mode about the tsunami heading their way." In fact, Tuesday saw 4 special elections in very red districts that had gone to Trump in 2016 by very wide margins. Although just one flipped from red to blue, all 4 swung heavily towards the Democrats. These were the results:

• WI- SD-10-- a 26 point swing towards the Democrat
• WI- AD-58-- a 25 point swing towards the Democrat
• SC- HD-99-- a 15 point swing towards the Democrat
• IA- HD-6-- an 18 point swing towards the Democrat

So that's an unweighted average swing of about 20 points towards the Democrat in very Republican territory. Veteran GOP strategist Curt Anderson told The Hill that he's "not advising my clients to panic, but if it’s a choice between panic and complacency, I suggest panic. Every Republican candidate should approach this election as if we start 5 points behind." Really? 5 points? That sounds delusional. What will it look like if what happened on Tuesday happens on a federal level in November? The simple answer: the GOP will be wiped out. Let's take, for example, the 15 races where Blue America has endorsed candidates (or is in the final stage of vetting candidates) in districts held by a Republican incumbents that Trump won. So not included are the DCCC theory-of-the-cycle districts where Hillary beat Trump. Below you will see by what percentage Trump won the district.

• IA-03 (Austin Frerick)- 4 points
• KS-04 (James Thompson)- 27 points
• IL-13 (David Gill)- 6 points
• PA-16 (Jess King)- 7 points
• IN-09 (Dan Canon)- 27 points
• NC-05 (Jenny Marshall)- 18 points
• MI-06 (Paul Clements)- 8 points
• TX-21 (Derrick Crowe)- 10 points
• NY-02 (DuWayne Gregory)- 9 points
• ME-02 (Jared Golden)- 10 points
• OK-05 (Tom Guild)- 13 points
• WI-01 (Randy Bryce)- 10 points
• WA-05 (Lisa Brown)- 13 points
• NE-02 (Kara Eastman)- 2 points
• IA-04 (J.D. Scholten)- 23 points

As you can see, a 20 point nationwide swing would sweep away 12 of the 15 Republican incumbents in the Trump districts. That means the hardest work is needed in KS-04, IN-09 and IA-04. Be my guest, please.

National GOP leaders met at the Salamander Resort in Virginia over the weekend to discuss the 2018 campaign.

Sources familiar with the meeting say leaders left the resort acknowledging they would lose House seats in November.

Still, many were hopeful that economic growth and the tax cuts that haven’t yet made their way to voters’ paychecks will boost the party between now and Election Day.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), the fourth-ranking Republican in leadership, said the discussion at the retreat reinforced how important it will be for Republicans to “win hearts and minds on the tax package.”

“People in this country need to realize what is driving economic growth and job creation and opportunity,” she said.

Democrats need to flip 24 seats to gain control of the House.

McMorris Rodgers told The Hill she believes Republicans would maintain their majority in the House through 2018.

McMorris Rodgers is wrong-- and not just about the delusional assertion that the GOP is going to hold onto the majority in Congress. It's not likely she'll even be in Congress herself in 2019. As we saw on Tuesday, it's very likely that Eastern Washington voters are going to replace her with the state's former House Majority Leader, Lisa Brown. And Brown is doing all she can to reach out to those voters as directly as she can. Today she told us that "although Paul Ryan’s SuperPAC is opening a field office in Spokane, threatening to flood Eastern Washington with dark money, our supporters are countering it with thousands of contributions. $27 is still a popular amount, but they range on a daily basis from $5 to $500, because people understand how important it is to defeat entrenched leaders who have 'gone Beltway.' More significantly, we have over a thousand people attending training academies, clamoring to register voters and knock on doors from Chewelah to Walla Walla. This is how you take back your country."

DC Doesn't Like Going After GOP Leaders-- But Who Cares What They Like. Lisa Brown Is Taking On Cathy McMorris Rodgers

It's ironic that notorious Republican closet case and child molester Mark Foley of Florida helped destroy the GOP House majority in 2006, considering that that majority was built with a lie about another Foley, Democratic Speaker Tom Foley. That Foley was a decent, if conventional, politician from Spokane, Washington. In 1964 Foley had defeated Republican Congressman Walt Horan and ably represented eastern Washington in Congress for 30 years, working his way up the ladder to become Democratic Whip in 1981, Majority Leader in 1987 and then House Speaker in 1989. He was defeated in 1994 by some minor and inconsequential character primarily because Newt Gingrich started a baseless whispering campaign that Foley was a closeted gay person, at the very time that Florida Republicans were warning Gingrich that a new GOP candidate for Congress, Mark Foley, actually was a closeted gay person. Gingrich thought it would be fun to "mix up" the two Foleys. Mark, the child molester, won the same day that Tom Foley became the first sitting Speaker of the House to lose his bid for re-election since Galusha Grow (R-PA) in 1862.

Tom Foley's district, WA-05, includes 10 counties, although almost all the votes come out of Spokane County, Stevens and Walla Walla counties being the second and third biggest. WA-05 includes the state's entire border with Idaho. McCain and Romney both beat Obama there, McCain with 51% and Romney with 54%. In 2016 Trump beat Hillary 52.2% to 39.1%, dragging the PVI down into redder territory, from R+7 to R+8. Hillary's status quo, establishment message couldn't have been worse for the district and in the Washington state caucuses, WA-05 went very strongly for Bernie. Bernie took Spokane County 78.1-21.7%. Stevens County was even better for Bernie where he beat Hillary 80.8% to 18.4% and in Walla Walla County, Bernie won 70.8-29.2%. It tells you a little something about the change that Democrats in eastern Washington are looking for.

This cycle many Democrats are also looking for revenge for what Gingrich and the GOP did to Tom Foley-- and the obvious target is Speaker Paul Ryan, who Democrats hope to see defeated by union iron worker Randy "Iron Stache" Bryce in Wisconsin. However, icing on that cake would be also defeating the 4th ranking Republican in the House, rubber stamp Cathy McMorris Rodgers who represents WA-05, Foley's old district. And the candidate eastern Washington  Democrats have rallied around is Lisa Brown, an economist who was majority leader of the state Senate before retiring to become Chancellor of Washington State University Spokane. When I asked her to introduce herself to DWT readers with a guest post, she mentioned that there are 10 counties and that she intends to contest every one of them and decided to do a Letterman-style list of the top 10 reasons voters should engage in her campaign.

Guest Post
-by Lisa Brown

10. Marijuana. I support removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act so states can exercise their rights. That’s a common-sense approach supported by the majority of Washingtonians. But in August, Rep. McMorris Rodgers said on the topic "I’m a mother...It’s against federal law… I would support his (AG Jeff Sessions) efforts….") Despite voter overwhelming support, she says she still needs more information.

9. Net Neutrality. I fully support it and worked to create rural access to broadband in the legislature. She "applauded" the FCC announcement overturning net neutrality. She now says she supports an open internet, but Congress should "come to the table" and write the rules. Don’t hold your breath...

8. Students. One in seven people in Washington owe money they borrowed for college or workforce training. I want to give those struggling with student loan debt a break, but McMorris Rodgers voted for (and promoted around the country) the original House tax bill that took away student loan interest deductions and taxed graduate student tuition waivers. She now says it was very important to her that those provisions not be included in the final bill. Do you see a pattern here?

7. FISA Section 702. She voted for it. I oppose it. We can strike a better balance of individual privacy rights and protecting our national security.

6. Healthcare. In the state legislature I led on creating mental health parity and standing up to Big Pharma to save taxpayers money on Medicaid prescription drug coverage. Then I helped start a medical school headquartered in eastern Washington. She voted dozens of times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, then voted for a replacement plan that would’ve kicked an estimated 24 million Americans off their plans.

5. It’s the economy, sweetheart! (because let’s be civil and not call each other losers or stupid). True economic growth and jobs come from investing in people (through education) and in infrastructure. I championed early learning and delivered infrastructure projects to eastern Washington (working with legislators on both sides of the aisle and all corners of the state).

4. The planet. I worked to clean up the Spokane river, lands contaminated by uranium mining on the Spokane Indian reservation, and to create incentives for solar and wind power. Rep. McMorris Rodgers stands silently by as the Trump administration reduces national monuments and rolls back environmental protections.

3. Human rights. I voted consistently for women’s reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and criminal justice reform at the state level for 30 years. She is a leader for anti-choice legislation and is letting Dreamers languish.

2. Leadership and results. I listen and lead, find common ground, and get results, from help for homeless youth to in-state tuition for service members to a medical school. My son, Lucas Brookbank Brown, an infant in 1993, was kicked off the legislative house floor, when, as a single mom, I brought him to my seat for a night session. Now, a kick-ass guitarist and singer-songwriter (he’s in the recording studio now, stay tuned!) I asked him, what do your friends say about this campaign? He said, "Mom, they say you get sh*t done!" My opponent also has the title of leader, many times the only woman at prominent Republican photo ops, but her views are so party-line, there is no daylight between her and Speaker Paul Ryan. She has diligently refused to criticize the President, no matter how vile his remarks, calling him repeatedly, "a positive disruptor." This is not the leadership we deserve.

1. Congress. If we take back this seat, we change the leadership of Congress!