Washington state megathread

[wdolson]

Hello all.  I'm fairly new to the forums.  I guess I'm the only Washingtonian here from Clark County.  Jaime Herrera Beutler is my House Rep, though I never voted for her.

Back in 2010 when this was an open seat Denny Heck and her were in a tight race for this seat.  Super pacs pumped a lot of money into the Portland TV market with negative ads against Denny Heck which gave Herrera Beutler the seat.

The redistricting for the 2012 election has had more impact on WA-3 than I think any other district in the state.  WA-3 is now much smaller geographically and includes a section of the Columbia River east of Clark County (a former portion of Doc Hasting's district).  WA-3 used to be a swing district with the liberal Olympia suburbs in the north offset by the more conservative Clark County to the south.  Now it's a pretty conservative district overall.

Herrera Beutler has always come across as very fake to me.  Her smile seems too forced and too fake.  Her record doesn't thrill me either. 

Considering WA-3's demographics, Herrera Beutler is probably going to be there for a while unless something happens like the entire country suddenly has a big political shift, or she gets run out in some scandal.

Some other observations:
Here in Clark County, we're sort of isolated from what's going on in the rest of WA.  You need to seek out political news on the state because the Portland media market generally ignores WA politics unless something big happens.

Another thing I noted is that CA's new districting and primary system got national news in the last couple of months like it was something brand new when CA pretty much pinched the same system WA has used for several years (in the case of the primaries) or decades (for redistricting). 

Not to bash on CA.  I grew up there and most of my family still lives there.  It just seems like one of those 600 pound gorilla things.  The country ignores it when a medium-small state like WA adopts it, but it becomes a headline if a big state does the same thing.

If CA goes to all vote by mail it will probably be big national news too, even though OR pioneered the idea (in the US).

Bill