It has become clear that my campaign did not receive the necessary votes to move on to the general election in November. I want to thank all of those who have supported me through this process and those in particular who have knocked doors, waved or hosted signs, donated funds, endorsed me, or volunteered their specialized skills in support of our shared vision. I also want to thank my campaign manager, Daniel Dedo, for his months of volunteering in support of the campaign. And of course I want to thank the thousands of voters who chose to support me on their ballots!
Although the results are disappointing and our vote percentages are well below what we expected, there are a few lessons that we can learn from this experience. First, quite surprisingly, Lori McPherson, a candidate with a “D” in front of her name who entered the race last-minute and did not campaign at all or even have a website, has earned more votes than I did, at least according to the early returns. This suggests that many voters simply vote “D” or “R” on down-ballot races if both major parties are present without even looking into if a candidate is even running a serious campaign. More importantly, it suggests that many voters use very little information when making their votes, and stresses the importance of better civics education in our society.
Second, the early results of other campaigns in our area, such as the Kitsap County Commissioner (District 2) and the Commissioner of Public Lands statewide race make it apparent that ranked-choice voting is a reform that needs to be implemented in our state to make sure that winning candidates are supported by a majority of voters. This is a commonsense reform that has been a central theme to my campaign. In my own race, if ranked-choice was used, I would have been able to work together with other challengers to the incumbent who shared some of my values, and campaigning as a whole would have likely been more positive-focused rather than negative-focused in a heated race.
Finally, we cannot lose heart. The reforms which were core to my campaign are more important now than ever to ensure accountability of our elected officials to voters rather than donors and special interests. Campaign finance reform needs to be a priority for the state legislature and the country as a whole, or else our government will continue to largely ignore the needs of everyone except those who are more fortunate as well as powerful corporations.
When I entered this race early this year, I thought that I would have little chance to make it through the primary as an Independent if there were candidates from both parties in the race with me, so I in particular sought to discourage additional candidates from entering by raising funds quickly and gaining prominent endorsements. With your help, I was able to raise nearly $10,000 from around 50 small donors within a span of less than three weeks. This is an incredible feat for any campaign, even more so for one not backed by a major party. Unfortunately, during candidate filing week, the incumbent was inundated by negative press regarding some of her actions in the legislature, which in part encouraged three other partisan candidates to jump into the race against her to exploit this perceived weakness. This is something that we could not have predicted, but of course altered the trajectory of the campaign and took away our momentum as it became perceived as a traditional “D” versus “R” race by the public. In any case, I hope that my results do not discourage other Independent candidates from entering races where only a member of one major party is present, because past election results show that an Independent should fare better against an incumbent from either party than a challenger from the other party would if they are running a serious campaign.
Again, I want to thank you for your support. I urge you to take a look at the resources linked below and get involved with organizations that are doing important work to reform our democracy.
Fix Democracy First (https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/) is an organization that promotes many of my priorities such as campaign finance reform, ranked-choice voting, and civics education. They are based here in Washington State. Represent Us is a similar organization existing at the national level (https://represent.us/).
Dan Osborn is an independent candidate running for U.S. Senate in Nebraska this year. He stands a decent chance at winning but needs all the help he can get. You can find more about Dan’s campaign at https://osbornforsenate.com.
The state of Maine has an important ballot measure this November that could set in motion a plan to end the influence of SuperPACs in elections across the entire country. I encourage you to read more about it and volunteer if possible at https://www.citizenstoendsuperpacs.org/.
The Forward Party is an organization founded by one-time presidential candidate Andrew Yang that supports candidates from across the political spectrum who focus on the most important systemic issues rather than partisan issues. https://www.forwardparty.com/
Good Party creates tools for independent candidates which allow them to campaign on a more level playing field with candidates from the major parties. I found their provided data and tools to be immensely helpful during my campaign. https://goodparty.org/