Staff Reports
The Washington State Republican Party 2024 Convention turned into a real-life soap opera last Friday! Delegates were stirring up trouble inside the Spokane Convention Center, and let me tell you, it was quite the spectacle.
Republicans rumble at state party convention in Spokane https://t.co/ysTG1ul62N https://t.co/ysTG1ul62N
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 21, 2024
Supporters of gubernatorial candidate Semi Bird were not happy campers. They threw a fit when the Candidate Committee initially pulled the governor’s race from the endorsement process. Oh boy, things got heated when they claimed it was because of some “late breaking information” that supposedly violated the vetting standards concerning Bird.
Lisa Evans, the vice chair of the Washington State Republican Party, tried to give the Candidate Committee report, but she got interrupted left and right by the rowdy crowd. And let’s not forget about Chair Jim Walsh desperately trying to keep the peace.
The committee voted to remove the governor’s race from the endorsement ballot, supposedly to be fair to all candidates, including Dave Reichert, also vying for the governor’s seat. But wait, there’s more! A delegate went to the mic, all distressed, saying they came a long way and spent their hard-earned money to support Semi Bird. There was then an amendment to add the governor’s race back to the process.
When someone asked to spill the beans on the negative information that led to the committee’s decision, the request was shut down faster than you can say “politics.” Someone even read a statement from Reichert, announcing on Facebook that he was pulling out of the endorsement circus and would continue fighting for the state as a Republican.
Now, hold onto your socks, because here’s the real shocker – Paul Hess, chair of the Rules Committee, remarked that in 135 years, there’s never been a pre-primary endorsement process like this.
