MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Happy Friday, Washington Democrats!
Call to Action
- Hold Reps. Newhouse and Baumgartner accountable
- Elect more Democrats to the U.S. House
- There’s a Special Election for two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida. We have the opportunity to use a low turnout election to cut into MAGA Mike Johnson’s majority, but we need everyone’s help. Write postcards, make phone calls, and more to help push the Democrats over the top in this April 1 election (no fooling!). Learn more on how to help Josh Weil and Gay Valimont here.
- Phonebank from home on Sundays to recruit volunteers and turn out voters in FL-01, FL-06, and NY-21. Democrats are only three seats away from a House majority. It’s a longshot, but in special elections the electorate looks a LOT different – help us win these seats here!
- There’s a Special Election for two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida. We have the opportunity to use a low turnout election to cut into MAGA Mike Johnson’s majority, but we need everyone’s help. Write postcards, make phone calls, and more to help push the Democrats over the top in this April 1 election (no fooling!). Learn more on how to help Josh Weil and Gay Valimont here.
- Stop Elon Musk from Buying Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Seat
- Donate to Susan Crawford!
- Watch Video [Indivisible]
- Find ways you can help: write letters, make calls, make your own event.
- Protect Trans Passport Access
- Submit comments to the U.S. Department of State on anti-trans changes to passport applications (e.g., no “X” gender marker). Make your voice heard!
- Learn more.
- Submit Comments.
- Write Congress: Stop the Destruction of the Dept. of Education
- Send email via form [NEA]
- Protect the U.S. Department of Education: Stop Trump’s War on Children Send email via form [Network for Public Education Action]
- Rally, Protest, and Gather
- TOMORROW: Join Pacific County Democrats for the oldest political gathering in state history as we celebrate the 97th Annual Pacific County Crab Feed in South Bend, WA. Doors open at 3 PM. Only a few tickets are left – get yours here I’ll see you there!
- Every Thursday – Seattle Indivisible hosts their Issue Advocacy Meetings every Thursday from 5-6 PM. Sign up here.
- Monday 3/17: Revenue Day of Action – Advocate for progressive revenue to avoid cuts in our state at the Capitol. Join allies at 11:45AM in Olympia on the steps of the legislative building for a Noon rally. Then spend the afternoon meeting with your legislators. Sign up here.
- Wednesday 3/19: Medicaid Saves Lives Rally (Issaquah) – Join Rep. Kim Schrier from Noon to 1 PM at the Value Village Parking Lot. 5526 E. Lake Sammamish Pkwy, Issaquah, WA 98029.
- Wednesday 3/19: Medicaid Saves Lives Rally (Vancouver) – Deliver postcards to Rep. Glusenkamp-Perez’s Vancouver Office with Medicaid stories and thank her for voting against the Republican House Budget. 12-1 PM.
- Wednesday 3/19: Protect Us… No Cuts to Medicaid (Yakima) – March to Rep. Newhouse’s Yakima Office to leave photos or mementos of loved ones who rely on Medicaid. 12-1 PM. 222 E. Yakima Ave. Yakima, WA 98901 (parking in the Olive Garden Parking Lot).
- Wednesday 3/19: Protest Rep. Baumgartener’s Fundraiser – Rally and hold signs 3:30-4:30 PM at German Hall. Organized by Indivisible. 25 Third Avenue, Spokane, WA.
- Thursday 3/20: The Resistance Lab – Join Rep. Pramila Jayapal for The Resistance Lab in Belltown, Seattle from 5-7 PM. Sign up for details here.
- Saturday 3/22: Pancakes & Progress – Join Lewis County Democrats in Chehalis from 9 AM to 12 PM for a pancake breakfast and share your ideas for Lewis County’s future. Purchase tickets here.
- Tuesday 3/25: Help us pack the Seattle Federal Courthouse at 10 AM as oral arguments are heard in the lawsuit seeking to overturn Trump’s Trans Military Ban.
- Send us details on rallies and protests in your communities Email details to press@wa-democrats.org
- TOMORROW: Join Pacific County Democrats for the oldest political gathering in state history as we celebrate the 97th Annual Pacific County Crab Feed in South Bend, WA. Doors open at 3 PM. Only a few tickets are left – get yours here I’ll see you there!
- Donate
If you would like to see less Washington D.C. and more Washington state in your community, please DONATE to The Real Washington Fund – our rapid response account to counter MAGA’s chaos with real organizing, real solutions, and real results. We can’t do the work of holding Republicans accountable without your support.
- Follow us on social media
Follow us on social media for up-to-the-minute updates and actions that can benefit your communities:
Storybanking
This week, we’re featuring Justin Gill, an urgent care nurse practitioner from Everett. Justin has an urgent message about the need for lifesaving programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act. When Trump officials take down websites with basic care guidance for diseases spreading in our communities, it hurts patients. Click the image above or go here to hear Justin tell it in his own words. Thank you for sharing your story, Justin!
Are you a federal employee who received an email saying you could be offered a buyout or that you were terminated without notice? Do you work at a research institution or non-governmental organization and have had your federal funding yanked away? Was someone in your family denied gender-affirming healthcare? We need your stories.
The best way to persuade people about the horrible impacts of Trump’s chaos is to share real stories from real people in their communities. If you are interested in sharing your story of the direct impacts of Trump 2.0 on your life, please send an email to press@wa-democrats.org that includes your name, contact information, which Washington community you reside in, the story you would like to share, and permission to share your story with the public.
Our Communications team will be in touch within a few business days after you have reached out to help collect your story.
Senator Cantwell and Murray have also asked for help finding stories like these. Please be sure to note that you want your story told and be as detailed as possible. You can share your stories with our U.S. Senators here:
Senator Patty Murray Senator Maria Cantwell
Working for Washington
While the Trump-Musk administration uses DOGE to eviscerate the social safety net, we are seeing disproportionate impacts on the federal employees who help keep our country safe and running. This map shows the congressional districts most impacted by cuts to the federal workforce per Axios. In Washington, Congressional Districts 4 and 5 are at the top of the list – meaning that Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse and Rep. Michael Baumgartner’s constituents are feeling the pain more than most other places. If you’re a constituent of either of these congressmen, we included their office phone numbers above so you can let them know what you think about their support of the Trump-Musk purge.
This month, the DNC legal team helped secure crucial victories to protect our rights to free and fair elections. During the 2024 election, Republican-allied organizations filed dozens of lawsuits in battleground states to attack voting rights and cast doubt on our election processes. The DNC got involved in more than 40 cases to protect the right to vote. And they won. A lot.
Major victories included expanding which voters are eligible to have provisional ballots counted in Pennsylvania; spurring the creation of a notice and cure process for same-day registrants whose registrations are rejected in North Carolina; and defeating a challenge to Wisconsin’s absentee ballot request system that would have created chaos.
2025 wins include DNC v. Fontes in Arizona where the DNC prevailed in the Ninth Circuit upon challenging Arizona’s 2022 law requiring documentary proof of citizenship in order to vote in presidential elections and by mail. The Ninth Circuit found that these provisions violated the National Voter Registration Act, a 2018 consent decree, the Civil Rights Act, and the Equal Protection Clause. Republicans have vowed to appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court.
The DNC also won in the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Brown v. WEC. This was a challenge to Racine’s use of “alternate absentee ballot sites,” which provide voters with convenient access to early voting locations. This means that Wisconsin counties can continue to provide these sites to voters and limits the ability of individual Republican voters to clog up the legal system with meritless attacks on the right to vote in the future.
The DNC is also challenging Trump’s attacks on free and fair elections in DNC v. Trump. The DNC, DSCC, and DCCC have sued President Trump and the Federal Election Commission (FEC), challenging the recent executive order requiring all executive branch officials, including those at the FEC, to adhere to his personal interpretation of federal law. If Trump’s order is allowed to stand, the president could be empowered to determine which conduct federal campaign finance law permits and prohibits, all to the GOP’s benefit.
Resources for Resistance
We must be prepared to protect our friends and neighbors from illegal searches and incarceration. As Trump policy directives come into focus, it is more important than ever that we stick together and fight back. Please share the resources below, and if you have ideas on other organizations or services we should be spotlighting – please don’t hesitate to send them to chair@wa-democrats.org.
Trans Lifeline: Trans Lifeline is dedicated to the wellbeing of transgender people. Their hotline is staffed by transgender people for transgender people to respond to whatever needs members of the trans community may have. The hotline number is 1-877-565-8860
Gender Justice League: Gender Justice League provides direct support and advocacy for the trans community and assists transgender people in obtaining government documentation that matches their gender identity. You can contact them through the website or call 206-538-0423.
If you see ICE activity taking place or any marked vehicles, please report it immediately to Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network at 1-844-724-3737.
Know your rights. Do not open the door. “ICE warrants” authorities may claim to have are not legal to enter your home. ICE warrants must be signed by a local judge to enter your home.
If you need legal assistance, call the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project at 1-800-445-5771
Services for immigrants:
Chinese Information & Service Center
East African Community Services
The International Rescue Committee in Seattle
Jewish Family Services – 253-850-4065
Archdiocese of Seattle – 206-274-3194
Lutheran Community Services Northwest
Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs
Republicans Behaving Badly
While Democrats in the state legislature are working on solutions for problems like housing affordability and public safety, Washington Republicans are engaging in science denial and vaccine skepticism. As measles, tuberculosis, and other preventable diseases gain ground across the globe and in our communities, it is important that we remind everyone that vaccines save lives – including the GOP members of the state legislature.
In pricey Washington, any cuts to food stamps could hit hard, The Seattle Times Over 900,000 Washingtonians participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also called SNAP or food stamps). The budget resolution passed by Congressional Republicans (including Reps. Dan Newhouse and Michael Baumgartner) directs the House Agriculture Committee to fund $230 billion in cuts over the next decade. That benchmark is functionally impossible to meet without drastic cuts to SNAP.
Democrats in the News
WA attorney general throws support behind Seattle law firm suing Trump, The Seattle Times
WA lawmakers push to expand mental health insurance coverage, The Seattle Times
Glusenkamp Perez, colleagues urge U.S. Forest Service to reinstate fired employees, The Chronicle
WA Democrats sound alarm on USFS and USDA firings, KPQ
Gov. Ferguson is treating failing ferry system like the crisis it is, The Seattle Times
Judge orders Trump to rehire probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies, The Seattle Times
Democratic-led states sue to block Trump administration layoffs at the Education Department, The Seattle Times
Washington House passes ‘rent stabilization’ bill, moves to Senate, CascadePBS
$100M plan for police hiring gets greenlight from WA House, Tacoma Daily Index
Unemployment benefits for striking workers gain approval from Washington Senate, Washington State Standard
Firings rock Methow Valley Ranger District, Methow Valley News
Seattle gears up to fight back as Trump eviscerates funding, rights, The Urbanist
Senate approves plan to modernize state recycling program, Senate Democrats
WA Ecology director responds to federal rollbacks, The Seattle Times
What I’m Watching and Reading
There is a liberal answer to the Trump-Musk wrecking ball, The New York Times.
In this Op-Ed, Ezra Klein lays out how a politics of abundance can counter right-wing populism.
Thanks for all you do,
Chair Shasti Conrad
Washington State Democratic Party
We sincerely thank you for your help and support.
Washington State Democrats PO Box 4027 Seattle, WA 98194 United States