WSDCC – September 25, 2026

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Friday, September 25, 2026

It’s Friday, Washington Democrats!

What I’m Asking

As we head into the final weeks before the most important election of our lifetime, there’s important work happening across Washington, and your continual support helps make it possible. Contributing to WA Dems today will help us organize in every community, reach more voters, and elect leaders who share our values. Whether it’s $10, $25, or more, every donation strengthens our party and helps us keep moving Washington forward.

Vote-by-Mail Update

Another week, another victory for voting rights in Washington state – this time as Washington becomes the 25th state in a row to defeat Trump’s desperate grab to take our unredacted voter registration data. This case began when the Trump administration sued Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, demanding access to voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, and driver license numbers and the last four digits of social security numbers. A federal judge rejected the Department of Justice’s case, dismissing it with prejudice. This means the DOJ can’t amend the case and refile, but can only appeal to keep it alive.

With ballots going out in just a couple of weeks, we want every voter to know that we recommend voting as early as possible using an official, secure ballot drop box. If you absolutely must vote using the postal system, do so as soon as you receive your ballot or it may take too long to be processed by the United States Postal Service.

You can also sign up for text alerts from the Secretary of State’s Office to get real time updates on when your ballot has been mailed, received by the county you live in, and counted. Go to VoteWA.gov and enter your name and birthday to sign in. On the right hand side of your screen you will see a link to “sign up for SMS updates.”

If you have any questions about voting or voter protection, be sure to watch my Q&A session with SOS Steve Hobbs. His main takeaways are “don’t panic” and “vote using a ballot drop box.” It was a great conversation which you can watch here! I’ve also heard some concerns about the security of the ballot drop boxes themselves – we go into it in the video, but rest assured there are new protections in place in more drop box locations to ensure the safety of every ballot.

Working for Washington

Thank you to everyone who attended our September State Committee Meeting last weekend! This was the final State Committee Meeting of the year and we did important party building work to ensure we have the resources to take us well into next year and pass resolutions officially opposing the statewide initiatives 001 and 638 pushed by MAGA mega millionaire Brian Heywood to erase trans kids from sports and put children in abusive situations into even more danger. We also welcomed a special guest, Congressman Ro Khanna who spoke to our members before flying back to his home district.

It was an absolute pleasure to welcome Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and California Congressman Ro Khanna to Washington for an evening of joy and resistance last Friday. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped get us the resources we need to finish this election strong. Special thanks to State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti who capped off the evening. I heard many people leaving the event saying how inspired they were after two years of Trump. We are going to win back the House of Representatives AND we’re going to win back Governor’s Offices and Statehouses around the country, protecting elections ahead of 2028.

Democrats Fight Back

Governor Ferguson is fighting for Washington’s kids, taking a stand against Let’s Go Washington’s conservative Initiative 001. This initiative would out LGBTQIA+ students in unsafe situations, open their private mental health records to any parent who asks (even if that parent is creating an unsafe environment), and expose children to retaliation from abusive parents. Parts of the initiative are word for word lifted from a law in Louisiana pushed by religious radicals. As the Seattle Times Editorial Board has previously pointed out, the initiative is “poorly written, not tailored to Washington and could expose already vulnerable kids to harm in stances where they are victims of abuse at home.” Thank you, Governor Ferguson for protecting Washington’s students and their parents from this attempt to take us backwards!

Former prosecutor and State Department official Carmela Conroy has earned Trump’s ire for supporting fixes to our state’s upside-down tax code. In a Truth Social post, Trump endorses GOP Congressman Michael Baumgartner who has blindly supported Trump’s illegal war with Iran, tariffs, and corruption before attacking his opponent. As Trump’s approval ratings continue to crater, it’s interesting that Rep. Baumgartner refuses to put any daylight between himself and the White House, despite failing to secure a majority in our state’s August Primary.

Former Governor Jay Inslee was on MSNOW to discuss how Trump’s “corrupt schemes” are hurting the planet and driving up our costs. Whether it’s the illegal Iran War, killing renewable energy projects, or ignoring science, Trump is creating a disaster for our pocketbooks and our planet.

Rally, Protest, and Gather

• Anytime – Sign up to receive ICE Mobilization Alerts for communities in Washington state. Sign up here.
• Anytime – We have organizing events nearly every day of the week through the Primary – find the nearest to you at www.wadems.org/events!
• TOMORROW – Knock Doors with WA Dems, 10AM-2PM, multiple locations. Lake Stevens, North Seattle, and Shelton.
• TOMORROW – Knock Doors with WA Dems, 1PM-4PM, multiple locations. Sedro Wolley, Everett, Ellensburg, and Bellevue.
• TOMORROW – Statewide Virtual Phonebank, 4PM-6PM. Sign up here.
• Email details to press@wa-democrats.org.

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:
  • Facebook
  • BlueSky
  • Threads
  • Instagram
  • TikTok

Democrats in the News

Treasurer seeks public input for Washington state dollar coin celebrating innovation, The Chronicle

WA unions spend big to keep ‘millionaires tax,’The Seattle Times

Judge dismisses DOJ lawsuit seeking WA voter records, The Seattle Times

Trump officials cut 760,000 enrollees from ACA, claiming fraud, The Seattle Times

Trees in coastal temperate rainforest spared from the chopping block, KUOW

What I’m Reading

For the children, why Washington state voters should vote NO on Initiative 001, Kids Can’t Wait

This substack article from Kids Can’t Wait, does a great deep dive into setting the record straight on what exactly Initiative 001 would accomplish, namely: make kids less safe. I strongly encourage everyone to arm themselves with the facts as we face big spending from Let’s Go Washington and their MAGA enablers to try and push their backwards policies on every child in Washington. Washington Democrats strongly oppose every Let’s Go Washington initiative and will be working hard to defeat these statewide initiatives in November.

Thanks for all you do,

Chair Shasti Conrad
Washington State Democratic Party

---