Whereas nationwide Democrats misplaced the White Home and US Senate in November, what occurred in Pennsylvania mustn’t dictate what Washington legislators do now. Washingtonians voted to increase Democrats’ energy up and down the poll, making it clear we would like extra — not much less — of what Democrats have been doing the final 8 years. Voters gave Washington State Democrats a mandate this election. Now Democratic legislators should act on it by passing daring, progressive insurance policies throughout this yr’s legislative session.
In a yr of nationwide Republican wins, Washington Democrats had their strongest election in many years. Democrats swept practically each important contest and made inroads in locations lengthy thought of secure for Republicans.
Washington had the smallest shift to Trump within the nation within the 2024 election. Washingtonians additionally re-elected Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell and Reps Kim Schrier and Marie Glusenkamp Perez in conservative US Home districts, every by an even bigger margin than their final election.
Democrats expanded their giant majorities within the State Legislature, inching nearer towards a supermajority. Voters ousted long-time incumbent Republicans in legislative districts not simply in cities like Seattle, however within the Olympic Peninsula to Southwest Washington.
Voters rejected a $50M+ marketing campaign from right-wing megadonors to kill key Democratic legislative victories that preserve our air and water clear (I-2117), defend healthcare entry (I-2124), and tax the wealthy to fund childcare and schooling (I-2109).
Washingtonians additionally fired Republicans in county positions. Clark County voters erased Republicans’ 4-1 Clark Council majority to a 3-2 blue majority. Pierce County elected a Democrat to interchange the incumbent Republican.
These wins give progressives the most effective alternative in many years to cross daring progressive insurance policies these subsequent 4 years and defend in opposition to Donald Trump’s extremist Mission 2025 agenda, elements of which he has already moved to enact. We’ve the chance to set the nationwide commonplace for future progressive laws when Democrats take again Congress.
This isn’t the second for apathy, however to leverage Washington’s largest blue majorities in many years to enact the structural, progressive change voters elected this yr.
We’ve mobilized earlier than in comparable despairing occasions. When Roe v. Wade was overturned within the Dobbs choice in 2022, activists, suppliers, and sufferers didn’t sit idly by. As a substitute, we organized and handed trailblazing insurance policies the very subsequent legislative session, just like the Protect Regulation and My Well being My Knowledge, to protect People looking for abortions in Washington from arrest and to guard Washingtonians’ private reproductive well being information.
We all know that simply because one thing is authorized doesn’t imply it’s accessible, even in blue Washington State. As we enter a second Trump administration already curbing entry to reproductive healthcare, Washington legislators should forcefully pursue each avenue to guard Washingtonians from federal efforts to ban abortion.
Along with defending abortion rights, we should cross financial plans to uplift working class individuals. Donald Trump will cross billionaire tax cuts for himself and his Wall Road and Silicon Valley associates whereas everybody else finally ends up with much less. Washington Democrats should counteract this and construct on this yr’s overwhelming voter assist for a Capital Good points Tax (47/49 LDs opposed I-2109 to repeal it) and proceed to make sure the High 1% pays their fair proportion to fund inexpensive housing, schooling, healthcare, childcare, and issues on a regular basis Washingtonians can’t afford.
If these previous ten years of Trump’s direct affect in our authorities have taught us something, it’s the significance of our state’s instance to the remainder of the nation. Washington has been, and continues to be a progressive stronghold, shifting the needle on abortion rights, mitigating local weather change, investing in employees, and extra. Different states look to us to study our methods and see what is feasible. Now greater than ever, it’s crucial that lawmakers proceed to champion these points and boldly defend the rights Washingtonians have fought so arduous for.
To our Washington legislators, now is just not a time to play it secure or accept the established order. It’s your job to push for progress, not solely on behalf of Washingtonians, however for the nation. We’ve the chance to defend democracy, defend progress, and set a precedent on what it means to have a majority in each chambers and the governor’s workplace. Washington voters elected you all for a cause – it’s time to make good on the guarantees you made on the marketing campaign path and present up for the values of our state.
Andrew Hong is a analysis information analyst on the Washington Group Alliance’s Knowledge Hub and Masters engineering pupil at Stanford College. He is from South Seattle the place he is been a neighborhood and political organizer.
Sarah Dixit is predicated in Spokane, WA, and is the Organizing Director at Professional-Alternative Washington, a reproductive freedom advocacy group.