Commentary by: Eileen Griffin-Ray
Across the country the recent elections saw movements away from leftist policies and back towards sanity.
Every state in the union shifted towards Republican policies except for Washington, Axios reported. In every other state the vote moved in favor of President-elect Donald Trump (R) and away from the Democrat policies of Joe Biden (D) and Kamala Harris (D).
Further breakdown indicates that while the western part of the state including Clark, Clallam, Jefferson and Thurston moved further into Democrat camp the central and eastern part of the state shifted further into Republican territory, voting heavily for Trump.
Central and eastern Washington have long been known for conservative principles and traditional values. Much of this part of the state is rural where the agriculture community provides a foundation and culture.
The counties that drove Washington state into becoming a single-party state are supportive of the far-left policies that were soundly rejected in most of the rest of the country. Even California, also a Democrat-run state, showed movement away from the left and towards conservative candidates.
This shift towards Republicans in deep blue states has people wondering what western Washington missed that the rest of the country seemed to understand.
Political science professors in Washington suggested to Axios that the reason may be that Washington state does not have as many blue collar workers and consequently not as many people were hurt by inflation.
Another theory posited was that the high wages mandated in the state of $16.28 and Seattle’s $19.97 per hour put Washington workers in a better financial position than other states. The federal minimum wage is $7.25.
Washington state is also home to a several large employers and employers connected to the government. Those workers are generally higher paid, with better benefits, and more enhanced employer protections than other workers. The higher wages may insulate Washington workers from damaging Democrat economic policies.
In addition to the economic issues, cultural issues were also on the ballot. Seattle, the urban center of Washington has embraced several far-left policies impacting culture and safety.
Seattle went full throttle on defunding the police. As law enforcement budgets were slashed, crime increased. The crime wave chased out businesses, yet the anti-police policies remained.
The state of Washington also rejected the concept of parental rights and instituted laws that gave the state some rights over children, rather than parents. A recent law signed by Governor Jay Inslee (D) allows minors to receive transgender surgeries without notifying the parents. America First Legal filed a lawsuit in 2023 to stop the state from taking control of children.
Parents also lost the opportunity to intervene with a troubled child as the state passed a law making it legal to allow minors to stay in shelters without notifying the parent.
In another huge power-grab the state took over decisions about school curriculum early in 2024. Local control no longer exists in Washington state schools. Parents, teachers, school board members, and community members no longer have authority over educational materials. All of that is to be decided by the powers in Olympia.
One would have to conclude that residents living in the urban, western, part of Washington continue to support these policies despite already obvious failures.
Many residents and business owners have left Seattle to avoid the crime explosion.
Parents have pulled children out of public schools at a rate never seen before as private schools burst at the seams and the home-schooling movement continues to expand.
Parents, residents and business owners are leaving the city of Seattle and the state of Washington at a rapid pace, yet the vote-rich urban areas continue to support the same failed far-left policies that are eroding the tax base and undermining civil rights and personal freedoms.
While the rest of the country is celebrating renewed freedoms and common-sense sanity, Washington state has become an island of authoritarianism.
