By Jake Goldstein-Street | Reporter
Yakima Valley and other nearby communities are voting in their second election with redrawn boundaries. A push to flip the 14th Legislative District toward Democrats is underway, but turnout there is often the lowest in Washington state. Democratic leaders say this year the political environment might work in their favor. Cuts to Medicaid and other social services by the federal government could motivate voters to turnout, they say. Republicans aren’t buying it.
Also in today’s edition…
• House Speaker Mike Johnson stumps for John Braun again.
• An Oregon city cries foul over the governor’s data center permitting pause.
• And, a judge blocks federal election-related sweeps in Washington and other states.
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Just east of the Cascades, Washington’s Yakima Valley is at the center of a lengthy court battle over the region’s legislative boundaries. (Photo by Aspen Ford/Washington State Standard)
By Aspen Ford
In the 2024 general election, the 14th Legislative District in Yakima Valley had the lowest voter turnout in Washington with 56.5% of registered voters casting ballots. Despite feelings this could rise this year, Republican state Rep. Deb Manjarrez isn’t worried about she or her seatmate, Rep. Gloria Mendoza, losing in this election.
“If you look at the quality of the candidates in both Gloria and myself and how we represented the 14th, we’re very good representatives,” she said.
By Jerry Cornfield
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson came to state Sen. John Braun’s business in Chehalis on Wednesday night to headline an outdoor rally attended by an estimated 550 people to boost Braun’s campaign in the 3rd District. He was joined at Braun Northwest by four other Republican members of Congress including U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Johnson, as he did earlier this year in Vancouver, framed the contest between Braun and U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, the two-term incumbent, as “a contrast election between common sense and crazy.”
He warned the crowd that Democrats in Congress, and many of those running for seats, are pushing a policy agenda to “abolish everything” achieved by the Republican majorities there now. He acknowledged that in nearly every midterm election sitting presidents lose seats, but insisted this year will be different if Republicans turn out.
“I’m absolutely convinced we’re going to defy history and hold the majority, “ he said.
An explosion of data center facilities, including the one pictured here in northeast Oregon on May 18, 2026, have been built along the Columbia River Gorge during the last few years. (Photo by Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
By Alex Baumhardt
Five of the six members of the Umatilla City Council present at a Tuesday evening meeting voted to declare a state of emergency over “the threat of widespread financial loss” from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s recent order that temporarily stops the state Department of Environmental Quality from issuing new air and water pollution permits to proposed or expanding data center projects until July 2027. The emergency declaration includes a formal request to Kotek to withdraw or modify the directive and allow the state agency to continue processing the permits.
By Jonathan Shorman
A federal judge on Wednesday night blocked the Department of Homeland Security from conducting election-related field operations that could sweep up U.S. citizens in nine states. The injunction bars operations in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin until polls close on Election Day, though the administration may appeal in the coming days.
The decision marks a legal setback to the Trump administration’s intensifying campaign this fall against noncitizen voting ahead of Election Day. It comes as the Department of Justice is suing California to force state and local election officials to not count the ballots of some 20,000 voters the federal government says it suspects are noncitizens.
ICYMI
Spending tops $20M in Washington’s hottest congressional race | by Jerry Cornfield
Washington hospitals anticipate losing billions in revenue from Medicaid cuts | by Jake Goldstein-Street
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