By Bill Lucia | Editor
Welcome back to the Daily Standard's weekend edition, where we recap some of the week's top stories.
Number of the week: 13
That’s how many districts were altered in 2024 in a court-ordered redrawing of the political map for the state Legislature.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik yesterday rejected a request from opponents of that map to undo those changes and restore boundaries the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission came up with in 2021. Lasnik’s approval of the revisions two years ago came in response to a lawsuit that argued that the boundaries of a district in the Yakima Valley had been drawn in such a way that they diluted the power of Latino voters.
The case crackled back to life after the U.S. Supreme Court’s April ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which significantly curtailed the use of race in drawing districts. Jose Trevino and state Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, who intervened in 2022 in the Washington state district dispute, argued Lasnik’s earlier ruling didn’t comply with the Callais decision.
In a 10-page order issued Friday, Lasnik said Trevino and Ybarra didn’t have standing to file their motion for the revised map to be tossed out.
This will be welcome news for Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, who warned that with candidate filing complete ahead of the Aug. 4 primary, a shift in the maps this year would’ve been a “recipe for chaos.” Sixty-seven candidates are seeking seats in the 13 districts that were redrawn in 2024, according to state election officials.
The 2021 redistricting commission map, top, and the redrawn map Lasnik approved in 2024, now in place, bottom.
The dueling over the legislative district boundaries is not finished. Trevino and Ybarra are also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
Yesterday, they asked the high court to expedite consideration of their appeal. “Expedited consideration of this motion and the petition for writ of certiorari is warranted because the 2026 elections in Washington, like every other State, are looming,” says a motion filed by their attorneys, one of whom is state House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn.
The filing goes on to argue that, absent relief from the court, Washington’s elections will take place under a map that is impermissible based on the Callais ruling.
Lawyers on the other side of the case responded quickly to oppose the request to speed up review. They pointed to a concurrence authored in 2022 by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in an Alabama districting case. Kavanaugh emphasized what’s known as the "Purcell principle,” which he describes as a “bedrock tenet” of election law.
“When an election is close at hand, the rules of the road must be clear and settled,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Late judicial tinkering with election laws can lead to disruption and to unanticipated and unfair consequences for candidates, political parties, and voters, among others. It is one thing for a State on its own to toy with its election laws close to a State’s elections. But it is quite another thing for a federal court to swoop in and re-do a State’s election laws in the period close to an election.”
Read our coverage from earlier in the week here: Federal judge asked to ditch WA legislative district maps
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Parental rights fight
By Jake Goldstein-Street
A Washington judge on Friday sided with the state in turning back a lawsuit seeking to block a controversial 2025 law concerning rights for parents of public school students.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge John Skinder acknowledged the case over House Bill 1296 is likely to be appealed. Debate over the legislation was some of the most contentious of the 2025 legislative session. The law is enmeshed in broader debates over how schools handle sensitive issues around gender identity and inclusion that have become political flashpoints in recent years. It involved rewriting a conservative-backed initiative on parental rights that lawmakers approved the prior year.
Critics of the rewrite argued it gives the state more power than parents in their children’s education, and puts local school leaders in a bind of complying with the state law at risk of running afoul of the U.S. Constitution. Democrats said changes were necessary to protect vulnerable children and to clean up parts of the initiative that clashed with federal and state laws.
Fun and games
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, right, seen at a game night event in February 2024, at the state Capitol in Olympia. (Photo courtesy of Secretary of State's Office)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is planning to lead a trip with 10 local tabletop game companies to a game-focused expo in Japan next week.
The Tokyo Game Market will take place on May 23 and 24 and is focused on board, card, and role-playing games. Hobbs, a tabletop game enthusiast, says the goal is to strengthen business relationships between Washington and Japan and to work toward making the state a hub for the game industry. He’s attended the event previously.
“Washington game makers are among the best in the world,” Hobbs said. “Our participation shows that Washington state is at the front of this growing movement.”
Contemplating a breakup
A group called Cascadia Democratic Action said Friday it’s launching a campaign calling for Oregon and Washington to separate from the United States.
“We are disappointed that the supposed checks and balances on abuses of power in the US system of government have failed to rein in the Trump regime. Without radical reforms to the current US system, we believe the best option for the people of the Pacific Northwest is to work toward independence,” said Andrew Engelson, an organizer with the group.
Cascadia Democratic Action said it is planning to push for statewide initiatives to be placed on 2028 ballots in Oregon and Washington, asking voters if they want to secede. The group points to a poll from earlier this year that indicates roughly one in five U.S. adults favors their state seceding. This was true for 25% of Washington poll respondents and 21% in Oregon.
Where’s the governor?
Yesterday, he was posting on social media about his support for redrawing the state’s congressional districts if Democrats can secure supermajorities in the state House and Senate.
“President Trump put out the call to rig the system in order to maintain the Republican majority in Congress, and red states are answering. I support efforts to level the playing field,” he wrote. “If we get that supermajority, I would not only support a redistricting effort — I would lead it.”
You can read our coverage here from earlier this month on Democrats’ rising interest in redrawing the state’s congressional map to favor their party. Democrats already hold eight of the state’s 10 House seats. Talk of the issue at this stage, including Ferguson’s comments, feels like an effort to rally the Democratic base in an election year.
Coming up next week, Ferguson on Monday will attend the swearing-in of his most recent Supreme Court appointee, Seattle litigator Theo Angelis.
And on Thursday, he has a meeting scheduled with Democratic legislative leaders, including House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon and Sens. Manka Dhingra and Liz Lovelett.
In other news…
Let’s Go Washington began gathering signatures Tuesday for an initiative to repeal the state’s new income tax on high earners, the start to what could be a blockbuster ballot battle this fall.
Bullish estimates for a tourism boom in Seattle during the World Cup have dampened, with hotel bookings lagging expectations.
Environmental activists have raised the $32,000 needed to spare the trees surrounding a campground on the northern end of the Olympic Peninsula from logging.
Higher fuel and fertilizer prices tied to the war in Iran are creating new difficulties for farmers in Washington state.
The federal government announced it’s reimbursing the Washington state health department $263 million for costs responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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