Washington Democrats are at it again with their favorite game: rigging the rules to stay in power.

After ramming through controversial legislative maps that look more like a racial gerrymander than fair redistricting, the state — under Democrat Attorney General Nick Brown — just filed a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the challenge and send it back down for review in light of the recent Louisiana ruling that sharply limits the use of race in drawing district lines.

This whole fiasco started when a federal judge tossed out the bipartisan redistricting commission’s maps and redrew them to boost Latino voting power in the Yakima Valley, shifting over 300,000 people across 13 districts. Republicans and affected voters rightly called it exactly what it is: illegal racial gerrymandering. The 9th Circuit upheld the obvious power play, but now the new Supreme Court precedent in Louisiana v. Callais is threatening to blow it up.

So what do Democrats do? They suddenly pretend to support review after initially trying to dodge the Supreme Court altogether. Classic. They spent years preaching diversity and “representation,” but it was really just a sneaky attempt to pack districts and protect their supermajority.

This is peak one-party arrogance: draw the maps using race as the main ingredient, get caught, then act like they want “proper process” while hoping the courts will save them before the next election.

Washington voters deserve better than this endless Democratic gamesmanship. Racial gerrymandering isn’t “social justice” — it’s election rigging with extra steps. Read more at the Washington State Standard.

On Tuesday, Janicki Industries — a major engineering and manufacturing company based in Sedro-Woolley — announced it’s taking its massive expansion plans to Great Falls, Montana. The company will drop $800 million and build 2 million square feet of new production space there over the next decade, creating over 1,000 new jobs in the first five years alone.

Their reason for leaving? Washington’s punishing high-tax, anti-business environment under long-term Democratic control.

Company President John Janicki didn’t mince words: state-level decisions are making it difficult for employees to achieve the American Dream and for the company to grow and create jobs here. They’re choosing Montana because they want a government that works with business instead of against it.

This is the latest in a growing exodus. While Democrats celebrate their new 9.9% income tax and endless regulations, productive companies are voting with their feet and taking Washington jobs with them. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte was happy to welcome them with open arms, touting low taxes and a business-friendly climate.

Washington’s loss is Montana’s gain — yet another painful reminder of what one-party Democratic dominance delivers: higher taxes, more red tape, and businesses fleeing to states that haven’t declared war on success.

At this rate, Olympia Democrats will have taxed and regulated their way to a shrinking economy while wondering why nobody wants to stay. Read more at Seattle Red.

Once again, Washington Democrats are showing their trademark talent for avoiding responsibility.

Sen. Chris Gildon (R-Puyallup) is calling out Governor Bob Ferguson for refusing to give a straight answer on whether he’ll use his emergency authority to temporarily suspend the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) — the cap-and-trade scheme that has helped make Washington gas prices among the highest in the nation.

Instead of addressing the state’s own role at the pump, Ferguson’s office deflected to international headlines and federal policy. Classic Democrat move: take credit when things go well, blame everyone else when your green energy fantasies hurt working families.

Gildon rightly pointed out that while global events matter, Washington’s own policies — including the 59-cent gas tax and the roughly 50-cent CCA surcharge — are driving up costs for drivers. Oregon, which shares the same refineries, has gas prices about a dollar cheaper. But facts are apparently optional in Olympia.

The Puyallup Republican isn’t asking for a full repeal — just a temporary pause so families can catch their breath amid inflation and rising bills. Multiple Republican leaders have made similar requests. Ferguson, however, would rather pretend state policy has nothing to do with the pain at the pump.

This is the same administration that sold voters on the CCA with rosy promises, only for the Department of Commerce to later admit they overstated emissions reductions by a staggering 96 times. Yet accountability remains in short supply.

Washington families deserve straight answers, not more deflection from a governor more interested in protecting his climate legacy than easing the burden on drivers. Under decades of Democratic control, “leadership” apparently means never admitting your policies are failing. Read more at Seattle Red.

New analysis from the Seattle Times, using U.S. Census Bureau data, shows Washington ranks near the bottom of the nation for mortgage-free homes. While the national share of homeowners who’ve paid off their houses rose to 39.4%, Washington is lagging behind — stuck with the high-cost coastal failures like California.

This isn’t an accident. It’s the predictable result of years of Democrat-driven policies: crushing regulations, endless permitting delays, skyrocketing property taxes, and a hostile tax environment that treats homeownership as a revenue stream for Olympia’s spending addiction.

In Seattle, the median home price hovers around $850,000, and families now need a staggering $219,000 annual income to afford a typical house. Good luck paying that off early when most paychecks are already devoured by the mortgage, taxes, and the state’s growing cost-of-living disaster.

The data tells the story: cheaper states with less government interference lead the nation in mortgage-free homes, while expensive, heavily regulated blue states like Washington bring up the rear. Decades of one-party Democratic rule have turned what should be a path to stability and wealth-building into a lifelong debt trap for working families.

Another day, another receipt proving that progressive policies don’t create affordability — they destroy it. Read more at Seattle Red.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is back with a familiar progressive governing strategy: if residents are already drowning in taxes, throw another one on the pile.

Wilson wants to double Seattle’s transit sales tax from 0.15% to 0.30%, pushing the city’s combined state and local sales tax rate to 10.70%—tying it for one of the highest rates in Washington and putting Seattle in rare company nationally among high-tax jurisdictions.

The proposal arrives as Seattle voters are already being asked to dig deeper into their wallets. Property owners may soon face a library tax hike that would more than double current collections, while city leaders are also eyeing a multibillion-dollar bond measure for Seattle Center renovations. Apparently, there is no government project that can’t be improved with someone else’s money.

Wilson argues the tax increase is needed to fund additional King County Metro bus service and free ORCA passes for lower-income residents. The measure would generate roughly $138 million over the next decade.

What’s particularly rich is that Seattle doesn’t even operate its own bus system. Residents would be paying higher sales taxes while city leaders funnel money toward transit programs and the city’s streetcar lines—those perennial taxpayer-funded experiments that never seem to live up to the hype.

The mayor, a former transit activist who built her political career advocating for expanded public transportation spending, insists the tax increase will make Seattle more affordable. That’s a tough sell when the plan literally makes nearly every taxable purchase in the city more expensive.

Seattle voters approved the last transit tax increase in 2020 with overwhelming support. Now city leaders are back for another helping, proving once again that temporary taxes have a funny way of becoming permanent funding streams that always need just a little bit more.

The proposal must first clear the City Council before heading to voters in November. Seattle residents will get to decide whether the solution to rising costs is—naturally—higher taxes. Read more at Center Square.