With the primary fast approaching, who’s endorsing whom for president in Washington state?
Public endorsements for candidates running for president don’t always result in a smooth ride.
Navigating the waters of an endorsement can be rough, particularly if your favorite becomes the focus of negative coverage.
In other instances, high-profile endorsers have to keep the endorsement part of their lives separate from their day jobs to avoid violating Federal Election Commission rules.
With so many candidates running in the Democratic field, there’s no shortage of area leaders getting on the national campaign bandwagons ahead of Washington’s March 10 vote-by-mail primary.
Here’s a look at some of those early endorsements.
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders brought his campaign to Tacoma for a Presidents Day appearance at the Tacoma Dome.
Representatives from the Puyallup Tribe also were there, and Tribal Council chairman David Bean took part in opening remarks among speakers appearing before Sanders.
Bean told the crowd Sanders’ stances regarding climate issues and against fossil-fuel drilling aligned with the tribe’s own battle against Tacoma’s LNG facility.
The tribe itself has stopped short of giving a full-on endorsement of the senator from Vermont.
“The tribe hasn’t made an endorsement in the presidential primary,” according to Michael Thompson, spokesman for the tribe, in an emailed statement Tuesday night in response to questions from The News Tribune. “The Tacoma Dome appearance was an enthusiastic welcome of a candidate who speaks to issues the tribe cares about. The tribe welcomes more candidates who address climate change and protection of natural resources.”
Seattle-based United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 21 in late January issued its endorsement of Sanders and Medicare for All, the health care plan he promotes.
Medicare for All became a sticking point for leaders of Nevada’s Culinary Workers Local 226, which declined to endorse a candidate.
UFCW21, which also represents health care workers and is the state’s largest private sector union, sees Sanders’ stance in line with its own.
“Bernie understands that even health care workers don’t always have good health care plans,” said Jose Hernandez, UFCW 21 executive board member and emergency department assistant at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane in the union’s announcement.
“As someone who works in an ER, I see the effects of our broken health care system every day, as patients skip getting the care they need because they can’t afford it, leading to worse health outcomes and higher costs for everyone … as a union member, Medicare for All relieves us of the burden of long, drawn-out fights to maintain our health care plans, freeing working people from the crushing consequences of getting sick and opening doors for wage increases and other benefits.”
“We know what it’s like to go up against big corporations and win —a nd we know Bernie doesn’t back down from a fight,” said Kyong Barry, UFCW 21 executive board member and front-end supervisor at Albertsons in Auburn.
The union’s leaders also published a follow up defending Medicare for All on its website Feb. 17, and it featured the Tacoma Dome rally on its Twitter feed.
Sanders also has gained Washington-based endorsements from U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of the state’s 7th congressional district, and from Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, both of whom spoke to the audience ahead of Sanders’ Tacoma rally.
Jayapal’s current pinned tweet on Twitter features his Tacoma Dome appearance: “#WA state is ALL in for @BernieSanders!”
Back in Tacoma, City Council member Chris Beale told The News Tribune late Friday that he endorses Sanders.
“Bernie Sanders’ focus on social justice, income inequality, climate action, gender/racial equity and social programs like Medicare for All and free college, I believe, are the policies that would most benefit my constituents and the people of Tacoma. Bernie’s focus on affordable housing investment, ending homelessness, and protection of our most vulnerable tenant communities also demonstrates connections to local issues in ways that I have not seen with other candidates.”
Elizabeth Warren
Pierce County council member Derek Young is definitely #TeamWarren.
His endorsement appeared on Twitter Jan. 27, which read in part:
“The challenges we face are considerable but not insurmountable. It will take bold leadership and a firm commitment to justice to rally the country behind the changes we need.”
He also noted Warren’s commitment to a “fairer, cleaner economy.”
On Thursday, Young told The News Tribune he hadn’t initially planned to offer an endorsement in the primary, but two things stood out to him, leading to his backing Warren.
Whoever wins, he noted, “is going to need to repair and rebuild the federal government. We talk a lot about policy, but that’s going to be a huge undertaking. She stood up an agency of her own creation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That to me is a huge deal. It shows her competence as a leader. And something also to her credit is bringing in top-notch people,” Young said.
“The second thing, the clincher, is climate change. There is no bigger issue, and we need someone actually to take it as a serious threat as it is, and we need someone to lead on that. After Gov. (Jay) Inslee left the race, the candidate who stood out to me was Warren.”
He would not offer any predictions ahead of the Nevada caucus but noted Warren’s campaign gained renewed attention after Wednesday’s debate.
“One reason that debate was impressive was it reminded people, ‘Oh yeah, that’s why I like her,’” Young said. “She’s probably one of the most prepared candidates ever to run for office.”
UFCW21 noted as part of its Sanders endorsement announcement it also saw Warren as a “strong” candidate:
“This election cycle, issues and candidates on the ballot will determine the long-term health and future of the labor movement. We also see Senator Warren as another strong candidate. In the Washington primary, you can only vote for one person, and we feel that Sanders has a strong track record and set of policy proposals to support union and not-yet-union workers.”
UFCW21 spokesman Tom Geiger told The News Tribune via email that while the union has endorsed Sanders, “The intent of adding that reference to Warren at the end was to recognize her record and value as a candidate as well.”
Pete Buttigieg
Suzi LeVine is vocal in her support for former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
LeVine just isn’t allowed to give those shoutouts to him during working hours in her capacity as commissioner of the state’s Employment Security Department.
Campaigning on the state’s dime is not allowed, nor are emails on state accounts.
Off the clock, she and her husband, Eric, have taken a keen interest in Buttigeg’s campaign, starting with a “Salon Series,” a fundraising vehicle in Seattle for the Democratic National Committee, where contributors can donate to the DNC and meet candidates.
As Suzi LeVine explained: “This allows people to contribute to the infrastructure that will be necessary for whomever becomes the nominee to win and, at the same time, meet the candidates who want to meet them. It is not a fundraiser for the individual candidates.
“Before we launched the series officially, we wanted to try it out. When we learned that Mayor Pete was coming to town to speak at the Seattle Library a year ago, we took the opportunity to invite him to help us test it out — a beta test. Afterward, the feedback/suggestion he sent us was to consider selecting a few consistent questions that we would ask each of the candidates so that we could get a proper comparison between them.”
They endorsed him in December and put a public endorsement on their personal Facebook page in December, including a link to a Google doc that offers more details on their reasons.
“After meeting and seeing nearly every candidate in person, we have decided that Pete is our person and we are convinced that Pete is who should be the one swearing in as President on January 20, 2021,” they wrote.
They also hosted a Feb. 15 Seattle fundraiser for Buttigieg at the Bell Harbor Conference Center on Seattle’s waterfront for an estimated ticket-paying audience of 350.
“This is not in my official capacity for the state. It is solely in my capacity as a citizen,” Suzi LeVine told The News Tribune.
“In a nutshell, we believe he’ll be the best president, he’ll make the strongest opponent to the current occupant of the White House, he’ll have the widest coattails with which to flip the Senate, hold the House, and flip state legislatures so that we end gerrymandering,” she told The News Tribune via email.
Suzi LeVine served as U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from July 1, 2014 to January 20, 2017. Eric LeVine is an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of CellarTracker, a web database of crowd-sourced wine information.
Buttigieg, Eric LeVine told the fundraiser crowd Saturday, “is the person who can both rebuild our government, unify our party and most importantly, unify our country uniquely.”
Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib offered his endorsement to Buttigieg on Twitter on Thursday, one day after the Democratic debate in Las Vegas. He will serve as the campaign’s co-chair for the Western U.S.
“Having known and worked with Pete for 15 years, I have every confidence that he is the candidate who will defeat Donald Trump,” he said in his announcement on social media.
Michael Bloomberg
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards was early in her support for Michael Bloomberg, offering her endorsement Dec. 6, just a month after the former New York City mayor officially entered the race.
“I proudly endorse Mike Bloomberg based on his experience leading America’s largest city and his commitment to strengthening our nation and all its communities. That’s the kind of leader our country needs more than ever,” Woodards said in her endorsement statement.
His campaign in February opened a campaign office in downtown Tacoma.
The candidate has since been at the center of various controversies, including defending stop-and-frisk policies when he was mayor of New York, and past controversial remarks regarding female employees.
Bloomberg’s issues gained an even wider audience at Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas with the competing candidates bringing them to a wider, national audience.
Locally, some residents have spoken out against Woodards’ endorsement, including an open letter of protest.
Woodards stands by her endorsement, telling The News Tribune: “Human beings are not perfect. We all make mistakes. What’s most important to me is when you get more information … you do something different ... I don’t believe there’s a candidate in this (presidential) race that hasn’t made a mistake.”
The News Tribune reached out to Tacoma City Council members about presidential endorsements.
Tacoma City Council members Lillian Hunter and Robert Thoms confirmed they’ve endorsed Bloomberg.
Thoms will act as the lead on veteran and military issues in Washington, he said.
“I’ve been asked to lead efforts to mobilize vets and military members for WA state,” Thoms said in a text. “Quality of life, safe and clean communities are the utmost importance to Military members and their families when they choose where to live. Mayor Bloomberg has a long track record of results.”
Hunter said she only knew about a dozen of more than a hundred who showed up to the opening of the Bloomberg office in Tacoma.
“People who haven’t engaged before or at least not recently turned out in significant numbers,” she told The News Tribune in a text. “...The more I learn about Bloomberg and his agenda, the more I like him. Is he perfect? No. But he is the only candidate that gives me hope.”
Council member Kristina Walker and Catherine Ushka said they don’t plan on endorsing any candidate. Walker said she wants to stay focused locally in the general election.
Keith Blocker, who attended the opening of the Bloomberg Tacoma office, did not respond to requests for comment.
The race to March 10
Washington’s primary is one week after Super Tuesday and after the Nevada caucus and South Carolina primary, so the early support might be for naught if momentum, and money, run out.
Already, five of the 13 candidates listed on the state Democratic presidential primary ballot have ended active campaign operations.
That made it all the more important for endorsers to show support early.
Former Vice President Joe Biden won an endorsement in January from former Gov. Gary Locke. After leaving state office, Locke served in the Obama administration as ambassador to China and secretary of commerce.
“Our current international state of affairs requires a leader with tried and tested experience in dealing with some of our most consequential issues,” he said in a statement first released to NBC News. “I cannot think of anyone better than Joe Biden to assume the role of commander-in-chief at this critical time.”
And the endorsements keep coming. On Friday, The Seattle Times endorsed Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
For Young, what’s paramount is that Washington has gained an even more important voice in this year’s primary season.
“We have a primary that matters. For the first time, we have a meaningful say in this. I think it’s going to be interesting.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 11:23 AM.
