The race for the 45th legislative district is the best shot Democrats have at retaking the state senate. And back in August, their candidate Manka Dhingra beat Republican Jinyoung Englund by 10 points in the primary election.
So it makes sense that state Republicans are getting a little desperate. But this is starting to get embarrassing:
I've had it. This virtue-signaling #SJW stuff has to stop. Now political campaigns are trying to inject heroines right into our system: pic.twitter.com/rUe09pCPoi
— Jon Humbert (@jonhumbert) September 25, 2017
That ad (which Humbert says he saw on an unrelated site after looking up information about this race) is not the first time Englund's campaign has tried to make this race about safe consumption sites for heroin—or, "heroine"—users. It looks a lot like this ad Englund's campaign sent out earlier this month:
The email linking to the ad included this:
With the resignation of Seattle Mayor Murray and the possibility of City Councilmember Kshama Sawant becoming Mayor until Election Day during the city’s budget process, the last thing we need is for any of the extremist actions and policies to somehow filter its way over to the Eastside. In light of what’s happened this week in Seattle, we must protect and preserve our Eastside values now more than ever by voting no to Manka and her Seattle friends.
Aside from the attempt to tie Dhingra to former mayor Ed Murray, who had already announced his resignation after allegations of sexual abuse when these ads went out, and the fact that Kshama Sawant was not interested in and had no chance at becoming interim mayor, and the "preserve our values" dog whistle, the problem here is Dhingra is not actually very "extreme" at all.
She is not a socialist aligned with Kshama Sawant. She does not support a state income tax (though she does support a capital gains tax). And her support for safe consumption sites is lukewarm at best.
When I asked, yes or no, whether she supports safe consumption sites, her campaign consultant Christian Sinderman responded: "She trusts public health experts to make smart recommendations based in science and treatment options that work, including if those recommendations include potential consumption sites. As for siting, she also supports communities having input."
Relative to Seattle, Dhingra is a moderate Democrat. Her campaign is focused on vague promises to improve education funding and access to mental health care. In other words: She's just the type of candidate you'd imagine Democrats running to win a suburban district that is increasingly left but not deep blue.
As Englund told the Seattle Times about President Donald Trump back in the spring: “Not all Republicans are the same, just like all Democrats aren’t the same. We on the East Side are independent thinkers."
