In honor of Black History Month, the King County Republican Party has sent out an email celebrating the impact of the many prominent “black Republicans of King County”:
Seaborn J. Collins migrated to Seattle in 1885 with his wife and son. By 1892, Collins—a charter member of the First African American Republican Club—became the first African American to hold public office in King County. Collins’ legacy is one of community. A leader, businessman and pastor, Collins dedicated his life to improving the lives of those around him, all while remaining firm in his faith and principles.
Horace R. Cayton, an ex-slave, came to Seattle in the late 1880s. By 1894, Cayton founded the Seattle Republican which, at one point, became the second most widely circulated publication in the city. A member of the Republican State Central Committee and secretary of the GOP’s King County convention in 1902, Cayton once said his paper “stands for right, and champions the cause of the oppressed. The success of the Republican Party is one of its highest ambitions.”
In 1950, Charles Moorehead Stokes became the first African American to serve a King County legislative district in the Washington State Legislature. Stokes—a dedicated Republican and vice president of the Young Republican National Federation—represented the 37th district in Seattle. During his legislative tenure, Stokes co-sponsored the Civil Rights Omnibus Bill and placed Washington State at the forefront of the civil rights movement.
So there you have it. The only three prominent black King County Republicans the KCGOP could think of were two who made their mark in the 1890s, and a third who last won a race for office as a Republican back in 1956. (Stokes was defeated in 1958 by Sam Smith, one of King County’s countless prominent black Democrats.)
Hooray for “the Party of Lincoln!”