State government officials and political organizers gathered to voice their support for Congressional District 7 candidate Pramila Jayapal during a press conference held at the SEIU 775 headquarters on Monday afternoon.
The event was organized in response to Jayapal's opponent, State Representative Brady Piñero Walkinshaw, going negative on her through a TV "attack" ad and an accompanying web site, PramilaFacts.com. Both the ad and the web site questioned Jayapal's effectiveness in office and her voting record, citing a report from FiscalNote, a nonpartisan nonprofit, which stated that Jayapal was "in the bottom 98% of legislators in the WA Senate."
Jayapal's large group of supporters, which included fellow state senators and City of Seattle officials, all seemed to disagree with Dan Savage, The Stranger's editorial director, who wrote on Monday afternoon that Walkinshaw's attempt to go negative was "pretty weak tea, thin gruel, watery cum, etc." (Both Savage and Walkinshaw also give Jayapal grief for not living in the 7th District, though running outside of one's own district is not illegal.)
To fight off the Walkinshaw campaign's attack, supporters compared Walkinshaw's tactics to that of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. In their unified response to Japayal's opponent, a number of speakers invoked First Lady Michelle Obama in their resounding response: "When they go low, we go high."
Washington State Senator Christine Rolfes (D-Kitsap County) said that at the very least, Walkinshaw's attempt to go negative on Jayapal was in poor taste because, Rolfes said: "Pramila has run her campaign on her vision for the future. She hasn’t spent her time belittling Brady’s work." Jayapal did not attend the press conference because, a staffer told me afterward, "this was just for her supporters." She also did not respond to requests for her comment on Walkinshaw's ad.
At the event, Sen. Kevin Ranker (D-Orcas Island) addressed the fact that Jayapal missed a crucial vote on the state budget to raise money for her campaign. Ranker said he wasn't present for the vote either. Neither he nor Jayapal saw their votes as deciding factors in getting the budget passed. And ultimately, they weren't. The budget passed on a 27-17 vote.
When reached for comment, Walkinshaw wrote in an e-mail:
It's important to be clear, this is not negative campaigning. This presidential election, we've seen toxic negativity and personal attacks, and that's simply unacceptable. This is a contrast between two candidates on our records, and our records are extremely relevant to the kind of representatives we would be for this District. The issues we prioritize and our performance as state legislators are relevant points of evaluation in this election, and it's relevant to the decisions voters are making. Dan Savage wrote today in Slog, these are simply facts, "and responding to actual facts will be more difficult."
But other leaders didn't see Walkinshaw's ad as a means of differentiating himself from Jayapal. Larry Brown of the Aerospace Machinists Union 751 claimed his organization released a dual endorsement of both candidates in the primaries and later gave their sole endorsement to Jayapal in the general election.
"[These ads] are false and misleading," Brown said. "We’ve seen negative politics diminish the accomplishments of women in this election."
Another person who has switched sides: Seattle City Council member Lorena González. One America President Fé Lopez read a statement for González, who was unable to attend the event. In her statement, González officially withdrew her past endorsement for Walkinshaw. "I’m disappointed in these attacks," the council member wrote. "This recent behavior changes everything."
Jayapal's supporters cited her leadership in founding OneAmerica, which was once called Hate Free Zone, as being instrumental in advocating for communities of color and immigrants in Seattle. And Elaine Rose, CEO of Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest & Hawaii, described knowing Jayapal as someone who "didn’t care if she got credit" and was always focused "the right thing to do” for women in Washington State. "It’s a shame," Rose continued, "that we have to stand here…talking about a misleading ad against a woman fighting for women to have a voice."
Some supporters (and Twitter commenters) suggested that this press event showed that Walkinshaw's attacks against Jayapal ultimately blew up on him. When I reached out to Walkinshaw via e-mail, he skirted the question. He wrote instead:
I'm running for Congress because of our home in the Northwest. I believe we need a representative who'll focus on delivering for our district on the issues that matter most—housing, homelessness, transportation and transit—and lead on climate change and a low carbon economy. My record in Olympia is relevant. I've worked to pass important legislation on mental health, a variety of reforms to our criminal justice system, work on opiate addiction and chemical dependency, leadership on housing and rights of tenants, and work to create consumer protections for seniors. I'm proud of this record and I'd be honored to serve our home in Congress.
This post has been updated to clarify that Jayapal did, in fact, miss the state budget vote and that the Aerospace Machinists Union gave their sole endorsement to Jayapal in the general election, not after Walkinshaw's ads were released.