Is Brandi Kruse’s Support for an Anti-Trans Sports Ban Legally an In-Kind Political Donation?

Right-wing podcaster Brandi Kruse is allegedly providing unreported in-kind donations to an initiative to ban transgender girls from girls sports, according to a campaign finance complaint that a government watchdog group filed with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.

The PDC regulates state political finances. The complaint targets the initiative group Let’s Go Washington. The PDC has 90 days to decide whether an in-depth investigation is warranted.

Washington residents will vote on an initiative in November to ban trans girls from high school and middle school girls sports. Let’s Go Washington, led by Redmond hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, got the measure on the ballot. A huge number of Kruse’s podcasts include vehement commentary against trans girls in girls sports. 

The complaint by Washingtonians For Ethical Government (WFEG) alleges there were 157 instances of Kruse boosting the measure on her podcast from September 2025 to February 2026, plus two times she led political rallies on the same topic. 

The group contends Kruse’s loud, non-stop support is an in-kind donation to Heywood’s political campaign, and Lets Go Washington should be fined for not reporting it.

Kruse is frequently contemptuous in her remarks about opponents to the ban, often demonizing them. “It’s hard to fight an enemy that doesn’t have a moral compass. They don’t think like us. They’re not smart – they’re evil,” Kruse tweeted Tuesday about the initiative’s opponents.

At a Tuesday press conference about the complaint, WFEG spokesperson Pam Stuart called Kruse a “paid online influencer” who “donates online influence.” WFEG claims that the value of these alleged in-kind contributions to Let’s Go Washington amounted to between $345,000 and $1.25 million. The Stranger could not independently verify those figures. 

The PDC’s website says Let’s Go Washington has collected or otherwise has $550,417 for this initiative plus another one about parental rights. (The group is currently collecting signatures for a third initiative to repeal a tax on incomes of more than $1 million.) In 2024, Let’s Go Washington collected $10.2 million for four initiatives, of which only one passed.

If the PDC decides that the WFEG’s complaint is valid and goes with the $345,000 estimate, that would translate to Kruse’s alleged in-kind work providing the biggest chunk of the trans-girls-ban’s war chest.

Another factor clouding this picture is that Heywood is a board member of the conservative organization Project 42, whose communications branch—Future 42—is a regular advertiser on Kruse’s podcast. In 2024 interviews, Kruse and Project 42 said their professional relationship began because of their similar political beliefs. Kruse is an official “ambassador” for Future 42, which translates to a very public supporter. Two years ago, Kruse said she charged her standard advertising rate to Future 42. Both parties said in 2024 that Future 42 does not influence her podcast. Her podcast questions to political advertisers are usually softballs. 

“There is definitely a sphere of influence here,” Stuart said. She acknowledged that distinguishing between a standard advertisement and an in-kind contribution is difficult, saying that is an issue for the PDC to parse. Another matter to parse is the difference between a podcaster’s opinion and a newspaper’s editorial.

Another complication is that Kruse is a paid speaker and emcee at many Republican party events, which is held against her whenever she claims to be a journalist. On her podcast, Kruse said since she is not a Republican, she is entitled to be paid for her time and preparations for her GOP speaking engagements. Kruse, Lets Go Washington and the GOP are political allies most of the time. 

Heywood wrote in a statement emailed to The Stranger: “The PR firm they’ve chosen to peddle their baseless claims is Powerhouse Strategies, a progressive consulting group whose clients are predominantly public unions. Why are public unions and organizations who claim to want an ethical government hiring PR firms to fight against Washingtonians’ first amendment right?”

Kruse did not respond to The Stranger’s emailed request for an interview nor to written questions.

Prior to the WFEG’s Tuesday morning press conference, Kruse emailed a statement to the group and the media. It said: “I have never received any form of funds or contribution—undisclosed and unreported or otherwise—from Let’s Go Washington. The claim that I have violated state disclosure law is therefore false and defamatory as a factual matter, and further ignores that state law explicitly makes clear that political commentary and editorials do not constitute political advertising. … This false statement therefore appears to be solely intended to harm my reputation, and I demand that you immediately issue a correction or clarification… (This) is an attack on the First Amendment meant to chill my speech… Tread very carefully” 

On her Tuesday podcast, Kruse said: “Pam Stuart, with your ugly glasses and horrible haircut, I’m gonna come after everything you own.” Stuart was the WGEF’s spokeswoman at the press conference. 

Kruse’s email also linked to an American Civil Liberties Union press release on a 2007 Washington State Supreme Court ruling that talk show hosts’ opinions are not considered in-kind political contributions. Stuart said she was not familiar with the 2007 ruling.

Kruse occupies a hazy, occasionally chameleon-like position in the Puget Sound media universe. For a long time after leaving her job as a TV reporter at Seattle’s FOX 13, she has repeatedly said on her podcast that she was no longer a journalist, a stance that supposedly exempted her from reporting ethics against active politicking. But when she and two fellow right-wing media personalities were denied press passes to the Washington House chamber in Olympia, all three declared themselves journalists. (On Tuesday’s podcast, she said “I don’t use the label ‘journalist’ any more… I’m a member of the (opinion) press.”) The legislature is fuzzy on this topic with the Senate saying anyone can say they are a journalist and get a press pass, while the House says political advocates are not journalists. Kruse and her allies are litigating the House press pass matter in federal court, with the judge telling them at a hearing that they are unlikely to win.

Meanwhile, on Monday’s podcast, Kruse mentioned at least three times that a Sunday Seattle Times story could get her killed. The Times’ story was a profile on an anti-gay marriage advocate who is a keynote speaker at a Snohomish County Republicans dinner. Near the end, the story mentioned that Kruse would emcee the event with Heywood and other speakers. The story did not give a time, date, nor location for the dinner.

“Now [the Seattle Times] put a target on my back in a heavy threat environment… Are you trying to get me killed?” Kruse said.

In the past, Kruse’s presence as a feature at Republican events has been advertised by the hosts, including dates, times, and locations. Kruse did not respond to an email asking why Sunday’s vaguer story was more threatening than her advertised participation in several Republican events.

Kruse is also no stranger to putting targets on other people. In 2024, her podcast joined in cyberbullying a non-binary Peninsula High School teacher who moonlighted as a drag performer. The combined bullying led to that teacher’s resignation.