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State GOP claims a few wins in Tuesday's voting

• Published November 04, 2009

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State Republican Party chairman Luke Esser put a positive spin on Tuesday's election results, noting his party has had net gains of seats in the state Legislature for two straight elections.

And he pledged to start the fight for more seats in the 2010 election with a declaration that GOP will fight against tax increases majority Democrats might seek to deal with a $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion state budget shortfall.

"Stay tuned. I believe the fight over taxes in the 2010 legislative session is starting now. We are dead set on winning more legislative seats in the next election," he said. He's dead set against taxes, too.

Esser pointed to other GOP wins in gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia as signs of a rejuvenated party, but downplayed the divisions that plagued a New York congressional race as a "bizarre" set of circumstances that won't be repeated in 2010 congressional races.

He acknowledged that his own party is split, however, and that the Mainstream Republicans were on the apparent winning side of both ballot measures. The state GOP opposed Referendum 71's expansion of domestic partnerships and favored Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 to limit revenue increases, but the Mainstreamer moderates were on the other side.

"I would note that in both of those cases, the left wing side of those issues dramatically outspent the right wing side," Esser said.

He also stuck to a GOP talking point — that Democrats are overspending — when asked about I-1033's defeat, which contradicts the idea that spending is the problem at a time revenues are too small to cover traditional government costs.

Esser argued that 1033 lost in some Eastern Washington counties where voters do distrust federal and state spending. But some of those voters did not want to see the measure also tie the hands of their trusted local government officials.

The GOP's legislative win was in the 16th district around Walla Walla where Republican Terry Nealey defeated appointed Democratic Rep. Laura Grant. Just 11 months ago, Grant stepped in to complete the term of her father, the late Bill Grant, who had held the seat for two decades and was in House Democrats’ leadership.

The ouster of Grant takes away Democrats' lone legislative seat in Eastern Washington that is outside of Spokane.

The GOP also held onto two other seats in the 15th and 9th districts, which also lie along Eastern Washington’s border with Oregon, and are easy pickings for the party. David Taylor is returning to the seat he was appointed to after Rep. Dan Newhouse went to the Agriculture Department, and Susan Fagan beat out Pat Hailey, who was running for her late husband Steve Hailey's position.

Esser said Washington was the only state last year to favor President Obama and also have Republicans gain seats in both statehouse chambers.

The Democrats still hold commanding majorities of 31-18 in the Senate and, once Nealey is sworn in to Grant's seat, 61-37 in the House. FOOTNOTE: Nealey's father, Darwin, was elected to a seat from the 9th district in 1983 and served through 1992, according to the House Chief Clerk's Office.

In King County, Esser praised the work of presumed Republican Susan Hutchison, who was losing to Democrat Dow Constantine in the nonpartisan county executive's race. He noted that Seattle voters were tipping races with their "hardcore leftwing" Democratic base.

Best quote: "I could probably bring Abraham Lincoln back from the dead and he wouldn't win in the city of Seattle, because they vote so dramatically in favor of Democrats."