A candidate for Washington's Sixth Legislative District Senate race is upset about a mailer sent out by a conservative activist, calling on progressive voters to reject her and write in another candidate not on the ballot.
Jessa Lewis is a Democrat running against Republican Jeff Holy in the state senate race.
Voters in the district have been receiving mailers urging voters to write in a “real progressive” in that race, former Congressional candidate Joe Pakootas.
Lewis says she is upset the campaign has taken such a turn.
“It’s obvious that at this point they are not able to win on the issues. And so they are threatened. Joe Pakootas is a friend of mine and has endorsed our campaign. And I think what you are seeing is they are scared, and maybe this is even a hail –Mary pass to take off a couple of hundred voters in what could be a very close race,” said Lewis.
An official complaint has been filed with the Public Disclosure Commission against conservative activist Glen Morgan, who sent out the flyers.
Collin Jergens is with the progressive organization “Fuse Washington." He says the flyers inaccurately claimed his group was supporting Pakootas, rather than Lewis in this year’s race.
“What the Republicans did was they went back to the endorsements in our progressive voters’ guide from previous years, and used those to encourage a fake write–in campaign against the candidates we are supporting this year,” said Jergens.
Glen Morgan says he did not break any campaign laws in sending out the materials. He says charges of voter suppression are ridiculous, as he is recommending more options for voters.
