Why I am a Republican Again: Lessons learned in the Political Wilderness

A free people, in times of peace and quiet – when pressed by no common danger – will naturally divide into parties. At such times the man is who of neither party is not, cannot be, of any consequence.

                                                                   Abraham Lincoln, 1852

When Donald Trump blew up our political system in 2016 my world – outside my family – blew up with it. I had spent 37 years as a Republican activist, staffer, candidate and elected official, and state party chairman. Being a Reagan Republican was central to my identity.

But virtually overnight my tribe was defeated and scattered. I spent the next seven years travelling down dead ends in the political wilderness searching for a way to continue to advocate for the philosophy and policies I had always believed in, until I finally found the only path that makes sense for me: back to the Republican party.

I went from Republican to Independent, to the new Forward Party, back to Independent, and now back to being a Republican. In the end I don’t think I learned anything new during my journey. Instead, it confirmed for me basic facts about our democracy; facts which center-right and center-left voters need to accept if we are going to heal our political system, especially here in Washington state.

During the 2018 election cycle, and again in 2022, I tried to win elections as an independent. First, I was part of a robust national effort, Unite America, designed to elect moderate independents. Then, in 2022 I ran for the State Senate as an independent. The logic seems obvious, right? Lots of people say they are independent, moderate, and hate both parties. Independents should be able to get elected.

It doesn’t work. In the past few cycles, many well-funded credible independent candidates, across the country and up and down the ballot, including me, lost, and usually by wide margins. What we learned is that independents have no chance in a three-way race.  And they can rarely get through a primary process and into a one-on-one race with an R or a D, and even then, the underlying partisan leanings prevail. Republican states and districts elect Republicans, Democratic states and districts elect Democrats. There are virtually no swing areas left where an independent can win.

So perhaps what was needed was a new party. More than once during my wanderings in the wilderness I publicly called for the creation of a new centrist political party. I was briefly part of Andew Yang’s Forward Party until it became clear that he and his fellow leaders were committed to building a “party” with no platform or ideology.

If a number of high-profile office holders, Governors and Senators, united to form a new centrist political party, that might take root. That is how the Republican party was born in 1854. That’s how new parties come about in other democracies. But thus far there has been absolutely no momentum among major leaders to make that happen, and that is the only way a third party could become viable in America.

I wasn’t alone in leaving the GOP. I am part of a large community of Never Trumpers. Many in that community are now testing another path, becoming Democrats. Many are even running for office as Democrats, in the belief that anti-MAGA Republicans can infiltrate the Democratic party and move it towards the center. With all due respect to these folks, all of whom I know and respect, I don’t think that option works either.

First, I am skeptical well-known Republicans can win Democratic primaries. Second, I don’t believe a few Republicans are going to change the direction of the Democratic party, a party which seems to be moving farther to the left. Democrats think I’m a hero for opposing Trump, but I have no illusions that they want me to join them and tell them how to run their party.

And, for me, at least, there is simple honesty. I’m not a Democrat. I am a Reagan/Bush/McCain/Romney/Slade Gorton Republican, and proud of it.

Democrats are lukewarm at best on free trade. Since Vietnam, Democrats have too often been too reluctant to support peace through strength and American leadership around the world. Democrats are unwilling to reform entitlements to address the debt crisis (to be fair, so are Republicans). Democrats reject basic laws of economics and consistently fail to understand or admit that when you increase costs on employers, or raise taxes, prices go up and jobs are lost.

Now on these, and many other issue, Trump was even worse than the Ds. I, and many other Never Trump Rs enthusiastically campaigned for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but that doesn’t lead me to join a Democratic Party whose views diverge with the things I have always believed in.

So, what have I learned, or, rather, rediscovered? Simply this: for the foreseeable future we are stuck with a two-party system, and trying to work outside that system doesn’t work. To paraphrase Lincoln, it renders one inconsequential.

We need to fix America the old-fashioned way; pick one party or the other, join it, and work to elect candidates who share your views. This why I have taken a leadership position with Our Republican Legacy, the first and only group formed since the Trump takeover dedicated to working within the GOP to turn it back to traditional Republicanism.

Moderate Democrats concerned about the leftward lurch of their party, especially here in Washington state, need to do the same thing. Rather than give up in disgust, moderates in both parties need to reengage and do political battle.

How? File for the office of Republican or Democratic precinct committee officer. Get active in your party. Donate and campaign for candidates. Run for office. Speak out on social media. Exercise all those rights Americans are blessed to have.

2028 is going to be a major turning point. The battle for control of both our major parties will be up for grabs. America’s future cannot be left to just extremists on the right and left who have the energy and passion to show up. We all need to show up now.