The intra-party battle for a state House seat in Seattle’s reliably left 46th LD features some standard-fare, red-meat (or in this district, blue-meat) campaign issues — Trump-proofing Washington, schools, income inequality, affordable childcare. But thanks to two strong challengers for seven-term Rep. Gerry Pollet’s seat, AI regulations have become a spicy new ingredient and an interesting battleground for the fundraising race.
That spice came with a literal bag of popcorn and an entertaining story we’ve heard from multiple parties. The corn was given to Pollet by challenger Will Dreher, who is campaigning as an AI-regulator-to-be, as they sat down for an endorsement interview at The Stranger with another challenger, urbanist activist Ron Davis, whose progressive candidacy is premised on getting the Stranger nod.
Pollet seems likely to emerge based on name recognition alone, so Dreher had his work cut out for him. He told Pollet to sit back and watch as he and Davis pummelled each other in front of the undoubtedly delighted Stranger editorial board.
Which gets us to AI. Dreher emerged out of nowhere in April with a platform spotlighting the WA legislature’s anemic response to AI, which he’s right about. Dreher’s bio includes being top of his class at Harvard Law and a federal prosecutor of Jan. 6 rioters. He’s now at a white-shoe law firm handling a class action vs AI alleging copyright violations, and frames AI as an existential threat to the environment (via power-gobbling data centers), jobs and basic human decency (i.e. deepfake nude factories).
Davis is a tech guy who has become a fixture in Seattle politics (he narrowly lost a 2023 city council race) as an urbanist with a sharp-elbowed, populist-on-the-streets vibe. He’s hoping the race hinges on housing and transit issues — two issues in his wheelhouse. But when Dreher popped up, he added a platform plank on AI regs and an attack line on Dreher’s fundraising.
Dreher has raised nearly $260K, an eye-popping figure that makes him among the best-funded House candidates so far. A vast percentage of the donations are from out of state. What’s really interesting is that about $100K of that haul comes from donors who work at AI companies or in the AI supply chain. Davis’ supporters have latched onto the carpet-bagger line of attack and have cast doubt on Dreher’s AI regulator-to-be cred.
But there’s an interesting backstory. On April 28, Eric Neyman, a researcher-writer with a following in the ethical AI community, kicked Dreher max donations for the primary and general election after they talked. Neyman had already endorsed congressional candidates with an AI-reformer platform. Neyman’s nod uncorked about 50 donations within a week from folks working at Anthropic, OpenAI and firms in the AI food chain. Then on May 21, Neyman gave Dreher’s platform a specific shout-out, which Dreher responded to. That uncorked about 30 more contributions, many of them at the max level.
It’s absurdly possible that it’s all an elaborate ruse and Dreher is a Manchurian candidate for AI, but we got none of those vibes. We’ll know for sure if the Leading the Future SuperPAC, OpenAI’s electioneering fund, drops a negative independent expenditure on Dreher, or the Public First SuperPAC, which supports state regs, supports him. He notes that Davis’s AI platform arrived only after Pope Leo wrote a 42,000-word warning about the existential threat. “If you’ve been beaten to the punch on tech regulations by the Pope, well…” he said.
Worth noting: Pollet hasn’t had a meaningful challenger since first winning in 2012, even as redistricting shifted the 46th LD away from suburban Kenmore and down into more progressive North Seattle neighborhoods. He cashed in chits and got establishment Democratic endorsements, including Gov. Bob Ferguson and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Seattle legislators and labor — hence the thinking he’s safe until after the primary. The 46th LD endorsement was split.
A version of this story first appeared on the Washington Observer website.
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Ron Davis is a tiring man who has talked over neighbors at meetings for years. His Instagram feed is a hodgepodge progressive insider endorsements and new ways to raise and spend tax money (like creating a state police force to fight back against the feds). Dreher is smart to file, pause, and listen, as his opponent talks himself out of a job.
As to Dreher.
OK first in your class at Harvard Law is genuinely impressive.
But “hanging out at Zeeks Pizza” raises doubts about his judgment.
Plus do we really want more me too blue liberalism? I’m tired of it and if there was a candidate saying “I’ll do less but better”, I’d be so inclined.
And his attack on data centers is laughable…. just an issue du jour ploy.
Oh well oh well, it’s Seattle. At least it’s not Portland.
Gerry Pollet’s solid legislative record makes him so far and away the outstanding candidate in this election that I am surprised that an outsider like Dreher, who doesn’t appear to have any prior experience, or much on-the-ground support in the 46th District, thinks he can parachute into the race, backed mostly by out-of-state AI money, and mount a serious challenge.
As for Davis, voters should reject the Big Lie, pushed by his campaign and the urbanist cult, that he is somehow the “progressive” candidate in the race, and that he is running to Pollet’s “left.” Davis is the creature of tear-it-all-down developer interests and the trickle-down neoliberal YIMBY “Abundance” movement, as exposed here:
https://prospect.org/2026/06/12/new-documents-detail-nine-figure-silicon-valley-funded-abundance-movement/
Unfortunately, but maybe predictably, Mayor Wilson has fallen for this argument, even though she admits her endorsement reflects only her relationship with Davis, and not any policy disagreements with Pollet:
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/06/27/seattle-mayor-endorses-challenger-to-wa-senate-majority-leader/
But Seattle is not New York, Wilson is not Mamdani, and compared to Pollet, Davis is a legislative flyweight who has no record of getting things done, only a seemingly inexhaustible supply of hot air, a dubious commodity in an age of global warming.
Woah! Sounds like this author saw it coming, but I was genuinely shocked to see the Stranger snub Ron Davis in favor of Dreher. What is happening?? I for one am happy to see this coasting-on-brand-recognition publication moderate and also take a credibility hit. Lots of room for new media in Seattle.