What Would a Healthy Republican Party Look Like?

Seattle Times columnist, Danny Westneat, recently asked for thoughts on what it would take for the Republican Party to become competitive again in Washington state. I have opined more than once that the answer to that question is the party must return to “the core Reaganite conservative values and policies which once made the GOP competitive in a place like Washington state.” But what specifically, what does that mean? What would a healthy, competitive Republican Party look like?

Before I launch into specifics let me make clear that I am going to be talking in broad strokes about how the GOP can win back center right voters, largely in the suburbs, who have left the party. Liberals who hate Trump, but also hated Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Slade Gorton are not my target audience here.

First, it’s not going to happen until 2028 when Trump is finally forced off the stage by the calendar and the Constitution. As long as Donald Trump defines the GOP there is absolutely nothing local Republicans can do between now and November to win back what has been lost the past ten years. In fact, they are almost certainly going to suffer further losses.

Once Trump is no longer the face of the party, national Republicans need to return to the themes and policies that once won elections for us: prosperity, and peace; peace around the world and here at home.

Politically, the economy is job 1. Donald Trump won in 2024 because he convinced swing voters that he would make the economy better. Instead, he has made it much worse with his populist, protectionist Big Government Republicanism. Republicans need to return to good old fashioned free market, fiscally responsible conservative policies. Trump’s massive tariffs, and the $3 trillion he has added to the debt, are an anchor around the neck of the economy. Capitalism works. Big government populism from the left or right does not.

Republicans should pledge to roll tariffs back to 2015 levels. Tariffs are taxes on products Americans want to buy, which lead to retaliatory taxes on products Americans want to sell. Lowering these taxes would reduce inflation and boost economic growth and job creation. And Republicans should commit to the very realistic goal of decreasing yearly deficits to 3% of GDP, which would also reduce inflation and increase growth by lowering interest rates. Republicans used to understand how the free market works. Just by returning to traditional pre-Trump Republican policies the GOP can once again be the party of jobs and lower prices, especially if the Democrats continue to drift towards socialism.

Next, Republicans need to reassert that they are the party of peace through strength, and the party that will stand with our allies in Europe and Asia against authoritarian aggression by Russia and China. Trump’s isolationism, hostility to Ukraine and NATO, and flirtations with despots like Vladimir Putin and the leaders of China and North Korea have never made political sense. If you doubt that take a look at this data from the Ronald Reagan Institute

And Republicans need to be the party of peace, stability, and unity here at home. Americans hate turning on their TVs and seeing disorder and chaos in the streets. That’s why the “law and order” message once worked for the GOP. Lately it has been ICE and MAGA that have created the street scenes. Republicans need to calm the culture wars and the immigration wars. Pledging to work with Democrats on comprehensive immigration reform would be a huge step in the right direction.

Once the national Republican Party is again committed to running on more jobs, lower costs, and peace at home and abroad, it will be possible for Washington state Republicans to make a comeback, if they focus on the right things.

Yes, Republicans here should continue to blast Democrats for raising taxes even as state revenues continue to rise. Even former Democratic Governors Gary Locke and Christine Gregoire have said Olympia has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Yes, Republicans should continue to blast Democrats for crime and the appalling conditions that exist in parts of Seattle. Again, even Mayor Wilson admits how bad the situation is in some neighborhoods.

But Republicans here, and nationally, need to abandon their obsession with non-existent voter fraud. Washingtonians love voting by mail and aren’t going to support anyone who wants to end it.

Republicans need to accept that Washington is culturally one of the most progressive states in the nation. Campaigning on undoing our current laws on abortion, same sex marriage, the rights of transgender citizens, or environmental protection, is a path to defeat.

Finally, Republicans need to retake the high ground on the issue of support for public education. Somehow, while increasing spending and raising taxes, Democrats have managed to dramatically underfund public schools, to the point where multiple school districts are operating under state controls because they can’t balance their budgets. Republicans used to go to Olympia pledging to spend at least 50 percent of the state budget on K-12 education. To win back suburban parents the GOP must once again be the party of public education.

Fiscally conservative, but socially moderate. Pro-growth. Pro-public education. Tough on crime. No new taxes. Peace through strength abroad, and through unity at home. That is the once and future path to Republican relevance in our state; if, and only if, GOP leaders are willing to disabuse themselves of ten plus years of MAGA myths and mistakes.