Paul Queary

That moderate caucus is dwindling for a reason. The Trump era has emboldened progressives to pick off or push out more centrist members because, as Springer said, “the further left you are, the better you look” as a foil to President Trump.

There may never be a better year for income-tax proponents to win this fight with the voters. The second Trump midterm election figures to pull pro-tax progressives to the polls in droves, while conservative voters might check out.

Such a large amount of time spent on a single bill this late in the session could create a legislative logjam with the end of the session.

As the legislative session nears its third inning, here’s a rundown of the legislative living and deadpool items that raised our eyebrows.

When the governor attempted to pivot to the right last year, the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate were simply too large to engineer the kind of bipartisan budget compromise he was floating.

A large, hard-to-trace donation comes from Washington Rising, which isn’t registered as a political committee with the Public Disclosure Committee, nor did we find it listed in the Secretary of State’s data on Washington corporations and charities.

A new infusion of $103,000 in support of Mayor Bruce Harrell brings the PAC’s spending on the mayor's race to $1.3 million overall, nearly all of which went to try to scrub new-candidate shine off Wilson.

Ports, especially major ports such as Tacoma, are often hot arenas for a variety of political fights on issues ranging from labor rights to environmental protection.

Will the Harrell side’s attack work? Harrell finished 18,000 votes behind in the primary, and the bettors on the prediction market Kalshi still peg Katie Wilson as a prohibitive favorite.

The Affordable Housing Council, a separate PAC, is the single largest donor to the independent PAC backing incumbent Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, which currently enjoys a lopsided cash advantage over challenger Katie Wilson.