‘Excited district is recognizing need to reject job-killing socialism,” Basler tells JNS, after advancing in Wash. state’s 9th
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Doug Basler, a former senior vice chairman of the King County Republican Party and current vice president of the Eastside Republican Club, are the two candidates to advance in the…
Assessment
The open primary results show a strategic success for Doug Basler, who explicitly aimed to block socialist Kshama Sawant from advancing. The general election now pits a longtime Democratic incumbent against a Republican challenger in a district where socialist votes may shift the calculus. The next phase will test whether Basler can convert anti-socialist energy into broader support against Smith.