Twenty-eight people are running against incumbent Maria Cantwell, U.S. Senator from Washington state. Voting in this primary race will end on Tuesday, Aug. 7.
Cantwell has gotten plenty of newsprint and unpaid TV air time by announcing various new “hot” legislative projects, like encouraging a transition to electricity-powered boat engines to cut down on pollution.
At the same time, gun-toting Joey Gibson is also getting a free media ride. Hiding behind a group called “Patriot Prayer,” Gibson espouses views that are racist, misogynistic, and fascist. His followers have beaten up civil rights advocates at protests of Patriot Prayer rallies along the I-5 corridor from Portland to Seattle. So why is Gibson regularly recognized as “a candidate for the Senate” even as the bruised and battered bodies of his political opponents pile up? Because his brand of violent politics sells newspapers and jacks up ratings for the evening news.
From establishment outlets like the main local TV stations and the Seattle Times, you would not get any idea that there is a socialist feminist and unionist in the Senate race — one with a long history of standing up to xenophobic thugs like Gibson. Steve Hoffman, who is running as a Freedom Socialist Party candidate, took part in the decade-long battle to oppose the Aryan Nations in Idaho in the late 1980s and ‘90s. Hoffman’s most recent stand against Gibson’s politics was in front of Kent Planned Parenthood on June 9, where Gibson and his armed buddies — he-men that they are — were protesting women’s right to abortion.
You wouldn’t know that among Hoffman’s endorsers are three union locals of state workers, the Puget Sound Chapter of Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Radical Women, immigrant rights organizer Juan José Bocanegra, Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, and other community activists. You wouldn’t have any idea what his program is or why he decided to join an uphill fight like this one. You wouldn’t know that he is one of only nine of 29 candidates in the race who has raised enough money to report it to the Federal Election Commission.
You would be totally in the dark because the corporate news media doesn’t send reporters out to cover office-seekers who are standing up for workers and the poor and discriminated-against. Candidates like these are just not that sexy to the millionaires that own local news outlets and their billionaire overlords. But if you are a Washington voter and would like to know more about the Hoffman for U.S. Senate campaign, visit our About page or call 206-722-2453 and check out this hard-working, honest, down-to-earth champion of the working people who make this country run. Vote for Hoffman and spread the word!
In solidarity,
Doreen McGrath
Campaign Manager