The Washington State Debate Coalition (WSDC) is hosting three free public debates ahead of the Nov. 5 general election. The debates will cover the races for attorney general, superintendent of public instruction and the Seattle City Council Position 8 seat. 

Debates will be in-person with live broadcasts from media partners, including livestreams on cascadepbs.org. Those attending in-person can submit questions for the candidates upon registering. 

The Coalition was founded in 2016 by Seattle CityClub and has produced public election debates all over the state, for both local and statewide races. The Coalition is supported by media, educational and civic organizations. 

A fourth debate scheduled for October between gubernatorial candidates Bob Ferguson and Dave Reichert has been cancelled. The debate would have included the participation of Cascade PBS and three other news outlets. 

Premier media partners for this year’s debate series include Converge Media, FOX 13, KUOW, RainierAvenueRadio, TVW and the Washington State Standard. 

For more information or to register in-person, visit seattlecityclub.org.  

• Seattle City Council, Citywide Position 8: Candidates Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Tanya Woo will participate in a live debate at the Seattle Central College Auditorium on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. The debate will be moderated by Cascade PBS city reporter Josh Cohen, John Hopperstad of FOX 13 and Angela King of KUOW.  

• Attorney General: Candidates Nick Brown and Pete Serrano will participate in a live debate at the Seattle Central College Auditorium on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. The debate will be moderated by Cascade PBS state politics reporter Shauna Sowersby, Laurel Demkovich of the Washington State Standard, Libby Denkmann of KUOW and Hana Kim of FOX 13.  

•  Superintendent of Public Instruction: Candidates David Olson and Chris Reykdal will participate in a live debate at the Edmonds Center for the Arts on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. The debate will be moderated by Cascade PBS associate news editor Venice Buhain, John Hopperstad of FOX 13, Sami West of KUOW and student panelist Kellyanna Brooking. 

Seattle’s newest experiment with citizen-led budgeting took a step forward on Aug. 16 when Mayor Bruce Harrell sent legislation to the City Council that will provide $27.25 million for six projects chosen by community members.  

The process, called participatory budgeting, allows community members to submit and vote on projects to fund. The city’s current effort grew out of the 2020 protests for racial justice as a response by the mayor and Council to protesters’ demands to shift funding away from policing and toward community priorities on health and safety.  

Seattle’s Office of Civil Rights managed the years-long process, including hiring a third-party organization to manage the initiative, hosting meetings, accepting proposals and finally voting on winning projects. Last fall, more than 4,200 people voted on 18 finalist projects to select the winning six. The city will spend:   

• $7.2 million on a community center for Native youth and Duwamish cultural education; 

• $7.2 million on a “community-operated restrooms program.” Community organizations selected by Seattle Parks will provide attendant oversight of at least five public bathroom sites, including two to three existing public bathrooms and two to three new mobile bathroom trailers;  

• $7 million to create and operate five publicly owned urban farms. Additional funds will be used to pay for training for small-scale agriculture producers;  

• $2 million to further expand CARE, Seattle’s new dual-dispatch police alternative that sends mental health professionals to respond to public behavioral health crises; 

• $2 million to expand “housing navigation services” to help people experiencing homelessness find and move into housing; 

• And $1.85 million for improvements to emergency shelters for youth experiencing homelessness.  

“Participatory budgeting moves us closer to building systems that increase agency for underrepresented communities in Seattle,” said Office of Civil Rights director Derrick Wheeler-Smith in a press release. “These projects are an opportunity for the city to be accountable to promises made in 2020 to create new ways to get civically engaged and invest in urgent needs of our most prevented and persecuted communities.”  

Seattle first tried participatory budgeting in 2015, with $700,000 for youth priorities voted on by Seattle residents and students ages 11-25. The effort expanded slightly in 2017 when the city set aside $2 million for parks and street projects that residents voted on.  

Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz has conceded in her race to represent Washington’s 6th Congressional District.  

As of Thursday afternoon, Franz had placed third in the open seat contest with 25.6% of the vote, behind fellow Democrat Emily Randall with 33.7% and Republican Drew MacEwen with 30.3%.  

In a statement Thursday, Franz said she called Randall, a state senator from Bremerton, to congratulate her win in the primary and said they needed to work together to keep the seat Democratic and move the House toward a Democratic majority.  

“It is time for us to work harder than ever so we can flip the House, defeat Donald Trump and defend our democracy,” Franz said.  

Franz’s concession ends her nearly yearlong run to move up from her current state executive office. Franz briefly campaigned for governor before shifting to a run for Congress after U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer announced his retirement. Kilmer endorsed Franz for the position.  

The district includes the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas and large swaths of Tacoma. 

Republican Leslie Lewallen has conceded the race for the 3rd Congressional District seat and endorsed fellow Republican Joe Kent, who currently is second in the primary.

In what looks to be a repeat of the 2022 general election matchup, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, is leading the pack in southwestern Washington with 46.87% of the vote in early returns. Kent is second with 38.32%.

Lewallen, who ran as an alternative to Kent, received 12.43% of the vote.

However, in a statement Tuesday night, Lewallen said her focus is to get a Republican back in the seat.

“We are at a pivotal crossroads right now between strength and success and weakness and failure. There is no margin for error and we have to flip this seat,” she said. “I support Joe Kent in his campaign to defeat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. We need to get this country back on track because southwest Washington deserves better."

Perez defeated Kent in 2022, flipping the seat Democratic after incumbent U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler did not advance to the general election — she placed behind both candidates in that year’s primary. Herrera Beutler was one of 10 Republicans, along with Dan Newhouse of Washington’s 4th Congressional District, who voted to impeach Trump in 2021. She returned to politics this year when she decided to run for Public Lands Commissioner, where she is currently leading in the primary.

Kent, a Trump-endorsed candidate, has gained a higher profile through frequent appearances on FOX News.

The 3rd Congressional District includes Klickitat, Skamania, Clark, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Pacific and Lewis counties and a small part of southern Thurston County.

As many as 675,000 low- and moderate-income Washington families are eligible for a $200 credit on their electric bills this fall.

The $150 million for the new program comes from the Climate Commitment Act, Washington’s new carbon-pricing system, which has already brought in more than $2 billion to invest in climate-related projects. 

People can apply for the credit at wacleanenergycredits.com, which will be distributed by Sept. 15, according to the Washington Department of Commerce.

Utility customers who are already enrolled in ratepayer assistance programs for seniors or low-income families, for example, may automatically receive a credit from their utility without applying. The state has set up a simple application for those who think they may also be qualified. 

To be eligible, a single person or family will have an income at or below 80 percent of the median income for their region of Washington. In Seattle, that threshold is $77,800 for a single person, $88,800 for a family of two and $111,000 for a family of four.

The rebate — which was proposed by the governor and legislative leaders and passed in the state budget this past March — is to be distributed as a $150 million grant to the state’s utilities to pass on to their customers. The clean-energy rebates are designed to help people deal with any financial burdens related to the cap-and-invest program.

Inslee, whose tenure as governor expires next January, said at a news conference in Seattle on Monday that the Legislature can easily keep the $200 credit program going in future budgets.

“It’s a great thing for 675,000 families to be eligible for this credit,” Inslee said.

Brian Heywood, main financial backer of an initiative to repeal the cap-and-invest program in a November referendum, criticized the credits, saying they are an attempt to “bribe people into keeping the [Climate Commitment Act] operational even though it’s done nothing to curb carbon emissions.”

While opponents of the cap-and-invest program focus mostly on gas prices, supporters point to industries being pushed to decrease harmful carbon emissions while raising money to fund more than 100 energy-saving, health, and ferry-related projects, including insulation and heat pumps to shrink energy costs.

Inslee said that if opponents of the cap-and-invest program are successful in repealing it in November, there is no guarantee it would shrink gas prices.

“The [opponents] are trying to take $200 from these families,” Inslee said, noting that the credits are provided by cap-and-invest revenue. “I think that was reprehensible. They are trying to eliminate something that already exists.”

A lawsuit was filed Monday against the Office of the Attorney General for withholding documents in response to a public records request and violating the state’s Public Records Act.

The lawsuit filed Monday noted that while the AG’s office is legally obligated to represent state agencies, three private law firms were instead hired to defend the Department of Children, Youth and Families in Le’taxione v. State of Washington, DCYF et al.The plaintiff in the larger case alleging civil rights violations has been unsuccessful through public records requests in seeking contracts and communications regarding the other law firms.

Plaintiff Le’taxione first filed a public records request with the AG’s office in May pertaining to the relationship between the AG’s office and the three law firms, but to date the office has not provided sufficient contracts or communications pursuant to the request. Some documents have been released according to the lawsuit, but key records have still not been provided.

DCYF and caseworkers for the agency have illegally prevented Le’taxione from visitation with his daughter, the lawsuit noted.

“DCYF colluded with, and used, the Office of the Attorney General to submit false documents to the Court, prevent visits and cover up for DCYF’s illegal, racist treatment of Le’taxione,” the lawsuit claims. “This alarmed the Spokane County Superior Court, which questioned ‘whether or not virtually any of the information [provided by the AG’s Office] can be trusted.’”

The attorney representing Le’taxione, David P. Moody, said in an email to Cascade PBS that his client is entitled to the readily available public records from the AG’s office, “but all we get are stall tactics and excuses.”

“We have seen this time and time again from this Office of the Attorney General,” Moody added.

The AG's office said they could not comment on the lawsuit until they had time to review the case. Spokeswoman Brionna Aho said the office hadn't been served as of Monday afternoon. She said the office relies on outside attorneys for a variety of reasons, including a lack of capacity, a need for particular expertise, or to avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict.

As the lawsuit noted, discovery sanctions have previously been imposed against the AG’s office in several other cases, including a 2014 lawsuit in which the office was sanctioned for more than $107,000 for withholding documents; a 2016 lawsuit in which the office was sanctioned for failure to preserve documents related to the Oso landslide; and most recently a 2023 lawsuit in which a King County judge sanctioned the office for the “cavalier” withholding of thousands of discovery documents in a lawsuit against a developmentally disabled woman.

The PRA lawsuit, filed Monday in Spokane, is asking for a judge’s order to produce all records requested by the plaintiff and for statutory penalties against the AG’s office, plus attorney’s fees and fines.

Washington’s delegates and alternates to the National Democratic Convention voted 79-17 to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.

The Washington delegation met over a Zoom call Thursday to conduct the vote. In March, Biden won 83% of the Democratic vote in the Washington state presidential primary, with 9.8% of voters saying they were “uncommitted” and presidential candidates Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson each getting less than 3% of the Democratic vote.

But Biden threw his support behind Harris on Sunday after he dropped his reelection campaign, requiring the Democratic Party to shift gears one month before its national convention.

The Democratic National Committee plans to hold a virtual vote on Aug. 1 to choose the party’s nominee for president ahead of its Chicago convention, Aug. 19-22. The national party said it had to hold the call, citing an Ohio deadline of Aug. 7 to get a presidential nominee on that state’s general election ballots. The Associated Press reported that its survey of delegates indicated earlier this week that Harris already had enough votes to become the Democratic nominee.

The Democratic nominee will face the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, in the general election in November.

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission decided Thursday to continue an investigation into the initiative organization Let’s Go Washington — and not refer it to the state Attorney General’s Office.

The PDC, which tracks campaign fundraising, voted 4-0 without comment following a closed session to reserve time at its Aug. 22 regular meeting to decide whether to file charges against Let’s Go Washington, if the PDC staff’s investigation is done by then.

Attorneys Abby Lawlor and Dmitri Iglitzin — representing SEIU Local No 775, Civic Ventures, Washington Conservation Action, and Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, plus others — sent a July 17 letter to the PDC requesting that complaints filed by their clients in July and October 2023 against the initiative sponsor be referred to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation. 

Let’s Go Washington — bankrolled by Redmond hedge fund manager Brian Heywood — has gathered enough signatures to make seven initiatives eligible for this November’s ballot. The Democrat-controlled Legislature passed three of the proposals last spring in an apparent attempt to get the least controversial ones out of the way politically.  

The four proposals would:

– Eliminate the state’s cap-and-invest program that charges polluters for their carbon emissions.

– Repeal the state’s new capital gains tax.

– Make the new long-term care insurance payroll tax optional.

– And trim a new law that would help Puget Sound Energy wean itself off natural gas.

The complainants allege that Let’s Go Washington’s campaign finance filings are opaque and difficult to decipher. They allege it is difficult to discern how much money has been raised for each individual initiative. Signatures for all but the natural gas initiative were collected in the same 2023 campaign. They claim that reported in-kind donations are Impossible to sort. And they expressed concerns about a lack of transparency about how the money was spent.

In an undated 2023 response, Let’s Go Washington’s treasurer Conner Edwards wrote: “I will note that many of the allegations in this complaint consist of pure conjecture and are asserted without evidence.” He wrote that the financial filings followed the law, and any mistakes are innocent and will be corrected.

A PDC staff memo said Let’s Go Washington has been filing timely monthly reports, but notes that the initiative sponsor has not provided all the information requested by the PDC and has been slow to respond to some requests.

Let’s Go Washington has raised roughly $7 million in 2023 and 2024 while spending about $10.5 million in that period, according to PDC records. A significant part of the money went to in-kind services. Heywood loaned or donated several million dollars to the campaign. 

The Washington delegates to the national Democratic Convention will meet over Zoom at 6 p.m. Thursday to decide whether they want to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee. 

To win the nomination, a candidate must secure a majority of delegates. The national party has said it plans to hold a virtual vote on Aug. 1, more than two weeks before their Chicago convention.

Only Washington national delegates, including the two uncommitted delegates and select Democrats, will be on the call, according to state party officials. They will have the option to endorse a candidate but are not obligated to do so in this meeting, said Stephen Reed, director of communications, in an email.

“But we’ve been speaking with our delegates and what we’re seeing is that the overwhelming majority of them are energized to vote for VP Kamala Harris,” wrote Hannah Kurowski, Washington state Democratic Party communications advisor. 

An AP survey found that Harris already has enough support from Democratic delegates across the nation to become the party’s nominee. Washington is sending 111 delegates to the national convention.

Washington State Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad and other leaders have endorsed Harris. Conrad expressed her support on the state party’s social media and wrote in a statement, “As the leader and steward of the Washington State Democratic Party, I have listened to the overwhelming consensus of Democrats in Washington state who are excited to support Vice President Harris as our standard bearer.” 

“Overall, we’re hearing nothing but support and excitement,” Conrad said. “Here in Washington, we have our governor, both of our senators, nine out of 10 congressional members have all endorsed, basically all of our statewide Democrats have endorsed Vice President Harris.” 

President Joe Biden announced on Sunday he is dropping out of the presidential race.

He said in a post on social media that he would address the nation later this week. 

In his statement, Biden touted his administration's accomplishments for the nation, from a strong economy to improved health care and the first Black woman appointed to the Supreme Court. 

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

He thanked Vice President Kamala Harris for being “an extraordinary partner in all this work.” In a later tweet, he endorsed Harris to be the nominee and encouraged Democrats to come together to support her and defeat former President Donald Trump.

For the latest developments following the president’s announcement, pay attention to PBS Newshour online and on broadcast.