GOP chair re-elected after bad year for Republicans

Plus prevailing wage, unemployment for job-quitters, and what's on tap this week

Washington State Republican Party Chair Caleb Heimlich got re-elected over the weekend. That’s a mild surprise because the chair frequently takes a fall¹ when a political party has as disappointing a year as the GOP did last year in Washington.

Washington’s political parties are weak compared to those in many other states. They have no formal nominating power and wield influence primarily via checkbook.² That limits the parties’ power to impose discipline in areas such as potentially disastrous contested primaries. So it might not be strictly fair to lay the many self-inflicted wounds of the GOP’s 2022 campaign at Heimlich’s feet.