Testing the Mullet-for-governor hypothesis, Part II

An independent campaign that’s partly about rent control

A planned seven-figure independent campaign aimed at boosting the gubernatorial profile of state Sen. Mark Mullet should be popping up in your inbox, mailbox, and on various screens in the next few weeks. 

As we’ve noted before, polls from the right, left, and center show the business-friendly Issaquah Democrat stuck in single digits, far behind Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson and former Republican Congressman Dave Reichert. 

So we were intrigued to learn of a March 28 meeting chock-full of top-tier Olympia lobbyists in which the Coalition for Pragmatic Leadership —a PAC that was quietly established last year to support Mullet—laid out a plan to raise his profile this spring. As we noted when he entered the race, Mullet’s path to victory involves some combination of two things: chaos and discord on the Republican side of the race, and a big independent campaign on his behalf. So far, the Republicans haven’t cooperated on the chaos front.