Matt Shea: Baptist?

[Haruo]

is a Washington State legislator from the suburbs of Spokane. He is a Republican, but the state GOP is apparently one of many groups that look askance at him and are even considering kicking him out of the legislature. I'm not actually wondering much whether he is a Baptist, I don't think he is. But I'm wondering how many Baptists in his District are applauding his Christian Identity and voting for him in spite of his support of overthrowing the Democrats by force. I think he is probably a member of ("Covenant Church is a non-denominational church, but we like to call ourselves Wesleyan/Reformed Charis-Baptist!"), and I suppose there's a chance that that is a stealth Baptist church (SBC or IFBC or whatever). Or maybe he's a Catholic (of the "not MY pope" variety); his bachelor's degree and JD are both from Gonzaga.

I worry about the idea that an entire legislative district in my state could repeatedly elect a guy with views and behaviors like his.

[Sandy]

Baptist or not, the man is a threat to society and shouldn't be in a legislative body, or even let loose in public.

Eastern Washington is kind of a different place than the coast, though. It's one of those red areas that conservatives point to and say because it covers more territory, they represent more of the "real America" than the blue areas along the coast. But there are ten times more people in the blue areas, which is representative of the state's majority. People vote, not land. Turnout wins elections, so when you have an entrenched, fairly popular extremist like this, the opposition has to figure out how to activate dormant voters who hold their perspective. Maricopa County, Arizona did it a few years ago when they ousted the racist Sheriff Joe. His attitude toward Latinos helped the Democrats activate Latino voters, and there were enough of them available who, when registered, gave Arpaio's opponent a large margin and helped elect Arizona's first Democratic Senator in 25 years. They just have to find enough voters in Eastern Washington who see what this jerk is up to and get him out.