It was titanic when the Speaker of the House, Democrat Tom Foley, lost his seat in Eastern Washington state in 1994, a takedown that heralded a long winter for his party outside of coastal and urban enclaves.
So if an epic upset happens again in that same district, as seems possible after Tuesday’s primary, it will be because of party-flipping voters who haven’t given Democrats a sniff in a generation’s time. History is lurking again in the West.
I caught up with the potential giant-killer in Washington’s 5th Congressional District, Democrat Lisa Brown, just after the shame of Helsinki, when President Donald Trump sided with tyrant Vladimir Putin over his own country. While others were talking treason, Brown was sticking to basics in meetings with farmers and small-town residents.
“Health care insecurity – that’s the No. 1 concern, a very big deal,” she said. “And then, you really notice the enthusiasm of women. I’ve been doing a lot of doorbelling, and the gender difference stands out.”
That’s the point Democrats in the other Washington should not miss as they look at a map that has upward of 60 House seats in play. Yes, a majority of Americans find Trump repulsive – his lies, his pathological narcissism, his lack of decency, his illiteracy of democratic principles. But more important, his policies are not popular.