Watkins Takes Aim at Inslee Votes

In just over a month, voters of the 1st Congressional District will be casting primary ballots.  The looming election hasn’t gone unnoticed by James Watkins, a Republican candidate banking on his business experience against six-term Democratic incumbent Jay Inslee (see profiles of Watkins, and fellow GOP primary contender Matthew Burke).

Watkins is taking issue with several of Inslee’s votes in the current session of Congress, which seemingly put him at odds with two important segments of voters: his base of suburban Democrats, and Watkins’ own likely libertarian-conservative primary voters.

Noting that Inslee snubbed the King County Democrats by not filling out their candidate questionairre, in a statement to the press Watkins’ claims it might have something to do with Inslee’s support for big-pharma. Watkins claims Inslee is “hiding his efforts for special interests.”

In particular, Watkins is taking aim at an amendment Inslee co-sponsored to the health care reform bill that extends drug companies’ monopoly on new drugs.  In exchange, Watkins points to $166,000 Inslee received from the pharmaceutical/healthcare industry, and $61,000 of which is from California-based pharmaceutical company Amgen.

Furthermore, Inslee points out a recent vote Inslee took against auditing the Federal Reserve, an issue championed by deficit-hawks, fiscal conservatives, and groups like the Ron Paul-inspired Campaign for Liberty.

But will highlighting these issues help Watkins in the primary? Watkins appears to be banking on a strategy common in competitive primaries.  He’s attacking the incumbent’s policy positions, and trying to open a window to give voters his own alternatives.

To date, media coverage of the potentially competitive race in Seattle’s northern suburban crescent (covering parts of Kitsap, Snohomish, and King counties) has ignored the presence of Inslee’s two GOP rivals. But after the August 17 primary, whichever GOP candidate emerges will certainly need to run a full court press, in order to get their message out.

Tags: James Watkins, Jay Inslee, Matthew Burke

Andrew

Andrew is a UW alum, Seattle native and dedicated hometown football fan.

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