Last week, Washington state Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh echoed Trump's conspiracy theories about grassroots activism and doubled down on claims that protesters who disagree with him are "paid agitators."
Around the same time, a cadre of Republican-sponsored signature gatherers descended upon grocery stores and other public spaces around the area. This makes Walsh’s criticism ironic considering these signature gatherers are paid contractors, often from out-of-state, and they're hired by hedge fund manager, and millionaire, Brian Heywood.
Heywood, a California transplant who now lives in Redmond, has emerged as the local GOP’s biggest sugar daddy as of late. His political weapon of choice is ballot initiatives, which he poured over $7 million into in 2024 alone, on top of more than $460,000 of contributions to Republican Party coffers. He uses ballot initiatives to perpetuate culture war issues and oppose taxes he deems unfair to him and his wealthy cohorts.
In spirit, citizen initiatives are democratic, and our system for changing policy through the initiative process is an important one. But Heywood has spent a fortune perverting this system by hiring hordes of out-of-state contractors paid on a per-signature basis. This means they prioritize profit over integrity and often use questionable tactics to coerce potential marks into signing.
Though integrity may not be a priority for Heywood. He’s already been issued a $20k fine by the Public Disclosure Commission for campaign finance violations (one of the biggest in recent years).
Despite spending more than any individual in Washington political history, the results of his efforts so far have been mostly failure. He managed to lose on his signature issues when three out of his four initiatives were rejected decisively in November.
The capital gains tax he tried to repeal affects fewer than 4,000 of the state's wealthiest residents each year. The climate programs he targeted are bringing billions in infrastructure investment to communities across the state, including rural areas like ours that desperately need economic development. The long-term care program he attacked provides a safety net for working families who can't afford private insurance.
In other words, Heywood spent millions trying to solve problems that don't exist for most Washingtonians while ignoring problems that do.
In interviews, Heywood (a Harvard grad) peppers his pro-corporate arguments with populist language. He’s mastered the art of sounding like a regular guy fighting for common sense. He talks about growing up poor, jokes about manure on his farm, and acknowledges concerns about gas prices and public safety that resonate with working families across the state.
His $7 million investment could have funded practical initiatives addressing real challenges voters face. But look past the folksy schtick and his "common sense" solutions simply use working-class frustrations as political cover for policies that benefit millionaires and culture warriors.
This strategic misdirection has real consequences when the state’s entire Republican party decides to follow suit. They promise tax cuts and relief for working people, but come back from Olympia with nothing but poll-tested social commentary and talking points about policies they voted against.
Local Democrats don’t have rich investors funding their campaigns, but that doesn’t stop us from advocating for progressive solutions that would make life better for working people. Things like tax relief funded by surcharges on wealthy speculators, expanded job training for high schoolers, exemptions from sales taxes on childcare and family essentials, and mobile healthcare clinics.
It’s not hard to look around and see what would immediately help people in Southwest Washington, but it takes political will to go up to Olympia and actually fight for those priorities. Bills in Washington are often passed by lawmakers who don’t understand rural life, which is why it’s so important to elect people who will bring our voices with them to the floor of the legislature.
Representatives from rural areas are nearly all Republican, and they’re currently choosing to be a party of opposition and cultural issues instead of a party that can actually go up to the Capitol and bring back real relief.
This is the inevitable result of letting a man like Heywood control the message. He’s already hired another army of paid contractors for his 2026 initiatives and shows no signs of shifting toward the kind of economic populism that might actually help struggling families.
That leaves Washington Republicans to either continue letting a California millionaire's checkbook dictate their priorities or rediscover what it means to represent working people's interests. For now, the evidence suggests they'll stick with Heywood's approach. Party leaders praise his "unifying" influence, apparently satisfied with moral victories and ideological purity over electoral success.
Plus, he’s got the money.
So while Jim Walsh rails against non-existent “paid agitators,” the rest of us get to endure his Heywood-funded, rent-an-activist cultural warfare campaign. Meanwhile, working people in places like Lewis County will continue waiting for leaders who understand politics should be about solving problems, not creating them.
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Zac Eckstein is chair of the Lewis County Democratic Party. Learn more about the party at https://lewiscountydemocrats.org.
