The race to replace Frank Chopp in the state legislature has one strong progressive and one Republican cosplaying as a Democrat.
Andrea Suarez is running for the 43rd District while openly deceiving the public about her political alignments. It is her constitutional right to lie to our faces, but it is our constitutional right and civic duty to expose her deception.
The proof in the very Republican pudding
Whether it is landing the keynote at a major King County Republican Party event earlier this year or speaking at a Washington Federation of Republican Women gathering, Suarez is clearly known as a leader among Washington Republicans.
You can find her cheering on Raul Garcia, the Republican running for Senate against centrist Democrat Maria Cantwell, or snapping a selfie with Washington’s MAGA candidate for Governor Semi Bird. Suarez is more openly Republican than many Republican operatives, and quite comfortable with the part of the party that has given itself over to insurrectionism and a rejection of democracy.
Painfully Right Wing
Suarez also aligns herself with the once-merely-kooky but now more dangerous Discovery Institute, which first becomes famous for trying to discredit evolution in schools, through its “teach the controversy stance.”
More horrifying, Suarez has been partnering with the Discovery Institute’s woman-punching, self-proclaimed journalist Jonathan Choe, and crediting him as if he is some sort of savior. She was recently on his group’s podcast as well. Choe is notorious for his Proud Boys (of January 6th fame) “documentary” that doubled as a recruiting video for the violent insurrectionist group, complete with background music from a White nationalist band.
When Choe interacts with a mainstream, moderate Democratic politician like Dow Constantine, he does so only as a troll. His favorite pastimes include attacking mainstream Democrats like Bob Ferguson and Jay Inslee. And all signs suggest that Choe is Suarez’s close political ally.
It’s not just Choe. Most of Suarez’ interviews and promotion comes through openly right wing commentators like Choe, including Jason Rantz, Ari Hoffman, and Brandi Kruse. Rantz, Hoffman, and Kruse are all Trump supporters who love to attack mainstream Democrats like Bob Ferguson for doing such audacious things as protecting people’s civil rights.
Suarez’s fringe and ill-informed policy ideas
As part of my 2023 Seattle City Council bid, Suarez had the opportunity to question me at a political event during the last election. Her questions betrayed that she lacked a grasp of the basic issues, including ones she works on.
While there is real room for disagreement about the correct mix of interventions for addressing homelessness and drug use, she pushed me for a mix of unhinged, pseudoscientific approaches that suggest she studied up by reading the worst threads on NextDoor.
When confronted with the fact that her pet policy of forcing people into forced abstinence treatment centers doesn’t work, according to copious peer reviewed scientific evidence, her counter-argument was something like at least they are clean.
We might as well inject bleach to cure Covid.
This kind of know-nothing, science-ignoring approach is part and parcel of GOP populism and it is disturbing to see it gain traction in a city like Seattle.
In addition to aligning herself with repugnant ideas, Suarez appears to have serious moral problems. She has been professionally partnering with a person who assaults and dehumanizes the homeless, and she herself has exploited, doxxed and abused homeless people.
Suarez clearly lacks the character for any kind of public leadership.
Her defense
To be fair, Suarez claims she is a Democrat.
Of course, Donald Trump claims to be fighting for you!
She says she is registered as a Dem and likes to point out that she is a precinct committee officer, something anyone can become for any reason. But she skips over mentioning her long right-wing resume and she refused to respond to a basic questionnaire from the Democratic Party that all party candidates fill out for endorsements.
Her strongest defense is that she has only donated money to Dem candidates. But then again, she only recently started donating to political campaigns, likely after she decided to run in Seattle. So, this seems like political expediency, a clear rebranding exercise. And some of those donations were to people like obvious Trump voter Olga Sagan, so it’s a little tough to say whether they even count as donations to Democrats.
I’ll grant that there is a vanishingly small, outside possibility that Suarez actually thinks she is a Democrat. I am no psychologist, so I won’t try to unpack this. But I will say, whether she is deceiving herself or not, it is patently unreasonable to call someone a Democrat who is almost completely aligned with the right-wing of the Republican Party.
In fact, she is so far from the mainstream that the Democratic State Party Chair recently blocked Suarez on twitter. The previous Democratic State Party Chair chimed in and said she would have done the same. These leaders have to manage a large and diverse coalition statewide–a big political tent. It is telling that neither have any space for Suarez’ extremist positions.
If Republicans are your jam, Suarez should definitely get your vote.
But if you consider yourself a Democrat or a moderate, I implore you not to vote for this person. Consider Shaun Scott, who is endorsed by former House Speaker Frank Chopp, current House Member Nicole Macri, King County Council Member Girmay Zahilay and a host of other Democratic leaders. (Plus The Urbanist Elections Committee.)
Either way, do not be deceived by Suarez.
P.S. Her feeling about public libraries has a Republican flavor as well.
This piece was cross-posted in Rondezvous, Ron Davis’s Substack.
Ron Davis (Guest Contributor)
Ron Davis is a consultant that helps early stage companies take new technologies to market, specifically, products and services that improve the world for workers and citizens. He's on the boards of Futurewise, Seattle Subway, the Roosevelt Neighborhood association and the University YMCA, where he fights to make Seattle a more just, inclusive, green, walkable, city. He has a JD from Harvard Law School and lives in Northeast Seattle with his wife, a family physician, and their two boys.