Devin Pooré: 4th Congressional District Voters Caught in Prisoner's Dilemma
We need new leadership to break away from the two old parties.
Devin Pooré — candidate for US House examines the political and economic challenges in Washington’s 4th Congressional District; highlighting the need for reform to address local economic decline and agricultural hurdles. He advocates for a new approach to representation, arguing that voters in the 2 Party stronghold are trapped in a political dilemma that stifles regional progress.
Washingtonians in congressional district 4 face a persistent conundrum.
Voters east of the Cascades have long felt — in many cases, have legitimately been — denied a meaningful voice in Olympia. Given that our state's capitol is effectively synonymous with "Democrats", this denial of a real seat at the decision-making table is an especially acute frustration for right of center voters in CD4.
Even many left of center voters I've engaged with while on the campaign trail have acknowledged this dynamic. State Democrats are correct that they need not look east of the mountains in order to wield near uncontested power in the state. I believe they pay a steeper price than they realize in exchange for such power. Namely, the ever increasing resentment harbored by many Republican voters towards their rival party.
Of course, political polarization at the national level plays a role in this dynamic too. Such polarization has accelerated since 2016, but this state level trend of Eastern Washington animus towards Olympia substantially predates it. As such, District 4 has been a GOP stronghold for nearly half a century. The results though aren't exactly confidence inspiring.
I Hear You.
CD4 remains the poorest district in Washington State. The backbone of our regional economy is agriculture, but farms continue to close here - as many as 1400 in the last 15 years alone. We also have the heaviest reliance on Medicaid in the state - upwards of 40% of district residents utilize the program. As a man in Chesaw, WA remarked to me on a recent visit I made to the small community in remote, northeastern Okanogan County, "Uncle Sam has saved my life a time or two" - a reference to his ability to access medical care in the area via low income programs like Medicaid. Last year, the GOP made federal cuts to Medicaid. Many of these cuts have yet to fully take effect; anxiety over healthcare access, especially in rural communities, has been a persistent theme on the campaign trail.
Tariffs Are Bad For Exporter Washington
Ill-conceived tariff and immigration policies from a GOP trifecta in DC also continue to have adverse impacts throughout our region - the former, complicating and confounding export market sales; the latter, driving labor supply shocks for farmers.
Yet despite such dismal results, given a choice between a generic Democrat and a generic Republican, voters in CD4 will keep doing the same thing and continue to send a Republican to Congress. The aforementioned antipathy held by many east-of-the-Cascades voters towards Olympia and, by extension, the Democratic Party isn't the only (or even primary) reason for such staunch and continued GOP loyalty here, but it's certainly a heavy enough straw to break the back of the Democrats' chances in Central WA.
Traditionally right of center voters here, comprising a clear majority, have what feels like an obvious and rational motivation to keep voting for the Republican Party in spite of serious failures in the district. Put simply, they trust the Democratic Party far less than a lackluster GOP. They prefer the devil they know to the one they downright despise.
Meanwhile, left of center voters, the clear minority, are experiencing a widespread sense of dismay and outrage over the conduct of the President and a Republican Party they see as enabling his worst impulses. And so, in spite of the Democrats' decade-long failure to contain Trump's rise to political power, a failure reflected in the party's historic levels of unpopularity amongst its own voters, these voters remain highly motivated to vote blue. It's understandable. I too take frequent issue with how the President operates. Dan Newhouse's continued electoral success here even after voting for impeachment post-January 6th suggests there is indeed a winning coalition of voters skeptical of Trump.
But here in CD4, I don't believe a Democrat will be the standard-bearer of such a coalition. Even the most energized left of center voting base won't be enough to get their candidate over the finish line without defections from tens of thousands of loyal GOP voters, many of whom may be frustrated with their party, but who still prefer 'R' to 'D' when it counts. Trump has easily won the district 3 times after all. Democratic voters are thus left pushing this particular boulder of false hope up the hill for yet another election cycle. As ever, the summit remains out of sight.
In our broken 2 party system, where left of center voters in District 4 have long felt disenfranchised at the district level and right of center voters have felt the same at the state level, both of these factions will continue to vote, rationally and understandably, but in ways that ultimately impose real costs on our region.
Each group of voters is staring down its own kind of prisoner's dilemma.
Both groups have more than adequate justification for spurning "the other side" and sticking with their own team. I understand and appreciate just how difficult it is for us to break out of this pattern we've all been trained to accept. Everything about the current system constantly attempts to reinforce the inevitability of this electoral trap.
Ultimately though, the classic prisoner's dilemma has a known resolution. One not achieved by each player doubling down alone, but by recognizing we stand to gain much more through cooperation, however unconventional or foreign that cooperation might feel to us.
Let’s Build the Future We Want
Check out my campaign for US House . I am ready to represent you in the US House of Representatives. We need policies which foster higher wages. Let’s push political reform in Washington DC. The two old parties are captured by special interests. Vote for me for change. When Americans align, we are the strongest force in human history. Let’s get to work and build the future we want.
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