Anti-Blue

While Washington State is considered "Blue" in American politics, it's not a consistent shade over its entire area, like every state. Where I live, however, is pretty solidly Democratic, and that means that running against whomever the Democratic candidate is requires a certain level of creativity.

When I first saw these signs, my very first thought was, "Yeah, this guy's a Republican." Republican candidates going with bold blue color schemes for their signs is pretty common around here. But I wanted to get a closer look, so I got up close, and I noticed that there is no party affiliation noted on the signs, on either side. And there's no attribution or "paid for by:" messaging on them, either.

Matthew Heines, it turns out, has listed his party preference as "Trump Republican Party." No wonder it's not noted on the signs. Donald Trump is something less than popular in the part of the state. Of course, if Mr. Heines' party preference holds, it will be in his listing in the Voter's Pamphlets for the upcoming open primary, but most people don't bother to read those. It will also. however be on the ballot. Which will make it an interesting look into how much support Mr. Trump manages to retain in this area, as well as how much Republican voters are willing to vote for a candidate on the basis of openly affiliating himself with Mr. Trump. Regardless of which Republican candidate makes it to the general election, they're going to lose (partisanship makes these sorts of predictions about as controversial as "water is wet"), so there may be a chance for some expressive voting here.