The Washington State Republican Party (WAGOP) is expanding its program for supporting conservative, results-oriented school board candidates from races in a few dozen districts two years ago to more than 60 districts in 2025.
“Our school board program was a great success when we launched it in 2023,” says WAGOP Chairman Rep. Jim Walsh. “That year, we targeted 36 races and helped the winning candidates in 32 of those contests. That result surprised many people. This year, we’re targeting twice as many races in 61 school districts around the state. Our goal is to build on proven success and help grow the conservative caucus among locally elected school directors in Washington.”
The 61 school districts that have WAGOP-targeted school board races this year are:
Aberdeen
Battle Ground
Bellingham
Bethel
Blaine
Cashmere
Central Valley
Cheney
Damman
Eastmont
Eatonville
Edmonds
Ellensburg
Enumclaw
Everett
Evergreen
Federal Way
Ferndale
Highline
Hood Canal
Issaquah
Kelso
Kennewick
Kent
Lake Washington
Longview
Lyle
Lynden
Mary Walker
Mead
Mercer Island
Meridian
Mount Vernon
Mossyrock
Napavine
North Kitsap
Northshore
Omak
Oroville
Pasco
Peninsula
Pioneer
Port Angeles
Port Townsend
Puyallup
Quilcene
Riverside
Sedro-Woolley
Selah
Shelton
Snohomish
Steilacoom
Sumner-Bonney Lake
Sunnyside
Tacoma
Toledo
Toutle
West Valley
White Pass
Yakima
Zillah
“This is a geographically diverse, demographically diverse group of districts,” says Chairman Walsh. “We didn’t cherry-pick easy races in districts where common-sense conservatives already run things. We’re targeting districts that we need to win, in order to fix our struggling public school system here in Washington.”
The specific help WAGOP offers school board candidates that it supports in these districts includes voter data, precinct analysis, fundraising advice and tools, policy training and human resources to assist with door-belling, outbound phone calls and public events.
“Great candidates for school boards come in all shapes—some have years of experience in public schools, others are concerned parents or grandparents new to K-12 education policy and politics,” says Chairman Walsh. “So, their needs are different. And their districts are different. WAGOP offers every candidate a menu campaign of tools and support, from which the candidate can choose the pieces that help most. We don’t tell candidates how to run. We just give them the support to run effectively. And to win.”
In some of these 61 Washington school districts, WAGOP is supporting more than one candidate. In a few districts, WAGOP is supporting slates of candidates that—if elected—will have operational majorities on their boards. More details on these candidates, including their names and links to their campaign web sites, will be available to the public after the state primary election on August 5.
“Providing a high-quality basic education to the children of Washington is the paramount duty of our state government,” Chairman Walsh concludes.
“In recent years, our state government has struggled to fulfill that duty. Washington has fallen from having one of the top three or four public school systems in the United States to ranking below Mississippi. The WAGOP program for supporting common-sense school board candidates helps return our focus to excellence in reading, writing, math, and the hard sciences. This is part of fixing our broken K-12 public school system. It’s critical that this program grows and succeeds.”
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