2012 FILE PHOTO — Rob McKenna looks out the window of the RV he was criss-crossing the state in the week before the gubernatorial election prior to making a stop at the Lewis County Republican headquarters in Centralia.
Lisa Betts, Onalaska, smiles as she talks to Washington state republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna at the Lewis County Republicans headquarters in Centralia during a campaign stop Monday afternoon.
Linda Matson, Olympia, hands out campaign signs supporting Rob McKenna as the Republican gubernatorial candidate gets his picture taken with supporters at the Lewis County Republican headquarters in Centralia on Monday afternoon.
Washington state Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna, left, talks with state congressman Richard DeBolt in McKenna's RV on Monday afternoon outside of the Lewis County Republican headquarters in Centralia. McKenna is criss-crossing the state in his RV in the final days before the general election.
The Veterans Legislative Coalition Washington contact Jim Sims, Shelton, shares a laugh with Washington state Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna during a campaign stop at the Lewis County Republican headquarters in Centralia on Monday afternoon.
The cheers of more than 40 supporters greeted Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna during a Monday campaign stop that was equal parts celebration and rally.
“In this race there is no silver medal. It’s the gold medal, or go home. We plan to take the gold medal with your help,” McKenna said at the Lewis County Republican headquarters at the Fairway Shopping Center in Centralia.
With polls showing a tight race between McKenna and Democrat Jay Inslee, McKenna’s campaign will remain focused and competitive — in every corner of the state — until the polls close, said Charles McCray, the attorney general’s communications director.
“We’re playing the ground game. Making sure people are knocking on doors, calling their friends and coming out to our rallies as we make Rob the next governor,” McCray said.
McKenna’s campaign team has made more than 1 million phone calls since August and hopes to make another 300,000 by Nov. 6, according to campaign director Jill Fagan.
McKenna encouraged his supporters at the Centralia rally to continue campaigning among the state’s estimated 250,000 undecided voters. After all, McKenna said, ‘every vote counts’ takes on real meaning in the Washington Governor’s race — a competition that, in 2004, was decided by 133 votes.
“If you have a friend who’s undecided, get on the phone, get on email … And send them one of my 12 newspaper endorsements, send them the link to the televised debates,” McKenna told the crowd.
Visiting predominantly conservative Lewis County was just as important, on his whirlwind state tour, as visiting swing regions, the candidate said.
“In a county like Lewis … It might be tempting to lay back and say ‘we’ve got this, we’ve done our part,’ but the fact is that every vote we get here in Lewis County helps counteract a vote in Fremont,” he said.
The seventh stop on McKenna’s eight-day, 29-town tour attracted several local Republican leaders including House Republican Leader Rep. Richard DeBolt, Sen. Dan Swecker, Swecker’s 20th legislative district competitor John Braun, and Centralia City Councilor Edna Fund.
McKenna acknowledged DeBolt and Swecker in particular, and thanked them for their work as GOP legislators.
“The last time the Republicans were in the majority in the House, the Senate and the governor’s office was 1982,” McKenna said. “I think 30 years has been long enough.”
Among the rally attendees was Djabari Mewson, a Renton High School graduate, who bolted from McKenna’s early morning rally in Shelton to his afternoon event in Centralia.
“I figured I may as well go to both of them (Shelton and Centralia), see if I can get them both in before the day’s over,” said Mewson, who said he approves of McKenna’s support for public schools. “I went to some of Inslee’s things too, and I didn’t like what he said.”
