Stating a desire to go “back to the Reagan 80s,” the Lewis County Republican Party held its annual Lincoln Day Dinner Saturday night.
Brandon Svenson, chairman of the Lewis County Republicans, said the event serves as the biggest fundraiser of the year. Traditionally a formal affair, the Lewis County Republicans opted for a more festive vibe this year.
The event served as an opportunity to both look back on a decade dominated by the presidency of Ronald Reagan and give candidates for public office an opportunity to look ahead to November.
While no candidates took to the mic, the audience included gubernatorial candidate Semi Bird and congressional candidate Joe Kent. The event also drew all three Lewis County Commissioners, Sens. John Braun, R-Centralia, and Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, and Reps. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, and Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen.
Hosted by Youtuber Glen Morgan, a panel of speakers included conservative talk show host Ari Hoffman and independent journalist Jonathan Choe. Though the event was held at The Loft in Chehalis, much of the discussion focused on events 90 miles up Interstate 5 in King County.
“I’ve been chased by guys wielding baseball bats who don’t want me to show what’s happening when it comes to drug deals in encampments,” said Choe, a former reporter for a news station in Seattle who was fired in 2022 after tweeting a montage of a Proud Boys rally in Olympia. “It’s all over Seattle. If any of you want to come to Seattle, I’d be happy to give you a tour.”
According to Morgan, issues that plague Seattle eventually work their way down to communities throughout the state.
“One of the things I hear about all of the time is people saying, ‘Well, I just want to move away from it all,’ right? Just try and escape,” Morgan said. “What people find is when they move away, they suddenly discover that they didn’t move away from it at all, and it’s coming to where they are.”
According to Choe, shrinking newsrooms and a lack of coverage of areas further away from King County presents an “amazing news revolution.”
“Social media has really democratized everything to the point where many in this room could open a Twitter account and start reporting on what’s happening at the hyper-local level,” Choe said. “And that’s really exciting, and that’s what I want to encourage.”
In his remarks, Hoffman said “it’s really not enough to just vote anymore.”
“It’s really not. You need to do more than just vote. You need to donate, you need to run,” Hoffman said.
