Supporters of Semi Bird beat back Washington GOP attempt to stop endorsement vote

SPOKANE — The Republican Party state convention erupted with boos and shouts of protest Friday after GOP officials tried to stop an endorsement vote in the race for governor, saying candidate Semi Bird “was not forthcoming” in the party’s vetting process.

About 1,800 delegates at the Spokane convention center — many of them waving Bird signs — reacted with outrage after GOP officials announced their endorsement ruling, which came after a Seattle Times article detailed Bird’s 1993 conviction on a misdemeanor bank larceny charge for falsifying a credit application.

They said, as a result, the party would remove the governor’s race from the endorsement schedule — with no endorsement for Bird or former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert — a choice widely anticipated at the convention.

As the announcement was made, Bird said: “This not 1960!” In a brief interview, he said party officials had been moving against him, but he had faith in the grassroots delegates.

His supporters, clearly in the majority of delegates at the convention, quickly voted to reverse the decision by GOP executive committee officials. The endorsement vote is scheduled to take place Saturday.

Reichert, who did not show up to the convention Friday as expected, quickly announced he was withdrawing from the chaotic GOP endorsement process.

In a post on the social media platform X, Reichert slammed the GOP process, saying some in the party had “changed rules, broke rules, and twisted the process.”

“I am still seeking the endorsement of Republicans statewide and reconfirm my intention to fight for the state as a Republican all the way to November,” he said.