SPOKANE — The packed field to represent Eastern Washington in Congress got a little more crowded Tuesday, with the late entry of Rick Valentine Flynn, a relatively unknown Cheney Republican with an unorthodox plan to halt inflation and spur economic development.
He joins a dozen other candidates who have at some point declared a bid for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Five other candidates, including three Republicans and two Democrats, had filed for the seat by the end of Tuesday, but more are expected in the coming days.
Flynn, a veteran, author and farmer who ran unsuccessfully last year for an open seat on the Cheney School Board, believes the country should introduce a universal basic income, an uncommon proposal that would provide money to every U.S. citizen on a regular basis usually associated with leftwing politicians such as the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang.
Flynn differentiates his proposal from that of liberal politicians by arguing that it could be set up to also tamp down on the inflationary pressures driven by so-called “greedflation,” the economic theory that a significant portion of inflation in recent years is actually driven by large corporations raising their prices and increasing profits while claiming inflation was the culprit.
The existence, prevalence and danger of “greedflation” is contested and controversial, but Flynn is among those who believe it is a real threat. Under his plan, the government would set an inflation limit and companies raising their prices above that would pay higher taxes, funding a universal basic income.
“The whole idea of the UBI I’m proposing is a way the government can stem inflation without simply relying on interest rate hikes,” Flynn said.
The other primary item on Flynn’s campaign platform is reforming healthcare for veterans, pointing to the failures of the beleaguered Veterans Affairs medical record system developed by Oracle Cerner and other harms to veterans by a medical benefits system Flynn believes is unnecessarily inflexible.
Flynn enters the race months or weeks after most of his opponents, but said he was disappointed by the Republican field. He says he wants to bring a “more moderate, sane” voice to a Republican Party he feels has become dominated by “the crazy MAGA crowd,” and was unimpressed by the more moderate Republicans running for the seat.
Governor
In the race for Washington’s next governor, 16 people had filed their campaigns with the Secretary of State’s office by Tuesday evening.
Republican candidate and former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert formally joined the gubernatorial race Tuesday. So far, he’s raised the most campaign donations out of all the Republicans running and reportedly had $2.5 million in the bank as of this week.
The other Republican Party front-runner, Semi Bird, had yet to file his paperwork by the end of business Tuesday. Bird picked up his party’s endorsement last month at the statewide Republican Party convention in Spokane in which party leadership initially tried to forgo making a gubernatorial endorsement altogether.
As of this week, Bird had raised nearly $500,000 for his campaign.
Both Democratic gubernatorial front-runners, Bob Ferguson and Mark Mullet , filed their candidacies Monday.
All told, the 16 candidates vying to take over the seat of outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee have spent a combined total of almost $7 million on their campaigns so far, making it the most expensive race in the state this year.
This year marks the first incumbent-free contest for governor since Inslee was elected in 2012.
Unlike Washington, most states don’t hold their gubernatorial elections in the same year as presidential elections. Only 11 states have governor races this year. Political action committees are pouring money into the Evergreen State’s race as a result.
