September 26, 2022

On September 22, 2022, members of AMCD met with Matthew Patrick Thomas (MPT), chairman of the King County Republican Party in Washington State.

King county is one of the largest counties in the US. It encompasses 17 legislative districts and 2.3 million people. The party is working hard to help elect Matt Larkin for Congress in the 8^th district and Tiffany Smiley who is running against Patty Murray for Senate along with many others.

Mr. Thomas found his passion in politics after he attended a Republican dinner at the age of 30 and met Karl Rove, who told him too “get in the game.” He then became a precinct committee officer (PCO) in the heart of downtown Seattle. He gradually rose through the ranks and learned party politics from the ground up. This gave him the wherewithal to be able to take over as King County Chairman and retire the debt he inherited from his predecessor.

He explained that Republicans can’t compete with Democrats in terms of media spending, but Republicans can capitalize on issues voters care about affecting their communities. For example, just recently, the Democratic government installed facilities with 500 beds, 50 tiny homes and 50 RV parking strips in the Chinatown district of Seattle with absolutely no consultation with local business owners. Protests broke out with locals exclaiming this would spell the death of Chinatown.

Mr. Thomas got involved and brought in the national Republican party to stand up for Chinatown. They were able to get massive media coverage and Republicans are hoping to persuade Asian Washingtonians to switch their affiliation to the Republican party. Latinos are likewise unhappy with the Democratic leadership in the state with their coddling of criminals and their anti-family woke agenda.

Mr. Thomas is also very worried about the direction of our country, especially the efforts to criminalize political opposition. He feels many good people refuse to enter politics because of the savage tactic of personal destruction which now prevails.

Q: What is the secret recipe for building coalitions?

A: When Rob McKenna, the former state Attorney General, ran for Governor, he put together 13 different coalitions and came close to defeating Jay Inslee. He had veterans, Asians, Latinos, women, seniors, first responders and many others. We feel good about expanding these coalitions for the midterms. Coalitions bring activists and when they go out and ring doorbells as a group of friends with a common goal, they are very effective. Much more effective than paid canvassers. The party needs to be more welcoming to young people. For example, when Ron Paul ran for President, he brought in a lot of young people, but they were not welcomed into the party, which was a mistake. We need to welcome everyone and get back to Ronald Reagan’s big tent.

Q: America will be “majority minority” in just 20 years. How can we build more coalitions?

A: We need to get better at strategy. Often too many republicans run for a single office and wind up taking each other out. We need better party discipline to discourage spoilers.

Q: What is the secret to raising money?

A: The first requirement is that the candidate must be trusted and reliable. The second thing is: one simply has to make those phone calls.  I have a system where I make the person on the other end of the line say “no” three times before I give up. The third thing is knowing who to call.

Q: I’ve been offered the opportunity to register to vote and no one asked whether I was a citizen or not. The Democrats seem to be invested in strategies that are border-line cheating.

A: The left doesn’t see what our concerns are about election integrity. Ballot harvesting is legal in Washington State and that won’t change unless we can win. The Democrats want voting to be as loose as possible because it helps them win. Hanging on to power is their main goal. Election integrity is not a priority.

Q: I found it very disturbing that DOJ and their agencies like the FBI, rejected the claim of voter fraud by saying that yes, there was fraud, but it wasn’t “widespread.”  To me, one case is still fraud and should be prosecuted. Do we have any idea how many illegals are voting?

A: The DOJ and FBI have lost the confidence of the American people and now the government is hiring 87,000 new IRS agents – which is mandatory spending and can’t be easily reversed – to go after taxpayers at the same time they have opened the borders to illegal immigrants. That tells you everything you need to know about what the Democrats’ priorities are.  Of course, Republican representatives and their donors are already getting audited.

Q: This morning the New York Attorney General sued President Trump, his family, and their business even though all those banking transactions were mutually agreed upon contracts – there is no victim here.  The banks are making money on the loans, the Trump organization is putting people to work and creating good experiences for their customers and guests. It’s the way the free market works.

A: Yes, that’s why we need more people to get involved and vote these people out of office. This is an abuse of power, plain and simple. We need to build and army of coalitions to win!