Hidden in the hegemony of fringe partisan politics is a voting majority of reasonable people who have very little representation. The Bipartisan Wing is a PAC to fix that. Our mission is to rebuild the political center.

We’ll be a collegial and unstoppable voting bloc that gets problems solved by supporting sensible bipartisan policies, candidates, and electeds meanwhile keeping the neighborhood politically connected.

Both the Republican and Democratic parties have lost their centers. Here in Seattle, longtime Democrats are mumbling things like “not my Democratic party”. Others just “walk away” which is what I did in 2016. But I went back to bring reform. I sensed that abandoning or ignoring the party altogether leaves the fox guarding the hen house which is sort of how we got here.

I realized going to the meetings that most people don’t have a vote at their local partisan legislative district groups (LDs) because they’re not members or PCOs (precinct committee officers). Frankly, most people don’t even know what an LD or PCO is. I’ve been there.

Less than one-half of one percent of people who call themselves Democrats or Republicans ever join their partisan group. Even fewer people attend meetings. Yet even fewer people run for PCO. The reality is that when we call ourselves Democrats or Republicans, never participating or even knowing what the platforms say, we’re phoning it in and that’s a problem.

The Bipartisan Wing’s mission is to change all that because people at the political center must be in the room where it happens. It being the development of party platforms, endorsements of candidates, distribution of campaign literature, and more.

We have the power to draw both parties (and the policies and electeds that come with them) to the center and we must use it.

My state of Washington has 49 Legislative Districts (LDs). My LD, the 36th, has 245 neighborhood voting precincts. I’m in precinct SEA 36-1306. It is the area bounded by the black rectangle on the map below. In King County, WA you can find yours by using “Find My Districts”. In the sidebar to the left of your precinct map, you’ll see, as below, your precinct, Legislative District, Congressional District, King County Council District, and Seattle City Council District. Redistricting happens every 10 years, so it’s important to keep current.

Precincts are the finest grain of our democratic electoral system. In Seattle, it’s just me and the voters within a couple of blocks of my house. But imagine that the entire United States is divided into precincts just like my neighborhood rectangle above.

Voters in each party elect their precinct committee officers (PCOs) to serve two-year terms for their precincts. PCOs are elected in even-numbered years. Each year in May, there is a filing week at King County Elections. In 2024, that will be May 13 – 17. That is when people file to run for PCO, or any other elected office that will appear on the Primary Ballot in August.

Once you declare which party you wish to affiliate with, Democrats or Republicans, you fill out the rest of the filing information and that’s it. It is important to make sure there are at least two filed candidates in your precinct because, unfortunately, if there are not at least two contesting the position, then that race will not appear on the ballot, further diminishing the visibility and existence of neighborhood Precinct Committee Officers.

When I ran in 2022, there was another PCO candidate in my precinct. She is a well know progressive-wing Democrat. Most voters think progressive means something related to progress or fixing things, but the word progressive when used to describe politics means you favor a bigger and bigger role for government in just about every aspect of life. I’d be all for that if it worked, but I’m not seeing it. More often than not there’s too much money spent on theoretical solutions that fail to fix the problems. There’s seldom accountability for the results of the policies or the programs or course corrections to get things on track.

People at the political center are badly needed to bring better approaches, rein in the failures, and minimize waste.

Here’s a screenshot of the final election results of my race in 2022. Of the 379 registered voters in my precinct, 167 people voted, and 111 voted in my race. I won with 56.76% of the votes.

I just registered to run again for another two-year term in May 2024. I was unopposed and thus automatically elected, but sadly no one will know anything about it because unopposed races don’t appear on the ballot.

Mark your calendar for May of 2026 to run for PCO. No one needs to nominate you to run, you just nominate yourself and file during filing week. Once elected PCO, you’ll have more power than regular voting members at the local LD partisan meetings since you’ve been elected by your neighbors to represent them. Don’t worry if the people seems quite left wing or right wing at your meetings for now because, as I mentioned, the center has been hollowed out of both parties and that’s what’s left.

Even if you don’t run for PCO in your LD, please do join your Democrat group or Republican group and get on their email lists for meeting info and to familiarize yourself with their proceedings. Just google (fill in your LD number) District Democrats or (fill in your LD number) District Republicans, i.e. 36th District Democrats and join. Membership dues are low and most groups have a sliding scale available for lower income membership. Meetings are still on Zoom only now, but I expect a hybrid arrangement will emerge soon.

As a bipartisan, I follow what both parties are up to. I have both Democrat and Republican friends, neighbors, colleagues and business associates. I’ve been a Democrat for most of my life with some short stints as a Republican and as an Independent. In the end I decided to invest in the reform of the Democratic party beginning on the local level.

That said, people at the political center in the Republican party are just as frustrated as those at the political center in the Democratic party regarding the fringe policies and political positions of their parties, so contribute to reform wherever you feel the best fit is for you.

Interestingly, most people at the political center of both parties generally agree on most policy solutions and we are by far the majority of voters. There is no partisan voting wall between people at the center. Forget ‘vote blue no matter who’, etc. Bipartisan Wing voters can and should vote for the candidates that are the closest to their political positions because together we’re a powerful voting block.

I witnessed that here in Seattle when voters elected Ann Davison, a Republican, for City Attorney over left-wing social justice abolitionist Nicole Thomas Kennedy. Ann was a recent “walk away” from Democrats kind of Republican at the political center.

Also, interesting is that not a single Democratic Legislative District group in Seattle endorsed Mayor Harrell, a moderate Democrat, in 2021. Not a single one. They were all in for left-wing social justice abolitionist Lorena Gonzales. Are you seeing a pattern here?

More representation of the center at these Legislative District group meetings will counterbalance the extremities and bring sensible change over time. No revolution needed.

Good luck finding your precinct, joining the groups, filing for PCO in May and getting elected to public office.

Meanwhile, please join or start a Meetups for Moderates group in your state legislative district. Forget political polarization. Socialize with other moderates, meet moderate candidates and electeds, and join us in rebuilding the political center.