NEWS: Reichert to be keynote speaker at Mainstream Republicans’ annual Cascade Conference

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April 29, 2024                                                            Deanna Martinez – (509) 760-3608

Reichert to be keynote speaker at Mainstream Republicans’ annual Cascade Conference

Event to be held in Yakima this year, May 31 to June 2

OLYMPIA – Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert will be keynote speaker at the annual Cascade Conference sponsored by the Mainstream Republicans of Washington, set for May 31 to June 2 in Yakima.

Other highlights of this year’s event include a forum for this year’s Republican congressional candidates in Washington state, and a discussion of a court-ordered redistricting plan centered on the Yakima Valley and the Tri-Cities that has changed legislative-district boundaries for a full quarter of the state. The three-day gathering will be held at the Yakima Convention Center beginning the evening of May 31.

The registration link for this year’s conference is here.

“In a year when the hottest political issue in our state centers on south-central Washington, there is no better place to hold our Cascade Conference,” said Deanna Martinez, the Moses Lake city councilwoman who chairs Mainstream Republicans of Washington. “Social justice has become an excuse for the worst case of gerrymandering we’ve ever seen in this state. By holding our conference in Yakima, we call attention to injustice at the same time we promote mainstream principles in Washington Republican politics.”

Mainstream Republicans of Washington is dedicated to promoting electable Republican candidates who believe in good governance, responsible policy development, and positions that benefit the majority of Washington voters. The Cascade Conference, held since 1969, features presentations about Republican candidates and strategies and emerging political trends and issues.

“Independent voices on our side of the aisle are all the more important in years like this one,” Martinez said. “Mainstream Republicans of Washington stands ready, willing and able to channel support to candidates who can appeal to the broad electorate.”

The organization this year has so far endorsed Dave Reichert for governor, Jamie Herrera Beutler for commissioner of public lands, and Raul Garcia for U.S. Senate.

Other topics to be covered at this year’s conference include Washington state’s opioid crisis and the fast-rising fentanyl death toll, the ongoing political campaign to breach the Snake River dams, and this year’s legislation to force a phaseout of commercial and residential natural gas service in the greater Puget Sound area. Speakers include numerous political candidates and elected officials.

Congressman Dan Newhouse, will speak Friday May 31 to open the conference and welcome Mainstream Republicans of Washington to his 4th Congressional District. Also at the Friday session, state Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh will host the forum for congressional candidates. Reichert speaks Saturday.

Speakers at the Saturday forum on redistricting include MRW board member Nikki Torres, the first Latina senator to be elected from south-central Washington. Torres, elected by a landslide in 2022, is among a half-dozen Republicans who will lose their seats or will be forced to move under the court-ordered redistricting plan, which is ostensibly designed to strengthen the voice of Washington’s Hispanic population.

The event will be covered by TVW, the state’s public-affairs TV network.

Accommodations for the conference have been arranged at the Holiday Inn Yakima, Fairfield Inn and Suites, and the Best Western Plus Ahtanum Inn.

For more information about the conference, visit the Mainstream Republicans of Washington website at www.washingtonmainstream.org.