This Midterms 2022 update comes from Washington State. For over 30 years, Patty Murray has been “working hard” as a Senator. So she says. Some Washingtonians believe Ms. Murray has way overstayed her welcome.

Her opponent is Tiffany Smiley, a farmer’s daughter from rural Washington, wife of an Army Veteran, mom to three young boys and a nurse by trade. Smiley has lived the life of a military spouse. She later fought for her husband, Scotty, when he was in Intensive Care after being wounded by a suicide bomber while serving in Iraq. She became a fierce advocate of her husband, who is now legally blind, in fighting for Veterans’ rights. And she thinks Patty Murray should retire.

As a Washingtonian, I think Murray should retire as well. And, thankfully, I am not alone. A recent poll shows Murray with an 8-point lead over Smiley who is at 41%, a noticeable increase from where she was in July at 33%. If Smiley pulls this off in the Midterms election, she will be the first Republican from Washington in the Senate since 1994.

I’ve watched the debate between Murray and Smiley this past Sunday at Gonzaga University. Smiley spoke passionately about her advocacy for Veterans and their families. She also called out the increasing crime in the State of Washington. Murray positioned herself early on in this Senate race as an abortion and climate change advocate; rebutting any attacks from Smiley on her track record with, pretty much, “I’ve been working at this for years”.

Crosscut breaks down the 5 takeaways from this debate: Immigration, Abortion, Crime and Guns, The Snake River Dams and Climate Change. They, of course, bias in-favor of Murray. Shocker, I know. But in truth, if we look back on over 30 years of Murray holding the Senate seat in Washington, can we say, honestly, that quality of life here in our state has improved?

It may be that the self-proclaimed “mom in tennis shoes”, Patty Murray, has warn out her tennis shoes. Smiley’s campaign bus reads “There’s a new mom in town”. In fact, it wasn’t until recently that Murray agreed to debate Smiley. Murray dodged Smiley for months. We suppose the 30-year relic of a Senator thought that it was beneath her. Or perhaps, she thought it pointless? After all, Democrats tend to win in the blue state of Washington. Democrats know this and take advantage of this. They also have the fawning media outlets in Blue cities and states on their sides…throwing out the softball questions and putting out commentaries to the public such as “Why Tiffany Smiley Is Wrong For Washington”.

Murray is the kind of politician you get when you live in a one-party state. They take us for granted and they don’t even care if their positions hurt the people they’re supposed to serve. They know they’ll benefit from the power their party has in the state.

But signs continue to indicate this year could be different. And if we’re lucky, it will be.”-Jason Rantz, KTTH

We hope you are correct, Jason. Murray has even been heard saying these midterms are “too close for comfort” and Dems are throwing more money at the problem. And while Patty’s supporters do this, Ms. Murray will continue to say that “she’s working hard on things” all while painting Tiffany Smiley as a “MAGA” candidate. This will, of course, be parroted by media outlets in the upcoming days. Murray and her supporters will call Smiley “dangerous” and a supporter of the January 6th insurrection (she actually did this in the debate). The goal, here? Distract, distract, distract voters. Murray also likes to point to Smiley’s lack of experience in the Senate and in politics in general but she comes across as a smug, out-of-touch, career politician.

Smiley, a 41 year-old mother of three has been hammering Murray on the issues of increased crime and drug addiction in Washington State. Murray throws this back to gun laws and the gun lobby. Smiley expresses concern on the increase of drugs like fentanyl coming in across our borders. Murray says she’s “been working with lawmakers on immigration reform” for years. Smiley talks about jobs for Washingtonians and education for children in our state. Murray throws out “The American Rescue Plan”. American Disaster Plan is more like it. Take a look:

A real “champion” for our schools, I’d say. More like a “champion” for the Teachers’ Unions. Patty Murray is such a “champion” she even, once-upon-a-time, asked her former security advisor to choose between her job and her children.

That woman’s name is Pam Norick and she now endorses Tiffany Smiley.

And you know Murray is stressing the midterms when she calls upon Vice President, Kamala Harris, to come and stump for her in Seattle. You can read the whole word salad here.

But the thing about democracies is this: I think there’s a duality in terms of the nature of a democracy. On the one hand, there is great strength when democracy is intact in the way that it defends and protects individual rights, the rule of law, justice, freedom. There’s great strength in what it does to lift up and strengthen its people.

On the other hand, it’s extremely fragile. It will only be as strong as our willingness to fight for it. And so, fight we will. (Applause.) And when we fight, we win. Patty Murray — the next senator from the great state of Washington to continue her leadership.”-Kamala Harris

Wowzers. More deep thoughts. Can we do a Venn diagram for this, Kamala?

Crime, homelessness, and inflation are out of control in Washington and at the top of voters' minds, so what is @VP coming to talk about? Electric school busses. Even the writers of Veep couldn't make a politician seem this out of touch. https://t.co/h5xQfsQ6yh

— Alex Kuehler (@amkuehler) October 26, 2022

$1 billion bucks for electric school busses because, of course. They can convert the other busses into tiny homes to house mentally-deranged drug addicts on the city streets of Seattle and call it addiction healthcare and counseling, I suppose. Hey, Washington…perhaps y’all should focus on keeping our kids IN SCHOOLS before rolling out the electric, yellow school buses.

Wait a sec…isn’t Harris “in charge” of the space exploration program? Can we please send both Harris and Murray on some space exploration for an indefinite amount of time? Or at least on a cross-country trip in an electric-powered jet to try out this “clean energy” they’re peddling? Hey, Patty? Pack those tennis shoes while you’re at it, too.

Photo Credit: Original Artwork by VG Darleen Click