Where and Why Did WA I-2117 (Repeal Climate Act) Fail?

On Election Night, many WA voters were surprised or even shocked to see the failure of Initiative 2117, one of the four Let's Go WA ballot measures, this one would have repealed the Climate Commitment Act, or CCA

   Surprisingly, some eastern WA counties rejected it

The CCA is a pollution tax, whereby businesses and industry have to purchase carbon credits in order to stay in business. The CAA, according to multiple studies and research, raised WA gas prices by at least $.52 cents as well as natural gas prices.

Let's Go WA, founded by Brian Heywood, put forth six initiatives, which all got enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. One of them was I-2117, which would repeal the CCA.

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However, it was up against considerable well-funded opposition, including $1 million from Bill Gates. Numerous other well-funded groups opposed the measure.

23 of the 39 counties in WA state rejected the Initiative, leaving many scratching their heads. Counties such as Okanogan, Chelan, Spokane, Whitman, and Walla Walla were among them. The widest margins of defeat were in King and Jefferson County (which is on the coast.  Some of the margins, such as Skamania and Klickitat Counties, were less than 1 percent.

There is a growing belief voters were confused by either the ballot language written by the Attorney General's Office, and the tidal wave of opposing TV ads thrown up prior to the election.  The ads contained falsehoods, such as claiming repealing the CCA would hurt WA state's forest and wildfire fighting efforts, when in reality none of the money has gone to that.

Some observers also believe that once the Let's Go WA initiatives made it on the ballot, there was very little TV and radio support to follow up.