Why Did State Dem Chairman Push Klippert Write-in Campaign?

The chairman of the Washington State Democratic Party is being accused of encouraging voters to write-in Brad Klippert, in an effort to help boost a fellow Dem to win the Secretary of State race. Tina Podlodowski is facing some heat now.

 Klippert running for Secretary of State

In September, following his loss in the Congressional 4th District primary, Klippert filed to run as a write-in for Secretary of State, against Democrat incumbent Steve Hobbs and independent Julie Anderson.

Hobbs was appointed to the position by Gov. Inslee after the departure of Kim Wyman, while Anderson is the former Pierce County Auditor. She is believed to be more centric than Hobbs, and as of November 10th, the race was still close.

However, Anderson conceded and Hobbs won the job.

 Democratic chair accused of trying to tip votes to Hobbs

Just prior to election day, on November 7th, Podlodowski made an appearance on the Jason Rantz Show on AM 770 KTTH Radio in Seattle, in which she encouraged voters to write in Klippert--an astonishing piece of advice.

She said on the show:

“There’s a poll in place right now. And Brad Klippert is gaining a considerable amount of steam in this particular race. He is right behind Steve Hobbs if you’re looking at that."

However, Rantz says the actual poll from the Northwest Progressive Institute actually said votes for Klippert might tip the scales in favor of Hobbs, which is why the Democratic chair was urging votes for the write-in.

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Perhaps now it's a moot point, as Hobbs has won. But since there were over 85K write-in votes, and WA State does not list who the write-in candidates were (like Oregon does) we can only wonder if her 'advice' had any effect on voters.