Former Seattle sportscaster Tony Ventrella drops out of congressional race
Jul 1, 2016, 8:26 AM | Updated: 9:34 am
Tony Ventrella speaks to the Seattle City Council in support of its resolution on local TV news recently. The former sportscaster ended his congressional campaign. (Seattle Channel)
(Seattle Channel)
Former local TV sportscaster Tony Ventrella says he is ending his campaign for Congress.
Ventrella, who focused his campaign on fighting big money in politics, wrote on his Facebook page that his campaign “didn’t raise enough money to keep going.”
“I’m fine with that,” he wrote. “The game is played a certain way and I don’t like the rules. There are many good people trying to win elections. Playing the money game doesn’t make one a bad person it just makes a good person perpetuate a bad game.”
Related: The battle for the 8th Congressional District
Ventrella will not run for Congress in the future, he says. However, he will “continue his quest to get big money out of politics.”
Ventrella was running as a Democrat against 8th District Republican incumbent Dave Reichert. Reichert was first elected to Congress in 2004 and was formerly the King County sheriff.
Ventrella, 71, spent decades on KING-TV as a sports anchor and has worked for other television and radio stations in the city. Lately he’s been a digital-media host for the Seattle Seahawks but left the job this year to prepare for the congressional race.
KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson warned Ventrella of running. As a friend of the former sportscaster, Dori told Ventrella not to do it.
“I’ve always said don’t do it,” Dori told Ventrella. “I’ve become so cynical of what the process does. No matter how pure of heart you are going into it, few have come out unscathed.”
Ventrella admitted it was a longshot. He estimated he needed to raise $1 million to $2 million.
