Tony Ventrella resumes his race for Congress
Aug 10, 2016, 10:16 AM | Updated: 1:04 pm
Tony Ventrella was back in the race for the 8th Congressional District. (Photo: Seahawks.com)
(Photo: Seahawks.com)
The congressional candidate who wanted to get big money out of politics will start making phone calls to fund a campaign he abandoned last month.
Former TV sportscaster Tony Ventrella told Seattle’s Morning News that he is resuming his campaign for the 8th Congressional District seat. He was reluctant to say that, yes, he will very likely sit at his dining room table, calling people for money in his battle against Republican incumbent Dave Reichert.
“I have to do both,” he said of raising money through donations and call campaigns. “I went to the dentist and enjoyed that more than calling people for money.”
Ventrella announced he was ending his campaign for Congress on his Facebook page.
On July 18 he reminded his supporters that he ended his campaign and encouraged voters to choose Democratic candidates Santiago Ramos or Alida Skold.
But he made the decision to drop before the primary election results were released. Ventrella ended up winning 17 percent of the vote, ahead of Reichert’s other challengers. He says he needed to resume his campaign, otherwise Reichert would be running unopposed.
“That’s right, nothing worse than someone running unopposed,” he said.
However, Ventrella’s Aug. 4 post contradicts what he told Seattle’s Morning News.
Ventrella admits it will be an uphill battle against the incumbent who received nearly 57 percent of the vote and received support from The Seattle Times “despite his flaws.” Ventrella likely made his race for Congress even more difficult by dropping out and then resuming after seeing the primary results. Reichert is going to call Ventrella a “quitter,” KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross said.
“I say go for it,” Ventrella responded. “Hit me on anything you want, because I’m going to hit back.”
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.
He joined KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson just hours after Seattle’s Morning News. He told Dori that, he is not “going to get on the phone and make calls for contributions as Dave Ross suggested I do earlier today.”
