New WA Senate Minority Leader: ‘We’ve lived through 10 months of one-man rule’

Washington state Sen. Mark Schoesler stepped down from his role as Senate Minority Leader. In his place, Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia) will be assuming the role as the new Senate Minority Leader. He joined the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH to discuss reforming the rules on emergency actions and his vision for the future.

“It’s certainly a a great honor to be chosen by my colleagues to lead what is, I think, a very good leadership team and very good caucus. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’re excited to get at it,” he said.

As Jason noted, Republicans seem to have very little leverage at the moment, at least to overturn some of the COVID mandates that many are not happy with. How then would Braun approach this new legislative session?

“I think that you start by listening to people. Some folks thought we would do very poorly in the last election … We held our own and I think that’s in large part because we’re out there listening to average folks on the challenges they’re having not just with COVID, but with COVID-related problems from schooling to jobs. And we’re proposing solutions, and we’re fighting for them,” he said.

WA state Sen. Schoesler steps down as minority leader, Sen. Braun assumes role

Braun says Inslee has been running a one-man show for the past few months and hopes to pass legislation governing the rules for emergency actions.

“I think the biggest thing that Inslee is not going to be wild about — but I’m hopeful that we can pass with bipartisan support — is to reform the rules that govern emergency actions. We’ve lived through 10 months of one-man rule in the state of Washington. I think there’s frustration with that on both sides, and it doesn’t have to be partisan,” he said.

WA GOP chairman: Republicans have limited leverage in fighting Inslee’s mandates

“We’ve learned a lot over the last 10 months. Let’s apply that and modify the rules for the conduct of the governor during an emergency so that we get better representation from around the state, so it’s not just one person making decisions for the entire state.”

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3 – 6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.