Evan Smith: Return of the Republican brand

By Evan Smith

ShorelineAreaNews Politics Writer

At this time two years ago, I wrote about the 25 candidates around the state, including one in the 32nd Legislative District, who listed their party preferences as "G.O.P." or “Grand Old Party,” rather than Republican. Some were running for the Legislature, some for Congress, others for statewide office.

It’s different this year. The Republican brand name seems to be back. Among candidates for office around the state, only five are using GOP or Grand-Old-Party labels. The best-known G.O.P. candidate from two years ago, Dino Rossi, is running this year for U.S. Senate under the Republican label.

Why the change? Some might say it's a comeback by the national Republican Party.

But a better reason is that the GOP label just didn’t work.

After the 2008 filing period, 32nd District legislative candidate Alex Rion told me that he had filed with a GOP preference because the Republican name didn’t work in the traditionally Democratic district. The GOP name did no better. Rion got less than a third of the general-election vote.

This year, all three races in the 32nd District and those in three nearby districts have Republican candidates, and none has any GOP candidates.