Gingrich Predicts Gop Sweep In The State
House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday predicted a clean sweep for Washington state’s GOP freshmen members of Congress in this fall’s elections.
Speaking to reporters prior to a fund-raising luncheon for freshman Rep. Rick White, Gingrich said he expects all six of the state’s first-term Republicans to win re-election.
“We think this is a state where, whether it’s Randy Tate or it’s Rick White or it’s Linda Smith or Jack Metcalf, you’re going to basically see a pattern develop across the whole state, and we think frankly that it’s a pattern that’s going to be winning,” the Georgia Republican said.
Gingrich also lambasted political ads sponsored by the AFL-CIO suggesting that the Republicans want to get rid of Medicare and leave some senior citizens without medical coverage. The ads airing in this state specifically target Gingrich, White and Tate.
“These ads are scurrilous,” the House speaker said. “They are false and they are designed to frighten senior citizens with falsehoods in a way that is totally shameful.”
He also brushed off criticism that the GOP has been cruel to the environment.
The Sierra Club announced Thursday it was endorsing Democrat Don Stuart for White’s 1st District seat, saying Republicans such as Gingrich and White have shown “a callous disregard” for the Northwest environment.
“We got off, frankly, to a bad public relations start last year but I think we’ve done a number of things this year that are positive,” Gingrich said, citing passage of the Freedom to Farm Act and the Safe Drinking Water bill as examples.
White, too, said the attacks are way off base.
“This Monday I was on the summit of Mount Deception in Olympic National Park. My brother and I have climbed every one of those peaks. We’re moving our way back valley by valley. We’re going to climb every peak that’s there,” White said.
“There is no way in the world I would do anything to damage those resources that we have in our area. That’s why I live here. That’s why my family lives here. That’s what this place is all about.”
An estimated 200-250 people attended the $150-a-plate fund-raising luncheon.
White, a Bainbridge Island attorney, is unopposed in the September primary. His Democratic opponent in the November election will be either Stuart, an attorney and commercial fisherman, or Jeff Coopersmith, a former deputy prosecutor.
Prior to the luncheon, Gingrich met privately with board members of the local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and said he helped raised $10,000 for the foundation. Gingrich has made several fund-raising appearances on behalf of the national diabetes foundation since becoming House speaker last year. He has often talked about the need for early diagnosis and care for diabetes, which has afflicted his mother-in-law, Virginia Ginter.
It was Gingrich’s second trip to Washington state in just over four months. He last visited in May, when he made campaign appearances for Tate and Metcalf.