At Loren Culp rally, handful out of hundreds wore masks

News of President Donald Trump’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis and hospitalization did not appear to inspire further precautions at the Culp For Governor Victory Protest in Liberty Lake Friday night.

Rally attendees at Appleway RV came equipped with foldable camping chairs and Trump flags and hats, but not masks. All but a handful of people in the crowd of hundreds went mask-free.

Gov. Jay Inslee “wants us to mask up, to shut up and follow him blindly,” said Kim Chaffin, Spokane County Coordinator for the Culp campaign, in the first speech of the night.

Some attendees also carried signs saying “No new k-12 sexual ed law,” referencing the controversial bill that would require sex education in all Washington public schools.

While Chaffin touched on several issues – including “this sex education crap they’re trying to shove down our throats” and Nigerian hackers – Inslee’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to take center stage, to much applause.

“I kid you not, since this whole COVID thing began I feel like I’m living under a dictator,” Chaffin said.

Culp, who said at the event he is going to “kick Jay Inslee’s (expletive) out of office with your help,” emphasized law enforcement in his speech.

He grew up on a farm in a small town near Port Townsend, where his dad was a deputy sheriff. He asked the crowd if they could relate, and the crowd responded “Yes!”

His goal, he said, is to get Washington “back to the way it was in the ‘70s when I was growing up and the ‘80s and ‘90s when I was raising my kids. This state is going downhill fast, is it not?” the crowd responded, “Yes!”

Culp, the chief of police in Republic, is an Army veteran who started a construction business “from nothing,” he said. He had one employee and bought a 1977 Datsun pickup truck from his grandfather on payments, he said. He changed his life at 49, going through the police academy then and selling his business to his youngest son, he said.

“It’s very rewarding work to put criminals in jail where they belong and protect good citizens,” Culp said to the crowd. “This far-left idea of defunding the police is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. We don’t need to defund the blue, we need to defend the blue.”

He pointed to tent camps and “dirty needles” in parks as social problems stemming from “the left policy.” He said his department has had a zero-tolerance policy for drugs, and arrests have led to people going to treatment for addiction.

“They would come up to me and give me a hug and thank me for saving a life,” Culp said.

About halfway through his speech, Culp talked about COVID-19, saying, “It’s real. People have died. The president and the first lady have been infected.”

Culp then emphasized that a low percentage of people infected die and those who do are seniors.

The event announcement encouraged people to bring chairs and water, but did not mention masks.

Culp said it often feels like King County runs the state and people worry westside residents won’t vote for him, but he said the majority of his donations come from there.

A late-September statewide poll of Washington voters found Inslee holding a double-digit lead over Republican challenger Culp, 53% to 36%. Trump trailed even further behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

At the event, a vendor sold huge “Police Lives Matter” flags along with Trump flags and merchandise. While food vendors Fatburger, Corndogs of the World, and a Philly cheesesteak stand fed the crowd, kids waved miniature American flags to the band’s rendition of John Mellencamp’s “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Loren Culp’s speech, which began after print deadline.