Conservative candidates for governor, the 4th Congressional District, and Okanogan County commissioner campaigned to a packed audience at Cascade Bible Church in Twisp on Friday evening.
Semi Bird and Jerrod Sessler, both of whom live in Benton County, are running for governor and U.S. Representative of the 4th Congressional District, respectively. Marc Doney, a pastor at River of Life Church in Omak and a general contractor, is running for an open seat for Okanogan County Commissioner District 1, vacated by Chris Branch, who is retiring.
Doney began the evening by relaying to the audience his main priorities.
“I guess you could sum up my political beliefs in one phrase I’ve been using- the smaller the government, the freer the people,” he said. “I’m tired of sitting around. I’m tired of waiting for someone else to do it. If I get elected as commissioner, I’ll spend the next four years doing whatever the heck I can to make sure that we don’t lose our property rights and our water rights and our individual freedoms and all the things God has blessed us with.”
Doney appealed to grassroots voters disenfranchised by the party elite.
“I don’t really have an agenda other than anything that would come to me for a vote or come across my desk, as it were, to get my signature would have to be something that improves the lives of people, that helps them flourish and keep more money in their pocket and just basic human rights. I feel like we’re living in an upside down world and enough is enough.”
He opposed additional building code requirements for new buildings that went into effect April 1. “If you want a wood stove in your home now and it’s a brand-new construction, it’s going to have to be hooked up to something to let them know when you’re burning the wood stove and how often, and then they’re going to say, we’ve already got six new stoves in your community that’s already reached its green CO2 gas emissions level, so sorry, you don’t get one.”
“You’re not going to pay 250 bucks per square foot for your home, you’re going to pay 350 bucks. We need legislators and governors and people all up and down the food chain and political spectrum who are willing to do the right stuff.”
Doney began a refrain that Sessler and Bird picked up in their stump speeches.
“I’m not going to say I ever pretended to be a politician and I’m not going to say I’m necessarily the greatest guy out there, whoever ends up running. All I know is we need change. If God gives me the mantle, I just hope we have the wisdom to walk this thing out so that lives are improved.”
Doney criticized perceived backroom deals to pass new zoning laws in Okanogan County.
“The whole process has not been good. It’s violating RCW about how that process is supposed to occur. Until we had a commissioner’s meeting, where a bunch of people showed up to the tune of a couple hundred, that they couldn’t fit them in the commissioner’s meeting room, and postponed it to the Agriplex, it looked like it was going to be rubber stamped and voted in and we would have been toast on that. That’s a big deal to me. That would have a huge effect on people’s lives in this county. You cannot rubber stamp a new zoning law for what they do on the west side.”
“Some people own 160 acres, some people own a half acre. You can’t do a carte blanche, one size fits all solution for zoning laws. And it would be devastating, especially for small businesses,” Doney said.
“We’re going to take him down this time.”
Sessler is running against Dan Newhouse for the 4th Congressional District, which spans six counties and has parts of two more. The district runs from the Canadian to the Oregon border and is considered the most conservative district in Washington State. Sessler lives in Prosser, the county seat of Benton County. He ran against Newhouse in 2022 but lost in the primary.
Sessler announced he was endorsed by Donald Trump earlier that day, to the applause of attendees.
“I’m very appreciative of President Trump and everything he’s done for this country and I’m certainly happy that he gave me the nod for this,” he said.
Newhouse received 25% of the vote in the 2022 primary in an eight-man race that included one Democrat. Sessler views his seat as vulnerable.
“We’re going to take him down this time,” he said.
“I study. I know my stuff. You can ask me anything you want to ask me and I’ll tell you what I think we should do as a country,” said Sessler.
Sessler said he and his wife homeschooled their three children from start to finish. They travelled through Central and South America and learned Spanish. After serving in the Navy and getting two engineering degrees, he started his own professional handyman service, which he franchised to 250 locations in the US. He sold the business three years ago after the January 6 insurrection to turn his attention to politics.
Sessler said he was in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 and does not believe mainstream media’s account of the event.
“I saw what happened. It was a complete set up. Everything you’ve seen on TV is a complete lie. That thing was totally planned.”
“Somebody needs to stand up. I don’t know if I’m the perfect person or fit everything [regarding] what we need but I know I’m willing,” he said.
“Imagine if we just reigned our government back to simply keeping us safe, especially from a federal standpoint. Imagine the freedom we can experience,” said Sessler. “We need a strong military. We need a strong government to keep us safe. Everything else can be handled by the states.”
Sessler said border security could be fixed by enforcing existing laws. He opposes college debt forgiveness and calls executive orders unconstitutional. He supports a balanced federal budget, which he said could be accomplished by voting on each item separately instead of hiding them in larger bills.
Sessler differentiated himself from Newhouse, who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump. He criticized Newhouse for taking Republican time to speak for the impeachment instead of taking Democrat time. Sessler also criticized Newhouse for supporting a new FBI building in Washington, D.C. that costs $3.5 billion, as well as his support for Planned Parenthood and a vaccine tracking passport.
“Dan Newhouse is the epitome of RINOs. I don’t necessarily like using names like that but that’s the truth,” he said.
“If you’re in the most conservative district in the entire west coast, shouldn’t you have someone who is pretty passionately conservative? As far as national politics, when you think of a conservative from Florida- Matt Gaetz, you think of Kentucky- Thomas Massie, Arizona- take your pick, Andy Biggs is one of them. Tennessee- Chip Roy. Washington- crickets. Well, that’s where Jerrod Sessler fits in. I want to be your voice.”
Sessler said the election system would be more trustworthy if counties shared their election results with all of the other counties in the state and Olympia on election night, not just with Olympia exclusively. Sessler said it would provide a way to reconcile the votes across counties to come up with a unified total instead of having Olympia compile it exclusively.
Accusations Against Sessler
In September 2022, Sessler was accused of making a threat against a Benton County code enforcement officer after he came on Sessler’s property to investigate a complaint that a person was living there while Sessler’s house was still under construction. He received a warning letter about his behavior from Benton County commissioners.
Although it is not clear who was living on the property, earlier that month, Kennewick city councilman John Trumbo, a Republican, accused Sessler of false voter registration, saying he and his wife could not claim their property as a legal residence since their home was still under construction and lacked an occupancy permit. Their motor home did not have a temporary housing permit. An auditor ruled that since the Sesslers lived on their property at the time of the hearing, no action could be taken as challenges only address current registration.
“Give Olympia the Bird”
Bird gave an uplifting speech about his rise from the housing projects to candidate for governor. Born in the inner city in east Oakland to a single mother with seven children, he moved to Seattle when he was 6 years old. Bird said he left Seattle for the first time when he dropped out of high school to join the Marines. He served two enlistments with an honorable discharge and later served in the U.S. Army Special Forces and Washington State Army National Guard. Bird received a Bronze Star Valor Medal and a Purple Heart Medal, among other commendations.
Bird said his mother taught him to “adapt, overcome and improvise, as we said in the Marine Corps, and because of how I was raised, I’ve achieved the American dream.”
“My mother raised me to be an AmeriCAN, not an AmeriCAN’T,” he added.
Bird said his family votes for Democrats but he did his research before he cast his first vote as a Republican when he was 18 years old and became a lifelong Republican. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Human Resource Development in 2010 and 2012 respectively. He cited his extensive experience in the federal government and as a business consultant as credentials for governor.
“Could you imagine performance improvement in Olympia? This is why day one when I get elected, I’m going to call for third party audit of all state programs and all state offices,” said Bird, citing his experience in the area.
“I’m a solutions minded person. I’m not running for an office to hold. I’m applying for a job to go to work. You are my interview panel.”
Bird’s swag included t-shirts with the slogan, “Give Olympia the Bird.”
Bird decried failing test scores despite education being the highest expenditure in the state budget. Washington has an 83% high school graduation rate. Test scores for every school in the state, as compiled by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, can be found here.
“We’re failing our kids academically, but we’re graduating them with a B average.”
Bird, who is black, spoke against critical race theory and proposed teaching civics instead.
“To teach a child that the color of their skin determines their outcome in life is racist in and of itself. That’s subjugating the mind of children,” he said. “The fact that they’re trying to divide us starting with our children, that is true segregation.”
Socio-emotional learning, he said, has good foundations but has been corrupted by liberal agendas.
“Emotional intelligence is good, but not what they’re bringing in. They’re bringing in ideological infusions into that, and that’s not good,” he said.
Bird supports school choice and Educational Savings Accounts. Under ESA, parents can withdraw funds for reimbursement for expenses incurred at private schools or homeschooling.
Bird opposes sex education in its current form.
“Comprehensive sex education is desensitizing our children to sex, which makes them vulnerable.” He pointed to the problem of human trafficking in Washington State, which he said is the worst in the country.
“I’m not here to judge your lifestyle. I’m here to protect everyone’s civil liberties, but our children are off limits. Children belong to their parents. Parents are the primary stakeholders in their children’s upbringing.”
Bird invoked Washington and federal constitutions to support Second Amendment rights and opposed Washington as a sanctuary state. He said his son-in-law was an illegal immigrant but returned after he got his citizenship legally. Bird supports low taxes and sees homelessness as a mental health and addiction problem, not a housing problem.
“We’re going to make Class 1 drugs a Class A felony. We are going to start holding those dealers accountable, mandatory minimum sentencing so that they know you’re dealing with murder,” he said.
“It is time for a revival of faith and a revival of patriotism in America,” he added. “Our country is where it is today, our state is where it is today because people sat on the sidelines and continued to watch its decline.”
Bird said he was pressured by the Republican Party establishment to step aside to pave the way for Dave Reichert, but he refused. “The audacity, but this is the establishment system. Money, power, control, this is what we’re talking about,” he explained.
When asked about his strategy to attain the governorship, which a Republican has not held since 1985, Bird said he is engaging with liberals by going into the inner city and meeting with black leaders in Seattle, as well as attending the King County Juneteenth celebration and Umoja fest, an event in Seattle which celebrates African American community and African diaspora in the Pacific Northwest. Bird said he speaks Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and reaches out to those communities. He plans to run commercials in these languages before the primary. Bird points out that he won 62% of the Republican delegates in King County and has been endorsed in 17 counties across the state. Winning the endorsement of the state Republican Party at their convention this week in Spokane would provide a cash flow to his campaign.
Bird’s Political Baggage
Jim Brewer, pastor of Cascade Bible Church and organizer of the event, read out loud an email that listed Bird’s political baggage. The email, which came from Washington State Republican Party Convention Update as a sender, appeals to Republican delegates at the state convention this week that a vote for Bird would be a vote for presumptive Democratic nominee Bob Ferguson.
Brewer read Bird’s history of military court martial, failure to pay child support, bankruptcy, multiple business failures, arrest for felony gun theft and removal by recall as a school director in Richland School District.
Bird responded that the accusations are being taken out of context. He said he was discharged honorably from the military, went on to serve in U.S. Army Special Forces and as a credentialed federal officer with the National Nuclear Security Administration. Bird said he requested the court martial in 1984 after he punched a sergeant in the face for calling him the n-word and physically assaulting Bird. Bird said he requested the court martial to bring the case to trial after his commander refused to take any action. Bird said he served 28 days in the brig and was demoted, after which he went back to his unit, was promoted again and finished his term with an honorable discharge.
For the felony gun charge, Bird said he was a volunteer sheriff’s reserve when his roommate took his gun box, by accident, when they were moving out. Bird said it took him time to return the gun, but the sheriff’s department brought a charge of theft against him. The charge was dropped once he obtained the gun from his roommate and returned the gun to the sheriff’s office.
Bird acknowledge a bankruptcy 28 years ago, but said he has a 818 credit score now. His multiple business failures stemmed from arbitration during COVID for his work as a general contractor. Bird paid the settlement, which the insurance company later reimbursed.
As for back child support, Bird said he made regular payments to his children’s mother in Wisconsin, but when she went on state medical assistance, his child support payments ballooned to $30,000 going back to the birth of his children, which he paid over the following three years.
As for the school board recall, Bird said he was for standing up to mask choice in the Richland School District.
Bird said he ran for a seat on the Richland School Board in 2021 to protest school closings due to COVID. He lost a recall vote two years later following his vote with two other school board members in 2022 to make masks optional in the Richland School District despite a state mandate otherwise. The state Supreme Court ruled Bird and two other board members overstepped their legal authorities and violated the Open Public Meetings Act by not giving the community enough notice or details about their vote on Feb. 15, 2022, which passed 3-2. Fearing ramifications from unmasked students, the school superintendent closed schools for two full days until the board voted to reverse its decision two days later, on Feb. 17, following threats to the school district’s funding.
Bird questioned the motive for these accusations, which were sent to delegates days before the Republican State Convention.
“This is how disgusting politics is,” he said. “If anybody in this room ever said, ‘I’ll never run for office. I’ve got too many skeletons in my closet,’ I’m making the way for you. I’m paving the way for you. I am not ashamed of the man I am.”
Bird said Reichert backed out of a debate with him because he was a “nonviable candidate” because he didn’t raise enough money. Bird differentiated himself from Reichert by saying he would not vote for climate tax cap and trade or for vaccine mandates and does not support Obamacare.
Bird said he would prepare an election integrity bill if he were elected governor that would require in-person voting and paper ballots, voter ID, and get rid of automatic voter registrations when a person gets their driver license, which Bird said includes illegal immigrants.
At the end of the evening, Brewer applauded the candidates. “What we’ve seen, with our school board here in the valley, and what I’ve heard from people that have lived here a long time, only about 23% or maybe 27% of Christians in this valley vote. That’s got to change if we want a change.”
“I really believe the church is called to influence the world and unfortunately, the churches are allowing the world to influence it,” he said. “It starts here, with each one of us.”
I am grateful to CBC for providing a place where the church can mingle with people running for office, where candidates can speak openly about their faith as a significant part of their ethical foundations and we can make people aware of the issues that this generation is facing if they don’t already know.
Excellent article! So grateful to this church for hosting this event for the wonderful Methow Valley community!
Well written and covered article. Thank you for taking the time to write this. It feels like real journalism. The negative stories about me are politics hit jobs. Happy to explain what really happened.