NO on IL26-001 and IL26-638: We defeated right wing mega-millionaire Brian Heywood in 2024 & we can do it again in 2026

Last Friday, the right wing political action committee Let’s Go Washington submitted what it said were 416,201 and 445,187 signatures for two initiatives attacking student safety and LGBTQ+ rights, which we expect are likely to be certified for the November 2026 ballot within a few days. These measures will be the first things that voters across the Evergreen State see when they unfold their 2026 general election ballots — they’ll be at the very top, above all candidate elections, even those for federal office.

Designated IL26-001 and IL26-638, these initiatives are the product of right wing mega-millionaire Brian Heywood’s initiative factory, which Heywood launched several years ago and has since sunk huge sums of capital into. Memorably described by The Seattle Times as “Tim Eyman with a gigantic bank account,” Heywood is a California transplant and fan of Ayn Rand who holds extreme right wing views across every conceivable issue, as can be seen from the tweets he often posts on Elon Musk’s Twitter.

Heywood decided last summer that he would spend part of his fortune on a signature drive to qualify a two-measure slate for the 2026 ballot.

IL26-001 would repeal the Safety Act passed by the Washington State Legislature last year that restored the balance between student privacy and parental rights, giving parents more rights than they previously had. Sponsored by Monica Stonier (D‑49th District: Clark County), the Safety Act superseded a problematic earlier Heywood initiative from 2023 which was loaded with vague language. Heywood now wants to completely throw out the Safety Act and put his badly written initiative back in place.

https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2026/01/no-on-il26-001-and-il26-638-we-defeated-right-wing-mega-millionaire-brian-heywood-in-2024-and-we-can-do-it-again-in-2026.html