Local Republicans like Chad Magendanz think Donald Trump is their party's Achilles' heel -- but it's actually their extre [View all]

As ballots were going out in the mail last month, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat again spotlighted the aspirations of a former Republican state legislator who has been out of the Legislature for over half a decade and has repeatedly — repeatedly — failed to persuade voters to send him back to the statehouse.

“Maybe no one has felt the political hurt Donald Trump has inflicted on local Republicans more than Chad Magendanz,” Westneat’s July 16th, 2025 column begins, going on to point out that Magendanz used to easily win reelection in the 5th Legislative District, which has had an all-Democratic delegation since 2019.

“Nothing could be better news for local Republicans than that Trump will be gone in four years,” Magendanz told Westneat back in the winter for another column that Westneat wrote about how Trump underperformed the rest of the Republican ticket.

Magendanz is now running for the Senate again. Having had no success running in even-numbered years, he is hoping to find success in an odd-numbered year instead.

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