House 15th District race unlikely to see big spending

YAKIMA, Wash. — Early predictions of state-party money pouring into the Yakima Valley's only legislative race this year appear unlikely to come true.

Officials from both parties say the race between mid-term appointee Rep. David Taylor, R-Moxee, and his Democratic challenger, Donicio Marichalar of Grandview, is less a priority for them than a hotly contested state House race in the 16th District, which covers Walla Walla and Columbia counties and parts of Franklin and Benton counties.

"We'll be investing a great deal more in the 16th than in the 15th," state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz said.

Back in March before Taylor was appointed to replace Sunnyside Republican Dan Newhouse, some Republican officials predicted a hot contest in the 15th District. It's long been a Republican stronghold -- no Democratic House candidate has taken more than 39 percent of the vote in 17 years. But Republicans were worried Democrats would make a push after Newhouse left to take the helm of the state Agriculture Department.

"It will be without question the most expensive legislative campaign we've seen (in the 15th)," Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, said at the time.

State Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser spoke of the need to defend the seat against a Democratic push, while Chandler guessed that state party donations would raise the total cost of the race into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Three months later, nobody is talking much about the 15th District being a battleground.

"I haven't seen signs at all that the Democrats are serious about contesting this race," Esser said this week.

Democratic 15th District Party Chairman Tom Silva said the party is still waiting to see how viable Marichalar will be.

"If worse comes to worst, the election will be up next year again, and we'll go for it again with someone else," he said.

Marichalar is a relative unknown politically and the other Democratic candidate, John Gotts of White Salmon, has already dropped out of the race. Gotts, who lost a 2008 campaign against Chandler, will still be on the ballot because he withdrew too late.

As of Friday afternoon, Marichalar, a 41-year-old former state Department of Social and Health Services employee who is now a consultant on foster parent issues, said he had not begun fundraising. Taylor, a 37-year-old rancher and land-use consultant, had raised $4,550, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

By contrast, the House Democratic Caucus Campaign Committee already has contributed $15,000 to the 16th District campaign of Rep. Laura Grant, D-Walla Walla.

Grant was appointed to the seat this year after her father, Rep. Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla, died. The elder Grant served 22 years in the House, making his seat one of the few in Eastern Washington that Democrats could consistently count on.

Four Republicans have filed to challenge his daughter, and two of them already have raised more than $20,000 for their campaigns.

Keeping that seat is a priority for Democrats, who haven't decided how much if anything to give to Marichalar, said Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, the committee's chairman.

Marichalar and state Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, were both scheduled to attend the Yakima County Democratic Party's annual diversity dinner in Wapato on Saturday evening. Hunt said Chopp planned to meet with Marichalar and size up his chances.

"We'll see how anxious he is to raise money and go out and campaign and what kind of base he has," Hunt said.

Marichalar said Friday that he plans to raise between $40,000 and $70,000.

"If we're running to win, we're going to have to be in that ballpark," he said.

Taylor put his goal at $75,000, but said that's just what he wants to raise from within the district. State party money would be on top of that.

Kevin Carns, executive director of the House Republican Organizational Committee, said he doesn't believe Taylor will even need state party money.

"But if he needs it, we'll be there," Carns said. "We're certainly not going to give the seat up."

Like the Democrats, though, Republicans will be paying more attention to the 16th District.

* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.