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Become a member
Basic memberships are available to any Democrat who lives in Walla Walla County.
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Volunteer
There are many ways to volunteer with the Walla Walla County Democrats. You can staff our downtown office, write letters to the editor, host a candidate meet-and-greet, put a sign in your yard, and more.
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Platform
This platform represents the issues that Walla Walla County Democrats believe are most important and our ideas for addressing these issues.
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Explore our committees
The daily work of the Walla Walla Democrats is conducted by seven committees staffed by volunteers.
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Central Committee Meetings
Meetings of the Walla Walla County Democrats are held the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. Newcomers are always welcome! Both in person and virtual options available.
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Precinct Committee Officers
The PCO is the primary party representative and contact for a neighborhood.
We believe in the values of community, dignity, equality, fairness, respect, and tolerance. We believe that through good government great things are accomplished. We pledge ourselves to a government that serves and protects its people—with liberty and justice for all.
News & Views
Back in 2019, top Republican lawmakers were vocal in their outrage over Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and the questionable plea deal that shielded him. They promised investigations, transparency, and justice for the victims. But something has changed. In 2025, with Donald Trump’s name surfacing repeatedly in Epstein-related files, many of those same Republicans have gone silent — or worse, they’re actively blocking efforts to uncover the truth. What happened to the promises? This article examines the sharp turn from accountability to obstruction, and why the public deserves answers now more than ever.
Housing affordability in Walla Walla has reached a breaking point. What was once a manageable entry into homeownership has become an increasingly distant dream for working families and first-time buyers. Rising home prices, stagnant wages, and mounting upfront costs have created a market that’s out of reach for many. The following case—an unremarkable, modest home listed at nearly $250,000—illustrates just how unattainable “affordable housing” has become in our community, and why urgent action is needed.
Washington is in a money crisis—and it’s not just bad, it’s unfair. While the rich get tax breaks, working families pay more than their share. Our outdated system leans on sales and property taxes, hitting low- and middle-income people the hardest. It’s time to demand a fair income tax and stop protecting the wealthy at the expense of our communities.
Justice isn’t just a political issue—it’s a holy one. When we march, pray, boycott, and speak up, we’re following the path Jesus walked. Faith isn’t passive. It’s bold. It speaks up for the laid-off worker, the immigrant family, the child losing access to education. That’s what ‘Good Trouble’ means. That’s what love in action looks like.
For decades, troubling questions have trailed Donald Trump—questions not of mere association, but of complicity. As a modeling agency owner, pageant mogul, and close confidant of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Trump repeatedly placed himself in environments saturated with underage girls and power imbalances. He entered dressing rooms unannounced, ran competitions featuring teenage girls in front of wealthy men, and maintained deep ties to a trafficking network that preyed on the young and vulnerable.
No court has convicted Trump of crimes related to underage exploitation—but the public record is damning. Girls as young as 14 were recruited from his clubs. Teenage models lived in his apartments. And all the while, Trump operated with unchecked access and unexamined authority. The question is no longer whether he was near the system. It’s whether he helped build it.
Today, as Trump urges Americans to “move on” from the Epstein files, we must ask: Is it because those documents expose a world he simply knew—or a world he helped create?
The LGBTQI+ Youth Subnetwork of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline will shut down tomorrow, July 17, following a federal decision announced last month to end this specialized service. Since launching in 2022, the subnetwork has provided tailored support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit (LGBTQIA2S+) youth ages 13 to 24.
You’ve probably seen them: the self-declared “constitutional sheriffs” who believe they have the power to overrule Congress, ignore the courts, and singlehandedly decide which laws apply in their counties.
In their minds, they’re rugged defenders of liberty.
In reality, they’re cosplay cowboys with badges — and a wildly inaccurate understanding of the Constitution.
Amy Schwab welcomed Governor Bob Ferguson to the Power of Community event on June 18. The following are remarks that preceded the introduction.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” presents significant concerns from a Democratic perspective, particularly in terms of its impact on vulnerable communities, healthcare equity, and the sustainability of public safety net programs. This poses significant threats to the well-being of working families, the elderly, and marginalized communities.
Rep. Michael Baumgartner congratulated himself on his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill. Included in the piece are several bullets representing--in a binary, absolutist vacuum--how failure to pass the bill would affect Eastern Washington families.
A week before increasing the federal deficit by trillions and throwing 12 million people off of Medicaid, Congressman Michael Baumgartner sent out a glossy, 8x10-inch, double-sided, full-color mailer. It prominently featured a photo of a beaming Congressman Baumgartner alongside Donald Trump, both smiling and giving a "thumbs up" in anticipation of passing the so-called Big Beautiful Bill.
Other Voices
Our guest, Lynda Mapes, specializes in coverage of the environment, natural history, and Native American tribes. She writes for The Seattle Times and publishes elsewhere as well.
Lynda gave us a tour of the Columbia/Snake River. She sees the Columbia River at a crossroads. To be at a crossroad, of course, means that you select a path forward. This notion of choice may mean that you allow the past to push you forward in one direction, or it may mean that you imagine a quite different path. Either way, it helps to know the path we have taken to arrive at this crossroads.
Don Schwerin, Ag & Rural Caucus
Regenerative ag is the theme of the day, or decade, actually. It means everything thought to be good about farming and soil management. It comes down to four recommended practices: 1) reduce tillage, 2) integrate livestock with cropping, 3) rotate crops, and 4) utilize cover cropping. (We have already talked about #2, holistic livestock management, along with virtual fencing.)
This month, we will discuss cover cropping. The idea is to keep a crop on the ground. Around here, this does not happen much in summer, fallow between wheat crops, or in spring crops following wheat harvest.
Don Schwerin, Ag & Rural Caucus
Correspondent Scott Pelley focuses on President Trump’s use of executive orders to target major law firms he accused of “weaponizing” the justice system against him.
The report highlights interviews with legal professionals, including Marc Elias, who compared Trump’s tactics to mob intimidation and described the executive actions as retaliatory and harmful to the legal profession.
60 Minutes, CBS
How do we sell tax increases? We should talk about services instead of taxes. Talk about how rural counties receive more from the state than we pay – a lot more – and that cuts will hit us first and hardest.
Don Schwerin, chair, Washington State Democrats Ag & Rural Caucus
Donald Trump is suing The Wall Street Journal for doing journalism — and not just any journalism, but the kind that had the audacity to be read.
In a lawsuit that confuses “exclusive” with “classified” and “defamation” with “things I wish weren’t true,” the former president is demanding $10 billion over a story that may or may not involve a bawdy sketch sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Never mind the facts — the real outrage is that the article wasn’t whispered to one person and burned.
As legal logic collapses under the weight of performance art, Trump’s team appears to believe that hurt feelings and misread dictionary entries are grounds for litigation. The result? A lawsuit so absurd it doesn’t just challenge press freedom — it declares war on the English language.