The Washington Supreme Court just threw out a law the people passed. Nearly two million of us voted in November 2024 to keep natural gas in our homes and businesses. Initiative 2066 won with 51.7 percent of the vote—1,941,474 yes votes, after more than half a million neighbors signed the petitions. On Sept.18, 2026, six justices said the whole thing had to go. They ruled it broke the single-subject rule, and they refused to save any part of it.
Natural gas is how a lot of Eastern Washington families stay warm when the wind comes off the river and the lines ice up. The court did not just strike a policy. It struck a choice voters made. The Citizen Action Defense Fund called out the double standard.
The Justices applied the single-subject rule one way to initiatives the people pass and a different way to bills the Legislature passes. That lets judges tip the scales on political grounds.
Let's Go Washington called it a coordinated push by the majority party, the executive, and now the court to wear down the initiative power itself. The state constitution is not coy. "All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Brian Heywood said the decision looks like an effort by all three branches to annihilate the initiative process. Voters face a harder standard than the Legislature, which passes sweeping bills in a single afternoon.
The timing was the point
State Representative Jim Walsh said on Sept. 26 that his sources inside the court say the I-2066 opinion was finished months ago. The court held it until mid-September. Why hold a finished ruling? To land it before the November election, when three citizen initiatives and five Supreme Court races are on the ballot. The aim was to talk people out of voting for initiatives this year.
That is a demoralization campaign with a robe on.
It only works if we treat this opinion like a weather report and stay home. Walsh's read is that the trick is backfiring. People are angrier, not quieter.
The polls are only correct if you let them discourage you from voting. You must vote. A campaign meant to make you believe there is no hope only works if you choose to let it work.
Three measures worth the ink
Sue Lani Madsen laid out the 2026 ballot. Three initiatives and five Supreme Court races. A January poll found overwhelming support across party lines for the policies behind the initiatives. These are majority ideas Olympia would rather not enact.
Initiative IL26-001 strengthens parental rights. It gives parents clearer access to information about their own children in public school, after the Legislature rewrote the rules on what schools must tell moms and dads. A parent is not a spectator.
Initiative IL26-638 protects fairness in girls' sports. A yes vote means every child competes in the category that matches physical sex, the same standard the NCAA and the Olympic Committee use, and the promise Title IX made to girls. Children who are convinced they are transsexual are not banned. They compete in the category that matches the body they bring to the line.
Initiative IP26-645 repeals the state income tax passed last session. The Democrats called it a “millionaires tax” because they set a one million dollar deduction at the start. But they refused an amendment that would have locked that line so it could never be pushed below one million dollars.
Democrats also stripped exemptions on pensions and social security income. A tax that reaches pensions and social security is not a millionaires tax. It is a state income tax. Vote yes to repeal it.
Five chances to rebalance the court
The court that struck I-2066 did not arrive by accident. Six of the nine justices were appointed by Democratic governors. All nine received 99 percent of their campaign support from progressive sources, and a Ballotpedia analysis says that support shows up in the decisions. There is no check when one side holds the scales.
All ten candidates are competent. But only five were not appointed by, supported by, or tied to the machine that has held the other two branches for three decades. This is a once in 100 year chance to rebalance a court that has been too political for a long time.
No undervotes!
When you DON’T vote on a race or issue, that is called an “undervote.”
In 2024, more than 676,000 Washingtonians failed to vote in the open Supreme Court seat race when Judge Dave Larson and Sal Mungia were on the ballot. Larson won every county except King County and still lost statewide by fewer than 19,944 votes. Spokane County alone produced 49,468 undervotes.
Mark the whole ballot. The initiatives are how families keep a say on schools, girls' sports, and a new income tax. The court races answer a branch that just erased a vote of nearly two million people. The Natural Gas ruling held until September was meant to demoralize and discourage you. Leaving a blank line does the same job for free.
We have a state to save. We can win these races if we cast our votes! Do not let a demoralization campaign, a poll, or a September opinion keep you from voting.
Show up. Vote ‘YES’ on all three initiatives. Vote the judges: Scott Edwards, David Stevens, Sean O’Donnell, Dave Larson, and Todd Bloom. In every possible race where you have a choice of (D) vs (R), Vote Republican!
Leave no line blank. Save our state.
Nancy Churchill is a writer, educator, and conservative activist in rural eastern Washington State. She chairs the Ferry County Republican Party and advocates for effective citizen influence through Influencing Olympia Effectively. She may be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own. Dangerous Rhetoric is available on Substack and X.
