Harger: Former WA GOP chair Chris Vance says the Trump era is over. Republicans running the party don’t agree

Chris Vance had a blunt read on last week’s election. The former Washington State Republican Party chairman said the Trump era is finished, and Republicans who want their party back need to start fighting for it now.

“He will never again lead the Republican Party in a national election. The calendar and the Constitution prevent that,” Vance said on Seattle’s Morning News. “The battle for 2028 is beginning right now.”

The people running the state party don’t see it that way. And Vance said the Republican groups he most wants to reach won’t let him in the room.

Vance represented Auburn in the state Legislature and on the King County Council, chaired the state GOP and was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2016. Now he’s with Our Republican Legacy, a national group that former U.S. Sens. John Danforth, William Cohen and the late Alan Simpson started in 2024. The goal is to steer the party back to what Vance calls its “core conservative, Reaganite values.”

“We’re a movement within the Republican Party,” Vance said.

He said the group has 31 state chairs and tens of thousands of members. The group said it doesn’t endorse candidates or give money to campaigns.

‘A disaster here in Washington state’

Vance made the same case in a column for Post Alley the day after the Nov. 3 election. He wrote that the state GOP followed Trump “over the electoral cliff like a pack of obedient lemmings.”

The numbers show how rough the night was for Washington Republicans. The party lost nine seats in the state House. Democrats now have a two-thirds supermajority, and Republicans are down to 29 of 98 seats. At the start of this century, Republicans held half the chamber.

“This election was not just a defeat; it was a disaster here in Washington state and across the country,” Vance said.

He doesn’t put all the blame on local Republicans.

“It’s really hard to swim against the tide nationally,” he said.

But he argues Trump’s version of the party doesn’t sell on the West Coast.

“Nothing in politics is permanent,” Vance said, pointing to how fast things can swing.

Democrats flipped U.S. Senate seats this month in Mississippi, Texas and Kansas, three states President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024. Kansas hadn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1932. Just across the border, British Columbia’s Conservatives won a majority last month and ousted the left-of-center New Democratic Party. It was the party’s first provincial win since 1928.

“When the American people get mad enough, they will vote for something different,” Vance said. “The people of Washington state are ready to vote for something different, but it can’t be the MAGA version of the Republican Party. That just doesn’t work on the West Coast.”

Not everyone in the GOP agrees

State GOP Chairman Jim Walsh sees last week differently. Walsh, a state representative from Aberdeen, told The Washington State Standard, “The midterm was bad. It was not this epic tsunami.” The day after the election, he told KING 5 that Washington’s swing was “maybe more like a trickle” as opposed to a tsunami.

“The rest of the country may have changed. Washington is Washington,” Walsh said.

Walsh plans to run for another term as party chair in January. He’ll face a challenge from Pierce County Republican Chair Dave McMullan. McMullan’s complaints are mostly about fundraising and supporting candidates, though, not about breaking with Trump.

Vance knows he’s outnumbered.

“We are the minority. I’m a Republican in exile,” he said. “They run the party today. Today.”

His case comes down to a simple idea: a party becomes whatever its presidential nominee is. Republicans who disagreed with Trump on tariffs, NATO, or Ukraine fell in line because he was the leader, Vance said. Pick a different kind of nominee in 2028, and he expects the party to change just as fast.

“Republicans make very good foot soldiers. They fall in line,” he said.

Nationally, there’s not much sign of that yet. The Associated Press reported this week that even after their losses, congressional Republicans showed “little appetite for a wholesale break” from Trump. House Republicans then picked Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a co-founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus, as their next leader.

Who Vance wants in 2028

Vance said he wants a nominee who cares about the national debt, keeps taxes low, opposes tariffs, and stands with allies like NATO and Ukraine. He likes Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general who has talked about running for president.

He’s just as clear about who he doesn’t want.

“We just have to make sure that JD Vance, by the way, no relation, is not the next nominee of the Republican Party. That would be a disaster,” he said.

Vance doesn’t let Democrats off the hook either. He argues Washington Democrats have gone too far left in Olympia and keep raising taxes even as revenue grows.

“Even though revenue has doubled, they keep raising taxes and increasing spending,” Vance said. “Even though they just got their income tax on millionaires, they’re going to try and pass more taxes when they reconvene in January.

“I do not support the Democrats; they’re terrible. But the Republicans are no opposition,” he added. “And the weakness of the Republican Party has allowed the Democrats to run wild in Washington state.”

‘Shut out’ of the conversation

Vance also told KIRO Newsradio that other Republican groups are keeping Our Republican Legacy out of the conversation. He said he’s asked to present to the Mainstream Republicans of Washington and at the Roanoke Conference, and both have turned him down.

Roanoke is the biggest annual gathering for Washington Republicans. About 600 people head to Ocean Shores every January. The 2027 conference runs Jan. 29 through 31, with National Review editor Rich Lowry as the Saturday night keynote speaker.

For Vance, that’s exactly the room he needs. His whole pitch is that Republicans should reach past their base to independents and moderates, and do it with less shouting.

“Decent, normal, hardworking Americans want to hear from their elected officials that you’re doing something to make my life better,” Vance said. “And they don’t like people screaming at each other about hot-button social issues.”

Vance doesn’t think the change will start at a conference in Ocean Shores. He thinks it starts with whoever wins the 2028 nomination.

“The Republican Party has been taking direction from Donald Trump. That’s over,” he said. “There’s going to be a new leader, and who that leader is is going to make all the difference.”

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.

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