Republican Pete Serrano isn’t surprised his decision to run for Washington attorney general drew immediate fire from Democratic opponents.
Serrano, a Pasco attorney, helped found the conservative nonprofit behind lawsuits to overturn state restrictions on assault-style weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines. To date, those efforts have been unsuccessful.
And while the Silent Majority Foundation, where he serves as general counsel, couldn’t block COVID mandates it continues to seek legal clarity on the limit of executive powers used by Gov. Jay Inslee to impose them.
These efforts make him an easy target for the two announced Democratic candidates, former U.S. Attorney Nick Brown and state Sen. Manka Dhingra. Both supported passage of the gun laws and issuance of the public health mandates.
Within hours of Serrano’s announcement Tuesday, Brown appealed to donors.
“Washingtonians can’t afford an Attorney General who will focus on rolling back progress on gun safety or one who is affiliated with a political party that constantly puts extremism and division over truth and justice,” Brown wrote in his fundraising email.
Serrano on Friday didn’t deny that he’s tackled “red meat issues.”
“They are all individual liberty issues too,” he added.
In a statement released earlier this week, he said that while he disagrees with several Washington state laws, it would not be his job as attorney general to “pick winners and losers.”
“I will use all the resources available to the office to defend the Constitution and the Constitutional laws of the state,” he said.
“I will provide a much needed check on government overreach,” he continued. “The days of emergency orders are over – they will be scrutinized and litigated if any office oversteps the bounds and duties as provided by the state’s constitution and laws.”
Serrano, Brown and Dhingra are competing to succeed Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson who, after 12 years in the job, is running for governor.
Serrano, 43, is in his second term on the Pasco City Council and currently serves as mayor, a post filled by council members. The conservative Republican is a former leader of the Franklin County Republican Party.
Born in California, he and his family moved to Pasco in 2015 where he was an environmental lawyer for the U.S. Department of Energy at Hanford. He went on to work for Energy Northwest before helping establish the Silent Majority Foundation in August 2021.
by Jerry Cornfield, Washington State Standard
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com. Follow Washington State Standard on Facebook and Twitter.
Cannot even fathom voting for somebody who would “ overturn state restrictions on assault-style weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines”. Or fight common sense emergency measures during a deadly pandemic to try to prevent more deaths. I’ll stick with the party that puts our lives first.
Criminals don’t follow the laws and they have all of these banned items. Re: Covid, Look up LA times article CA vs FL Covid. When adjusted for health conditions CA had a 34% worse death rate. FL took a less draconian approach. Don’t forget about all the mental health issues communities are still dealing with after the lockdowns.
Mr. Lopez, I couldn’t find the LA Times article you reference, but I did find the CDC table of COVID deaths by state. Washington ranked 6th best with 61.5 deaths per 100K population. Florida ranked 33rd with 111.7 deaths per 100K population. (California is somewhere in the middle.)
Florida’s “less draconian approach” resulted in a COVID death rate nearly double that of our state. Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, now recommends residents avoid COVID vaccination! Apparently he’s comfortable with that state’s COVID death rate remaining among the worst of the states.
I’d prefer an Attorney General with a positive focus on public health and saving lives.
The article is entitled “Did California or Florida handle COVID-19 better? The answer is complicated” dated Nov 28th, 2023.
I do believe in the vaccine, I’m not suggesting we emulate FL, instead the conversation is nuanced, exp. CDC flip flopped on mask effectiveness. To write off a candidate because they opposed some of the Covid measures is closed minded. Have you not read the many articles on the impact of school closures?
Than you for connecting me to the LA Times article Mr. Lopez, but I don’t read it the way you do.
The numbers tell the story– “In terms of the proportion of lives lost to the virus, the data show many more people in Florida died from COVID-19 compared to Californians.
* California: 2,560 COVID deaths for every 1 million residents
* Florida: 4,044 COVID deaths for every 1 million residents”
There is nothing “nuanced” about Mr. Serrano’s COVID work. He has defended doctors who prescribed quack COVID remedies (ivermectin). He sued to put unvaccinated medical staff back to work treating patients. I am comfortable writing off a candidate who fought even basic common-sense COVID measures.
Please stop running all these political articles, including letters from their ardent supporters. Lets get back to local news.
Being an informed voter is vital to our communities. I wasn’t aware of this individual running for office, until I came across this article. You can simply choose to skip these articles, no effort required.
Thank you for this news article.
Now I know who I won’t be voting for as Attorney General. No to Serrano.
Now could you give us a little more information on Nick Brown and Manka Dhingra so we can make an informed vote on our next AG.
Thank you again for these informative articles on our upcoming elections.
I’m not willing to trade my civil rights enshrined in our constitution to Wa State Dems who have shown such disregard for the first and second amendments. They vilified the police and released criminals. They closed beaches and parks and fired workers during the Covid hysteria. I welcome someone running braze enough to resist this craziness. We deserve better.
Sadly people treat politics like a sports team. All they care about is the D or R. WA has ranked no.2 for property crime for nearly a decade, Seattle reaching record murders (Seattle Times attributes crime spike to COVID lockdowns) politicians silent when protesters trap thousands of drivers for 6 hours. Voting has consequences, I’m hopeful for change.
Good luck with that Matt.
Thank You.
It has been decades since there was any “conservative thought” coming out of Olympia and it shows. Socio-economic destruction during the c-19 debacle, ever higher gas prices ( which affect all other prices ) for so called “climate change” prevention, rampant crime, proliferation of killer drugs and allowing zombies and urban campers to take over streets and neighborhoods in our cities. Just what part of democrat policies do you like ?