With the start of Washington’s legislative session now less than a week away, I wanted to compile of a list of the top Twitter accounts to understand what will undoubtedly be a bruising, contentious and possibly historic 105 days to come (and, if the past is any guide, some weeks on top of that).
It seems trite to say at the dawn of 2015 that politics, journalism and the reaction-cycles happen in real time, with Twitter being the main conduit for that information. My goal in producing this list is to supply you with what I consider to be the best accounts to grasp what’s happening in Olympia as it happens.
This is admittedly a subjective analysis based on the people, organizations and lawmakers I find the most informative, interesting and insightful on Twitter. It’s not driven by the number of followers they’ve got, or the Klout score they have. If we were only in this for the web traffic, you’d see a lot more articles on the Wire like “15 Cats React to Jay Inslee’s Budget Proposal,” or “Which ‘Game of Thrones’ Character Is House Speaker Frank Chopp?”
Finally, you can follow me at @ByPeterJensen, and our main account at @WaStateWire. If you’re wondering why there’s 42 accounts, it’s got something to do with our state’s birth date.
MEDIA
Puget Sound region
Associated Press
- Rachel La Corte @RachelAPOly
- Phuong Le @APPhuong
- Donna Blankinship @dgblankinship
The News Tribune (Tacoma) & The Olympian
- Jordan Schrader @Jordan_Schrader
- Melissa Santos @MelissaSantos1
- Brad Shannon @BradShannon2
The Seattle Times
- Jim Brunner @Jim_Brunner
- Joe O’Sullivan @OlympiaJoe
The Herald (Everett)
- Jerry Cornfield @DosPueblos
The rest of Washington
The Spokesman Review, The Columbian and The Yakima Herald-Republic
- Jim Camden @jcamden
- Lauren Dake @laurendake
- Mike Faulk @Mike_Faulk
Public Radio
- Austin Jenkins @AustinJenkinsN3
- Kyle Stokes @kystokes
- Tom Banse @TomBanse
TV
- TVW @TVWNews
- Anita Kissee @anitakissee
Web
- Crosscut @Crosscut
- Publicola @publicolanews
- Joel Connelly @JoelConnelly
OUTSIDE INFLUENCE
From the left
- Budget & Policy Center @budget_policy
- Northwest Progressive Institute @Nwprogressive
From the right
- Washington Policy Center @OlympiaWatch
- Washington Research Council @WRCresearch
Business groups
- Association of Washington Business @awbolympia
- National Federation of Independent Business @nfib_wa
- Washington Business Alliance @WABizAlliance
Labor & environmental groups
- Washington Environmental Council @wecprotects
- Climate Solutions @climatesolution
- Working Washington @workingwa
THE FIVE POINTS
- House GOP @WAHouseGOP
- Senate Republicans @WashingtonSRC
- House Democrats @WAHouseDems
- Senate Democrats @WASenDemocrats
- Governor’s Office @WAStateGov
ELECTION INFO
- Secretary of State’s Office @SecStateWa
LAWMAKERS
Democrats
- Reuven Carlyle @ReuvenCarlyle
- Ross Hunter @RossHunter
- Gael Tarleton @GaelTarleton
Republicans
- JT Wilcox @jtwilcox111
- Michael Baumgartner @VoteBaumgartner
- Hans Zeiger @HansZeiger
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