If you think of politics as a kind of permanent war without actual bloodshed, then the most famous line from Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” — “Every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought” — most surely applies. For an example, let’s turn our attention to the now-nonexistent race for the state Senate seat in the newly redrawn 15th District in south-central Washington, the most contentious product of last year’s redistricting process. 

The election isn’t technically until November, but Republican Nikki Torres, who was elected to the city council in Pasco last year, will appear on the primary and general election ballots alone because of some deft maneuvering around the deadline for filing to run.

Read the rest of this item, and find out what Gov. Jay Inslee was up to down in California before he caught COVID, in this week’s subscriber-only edition of The Washington Observer.

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