From the Central District to the Statehouse? Republican Semi Bird’s run for Governor
Photos by Susan Fried
By Lorcan Stokes
In a recent segment of Off The Clock, Converge Media's Omari Salisbury hosted a conversation joined by Washington state GOP gubernatorial candidate Semi Bird. Born in East Oakland, California, Bird moved to Seattle's Central District at six years old. Having dropped out of high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps before obtaining a diploma and a bachelor's degree. Following another stint in the military, he shifted to federal employment. Now, as the first Black American endorsed by the Washington GOP in state history, he seeks to become the next governor.
"There are people out there who I believe feel forgotten. They feel that people don't represent them like they should in government, and I see what's happening with our state, the state I was raised in," Bird said. "Downtown homelessness, lawlessness, our education system. I mean, we have a disparity in reading amongst marginalized communities that's unnecessary in the 21st century. So you get to a point where we have to stand up and say no more."
Despite securing a 72% vote from Republican delegates, Bird's journey to becoming the Washington GOP-endorsed government candidate has encountered some scandal, particularly within his own party. Last month, during the three-day Republican Party convention at the Spokane Convention Center, GOP leaders decided not to nominate Bird or any other candidate despite widespread support.
"There was a group of individuals, very well funded, we would call the establishment or that political elite, the donor class, and they tried to disqualify me," Bird said.
The disqualification attempt stemmed from a Seattle Times article revealing that Bird had a misdemeanor related to a financial crime from 1993. Bird noted that he had undergone a vetting process within the GOP and had passed their background criteria.
"Those individuals who were, I would say, not happy with my candidacy from the very beginning. I got in their way. They made multiple attempts to try to get me to step aside, run for lieutenant governor, be part of that slate and support of the other Republican gentlemen," Bird said. "When I said no, they had threatened to come after me and try to ruin my reputation, and then they started digging and bringing up all kinds of things."
Bird emphasized the "donor class" within the GOP was upset that their preferred "candidate didn't get his way," further deterring his nomination.
"The people chose these delegates," Bird explained. "The delegates went to Spokane. They cast their vote on behalf of the citizens that they serve, and it was very clear, but for the other candidate who did not show up to the convention... they turned and said, 'Well, the delegates, they're not viable. The candidate's not viable. The delegates, they've broke the rules,' and they're turning it on them when they didn't even show up to contend."
Bird used his experience, particularly the scrutiny directed toward his background, to shed light on the impact of criminal records, which often hinder individual job opportunities.
"They deserve another chance. If they want to make their life better, everyone has the right to better their life, and that is wrong for anybody to say I'm going to shut you down when you're trying to make yourself better for you, for your family," Bird said. "This is America. It's about time we get back to our roots and start talking about lifting people up and that holding people back."
Amidst a divided Washington GOP and the challenges of campaigning in a predominantly blue state, Bird emphasized his efforts to reach out to all communities during his gubernatorial run.
"All groups are a priority to me, and that's a difference in the strategy. You saw it last year when I first came on your radar," Bird said. "I was there in my own community, where I first started out in the Central District because all groups matter, all people, all citizens. People say, well, there's 7% of the vote, this person is 30%.... No, everybody has worth."
In his conversation with Salisbury, Bird underscored several crucial agenda items for his campaign, spanning education reform, addressing homelessness, and ensuring public safety. He emphasized that he would prioritize introducing a bill targeting education assuming office. While the bill's entailment was unspecified, according to Bird's campaign website and his "Solutions with Actions" agenda, Bird's education plans focus on increasing parental and guardian access to educational materials, student records, and medical services offered in schools and raising student academic performances across the state. Regarding the implementation of his potential bill and other legislative efforts, Bird explained that he would diverge from conventional practice by directly engaging the public in the process.
"What I'm going to do differently is I'm going to send it to the people ... so they can see that I want to ensure that every school district has a strategic plan that focuses on the child in the classroom and those teachers to give them the resources and the tools and ensure that we understand how each child learns differently," Bird said regarding introducing an education reform bill.
Additionally, Bird aims to introduce an election integrity bill targeting mail-in voting, citing concerns about the current system's vulnerability to tampering and advocating for a return to in-person voting. This move would significantly alter Washington's current design, which has evolved over forty years. Initially reserved for voters with disabilities and those aged 65 and older, special elections by mail were permitted in 1983. By 2005, the Washington Legislature allowed mail-in voting for all elections, and 38 out of 39 counties adopted it, with Pierce County being the exception. Senate Bill 5124 in 2011 mandated mail-in voting statewide, including Pierce County. While Bird is looking to abolish the current voting procedure, he emphasized that he would retain the pre-1983 rules of mail-in voting.
"Mail-in voting will be in place for those seniors, those veterans or disabled, so they will always maintain that access," Bird said. "But for all of us who have the ability to show up to be there and to vote the same day, let's get it done and make sure that it is dependable, accurate, and captures everyone's votes."
Another priority of Bird's is taking a firm stance on crime, proposing stricter penalties for those dealing in mass quantities of deadly narcotics like fentanyl, a substance that claimed the life of his nephew last year.
"So those who are profiting in the deaths of our own citizens, they need to be held to a very high standard; class A felony. If you're dealing in mass quantities of fentanyl, class A felony, mandatory minimum, and I'm not talking about just single pills because we have people who are in the darkness of addiction, and [they] themselves are selling just to get their next high."
Continuing, "We're not talking about that because we're not doing that whole mass incarceration, targeting certain groups. We're not doing that again. But what we're saying is those who are smuggling this mass, and they're taking advantage of the deaths of our citizens, we're going to hold them accountable."
Concerning homelessness and addiction, Bird unveiled what may be his most drastic proposal if elected into office: allocating 10 acres of state land to establish a rehabilitation center in collaboration with the National Guard.
"We have high-tech hospitals that we have within the National Guard. We have mental health treatment personnel, we have doctors, we have addiction treatment personnel in the National Guard," Bird said, citing Article 3, Section 8 of Washington's constitution as the authority enabling this initiative.
"We will get them clean of addiction. We will bring certification programs and trade programs so that they have a light at the end of the tunnel," Bird said. "When they graduate from the program, and they go to that transitional housing on Monday, they have a good-paying job that they can report to, and then we integrate them with their families that have been loving them and missing them for a long time."
Regarding the extreme measures to combat addiction issues in the state, Bird stressed the need for an all-around approach emphasizing the importance of prioritizing mental health and drug treatment over incarceration.
"I've met with a lot of families who have lost loved ones to addiction, meaning our loved ones are dead from fentanyl poison, and many of us would say, I would rather have my nephew alive and in jail than dead on the streets, but that's me," Bird said. "No, you cannot just say, throw him in jail. That's wrong. You have to have a system and an infrastructure to support [it]. It should be treatment first, is what I'm saying."
Further topics Bird addressed include the challenges posed by state regulations on local businesses, the state of Seattle's economy, housing concerns, and infrastructure issues, particularly regarding Washington State Ferries, pointing out the impact of multiple boats being out of commission, causing disruptions to travel schedules, cutting lines, and affecting people's livelihoods.
"We have 15 out of 19 boats fully operational, and that's by the day. In terms of solutions, we have to start with the Human Resources aspect. We have an attrition rate right now, and that started with the vaccine mandates," Bird said. "We lost a lot of folks, and people forgot about that, and we don't have enough people to meet the decline in personnel with retirements and training for deck staff. So we need to start there."
Furthermore, Bird expressed dissatisfaction with Seattle Ferries' transition to electrification as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He cited concerns about potential additional costs and voiced a preference for the use of marine diesel, which the ferries currently use.
"It's much cheaper for our taxpayers, it does not produce the same carbon emissions as the old diesel boats do, and the turnaround of production getting them operational on the waters is so much quicker," Bird said. "Why would we not start filling those gaps ... when we have the resources to do without overtaxing our citizens for these almost triple-the-cost electric vessels, where we don't even have the electric infrastructure right now in Washington state to support a full EV?"
Aside from marine transportation, Bird addressed digital infrastructure issues affecting equity across Washington, particularly in rural areas throughout Eastern Washington. Many struggle to access the internet, so much so that a Five-Year Action Plan by the Washington State Broadband Office revealed that over 236,000 locations lack internet access, with nearly an additional 80,000 more underserved, based on data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Bird advocates for partnerships between counties and private entities to improve this issue.
"We have grant programs out there right now that have been explored. I talked to some folks down in Lewis County, and it was a successful partnership where the state partnered with a county Co-op to bring in fiber optic networks, and it worked, and it was affordable," Bird said. "Now, they want to duplicate it into another county. I think that is a good template that we can spread in rural locations."
Bird continued, "Being a governor that understands the importance of fiber optic communications and its broad reach and value. I think that's where it begins, but actually knowing how to bring in and how to forge those Co-ops and partnerships. That's what we're going to do. We're going to build upon those templates and grow it," Bird said.
Bird underscored the significance of digital platforms in mobilizing young voters for the state election, citing that influence as one of the reasons he initiated a podcast.
"Young people use digital. It's going to them. It's not waiting for them to come to us. That's an old-school way of thinking, and it's not just young people." Bird said. "It's all demographics. It's not waiting. It's going to them, and that's the difference in our candidacy."
Follow Bird's campaign trail here and watch the full-length interview below.
"People are ready for change, and they stood up and said, 'This is the man who we want to represent us.' And this is 39 counties being represented, people from 39 counties all around this state, from all of those precincts within those counties, and millions of people represented in all those precincts," Bird said. "That can't be denied. This is what they were talking about. This is what they were standing up for—a change moving forward. I'm that change."
