At a campaign fundraising luncheon in December at the Thompson Hotel in downtown Seattle, state senator Mark Mullet — while preparing to make an informal speech to prospective donors to his campaign for governor — admitted that most Washingtonians don't think of an elected official from Issaquah when they hear the name "Mullet."
"I used to have one in high school," Mullet said, laughing. "Was not one of my better looks."
He was on the tennis team at Foster High in Tukwila — a state champ in 1989 and 1990 — and his hero was Grand Slam champ Andre Agassi, who had a glorious mullet back then.
Now, Mullet's hair is short, and he's wearing a suit but no tie. The fundraiser is business casual: Swanky enough to have valets but not so swanky that anyone who donates doesn't get validation for the service.
In attendance is lumber heiress and Trump donor Suzie Burke, the “land baroness" of Fremont's waterfront, as well as other friends of hotel owner Douglas Howe, a longtime political donor — more often to Republicans.
Mark Mullet is a Democrat, a former top executive at Bank of America, and now a franchise business owner. Mullet owns four Ben and Jerry's ice cream stores and a Zeek's Pizza restaurant out on the Issaquah plateau.
He's hoping the pitch he gives at this luncheon, and the one he gives to voters, can help him win moderate voters of both parties in an increasingly divided and left-leaning state.
Washington state's center lane
Washington was once a very moderate state that could go for either party. Voters went for Ronald Reagan in ‘84, then Michael Dukakis in ‘88. During Bill Clinton’s administration, in nearly a third of Congressional elections, voters went for one party in Congress but the opposite party for president, according to Stuart Elway, a veteran pollster.
Since 2000, things have been changing.
"If you define the middle as nonpartisan or bipartisan or something in between there, it has been shrinking," Elway said.
In a recent Elway poll, only 2% of Washington voters said they plan to vote for people from both sides this year. Forty-eight percent said only Democrats, and 35% only Republicans.
Mullet entered politics in the middle of that shift. A decade ago, he got elected to the state Senate and joined the so-called "Roadkill Caucus," a group of moderate Democrats who wielded lots of influence in the legislature. They called themselves "Roadkill Democrats" because they were middle of the road and got run over from the right and the left.
Mullet does not like that name, for the record.
"We’re reasonable Democrats. Reasonable Democrats!" Mullet said, laughing. "I have never uttered the words 'Roadkill Caucus.' At the time I got elected, I got there — and I'm in the business of selling pizza and ice cream. I'm like, you know, we have great names for our pizza, like, we have the Dragon. And then ice cream, we have 'Cherry Garcia.' I told ‘em, I was like, 'do you guys not understand the importance of branding?'"
Whether it was branding, or just moderate politics going out of style, that caucus is pretty much history. Mullet is one of the few left in the state senate, and he’s forgoing a reelection bid to run for governor.
Here’s the pitch Mullet gave to the crowd at the fundraiser:
"This is the reality, and it might be a depressing reality for some in the room, but — we have to live in reality," Mullet said.
This year is the first presidential election since Roe v. Wade was overturned. The Republicans running for governor have both taken stances against abortion in the past – something attack ads could feature prominently come campaign season.
"A pro life Republican, with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket – there is zero chance in hell they're getting elected in the state of Washington," Mullet said.
So he wants these people to support him instead – a Democrat who supports abortion rights, but also hiring more police and limiting taxes.
Mullet spends far more time in the pitch talking about the Democratic frontrunner, Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Ferguson’s the Democrat this room of campaign donors really doesn’t like – pro-capital gains tax, pro-carbon caps. He encouraged the legislature to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs.
Mullet helped make sure that didn’t happen. "I was fighting the Bob Ferguson wing of our party," he told the crowd.
If they want to beat Ferguson, they need someone who’s more in the middle, like Mullet. Moderates of both parties, as well as independents, would vote for him, he says.
Early polls show Mullet at the bottom — behind not only Ferguson, but also former GOP Congressman Dave Reichert, and either behind or in a statistical tie with Semi Bird, a right-wing former Richland School Board member.
His campaign was a good idea when it launched, said Alex Hays, a Republican political consultant.
"Mullet had good reason to think that he would be the de facto Republican choice," Hays said. But Hays thinks moderates will be more likely to vote for Reichert, who is polling at the front of the pack in several polls.
Mullet's doing better in the world of fundraisers: he raked in just under $10,000 from the fundraiser in December, according to the campaign, and has raised over a million dollars total.
But last month, Reichert outpaced him, and Mullet had to take a break from fundraising to head back to Olympia for his final legislative session.
