Cheney's out, and so are Durkan's texts, apparently: This week in Washington politics

The Republican Party is changing.

Congressional Republicans voted to strip Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney of her leadership post this week; it was a punishment of sorts for her outspoken opposition to former President Donald Trump.

Here in Seattle, could there be room for a center-right candidate in the largely progressive mayoral race? Another contender may find out.

Center-right politicians in the Northwest and in Washington, D.C. are trying to navigate the space between being a Republican and not a "Trump Republican."

Washington Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler has drawn her line. While a majority of her congressional Republican colleagues voted to oust Cheney, Herrera Beutler chose to stand by her fellow Trump dissident.

"I’m a little blown away, in a good way," says Joni Balter, host of Seattle CityClub’s Civic Cocktail on the Seattle Channel. "In her early years,(Herrera Beutler) was elected back in 2010, she was a solid, dependable GOP vote."

Then, the 2016 election happened. Herrera Beutler refused to support Donald Trump for president.

And she's been more willing to follow her conscience on matters related to the former president. Balter notes she voted to impeach Trump during his second trial. She also stirred controversy when she revealed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had a conversation during which Trump expressed support for the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

"I saw a picture of [Herrera Beutler] high-fiving Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who also has been outspoken about election lies," Balter says. "That picture said a lot."

Republicans here in Washington state are looking for a path forward, too.

KUOW's politics reporter David Hyde spoke to Rob McKenna, the state's former attorney general and a Republican.

"He says the vote to expel Cheney just does not help the Republican Party, especially in a blue state like Washington state where they have a hard time winning statewide offices," Hyde says.

McKenna's solution? Retake the party back from Trump with the help of outspoken critics like Cheney and Herrera Beutler.

Former Washington Republican Party Chair Chris Vance — who also is now a former Republican altogether — has a different solution.

He’s backing a new nationwide movement by Conservatives like him launched this week to challenge the Trump-controlled Republican Party.

"Vance thinks centrist or center-right candidates could win here in places like the suburbs, which have historically voted Republican," Hyde explains. "He says it’s not impossible for a third party to replace the Republican Party if it can’t reform it.

After all, the Republican Party itself was created to replace the Whig Party in the 1850s.

Seattle mayor

Meanwhile, there are now 17 candidates vying to be Seattle's next mayor.

The latest addition is Arthur K. Langlie, "an unapologetically a pro-business guy," Hyde says.

Langlie comes from a prominent political family. His grandfather, Arthur B. Langlie, served as a Republican Washington state governor as well as mayor of Seattle. In fact, he's so far the only Seattle mayor to be elected governor.

"Whereas a lot of the candidates this year are running to the left of Mayor [Jenny] Durkan, Langlie is not joining them over there," Hyde says. "He must think: There’s a lot of space to the right of this mayor."

That means he could have the centrist stage mostly to himself.

But Balter says the energy in this race is in the progressive and activist candidates. In any case, Durkan is sitting this election out; she's not seeking reelection.

She may be in especially hot water if she were, though.

The latest revelation in her missing texts story is that her phone was set to delete messages after 30 days, according to her office, unbeknownst to her. There's a lot of skepticism about that explanation, because of the timing; the missing messages cover a 10-month period that includes the Black Lives Matter protests last summer.

Balter says it's inexcusable for the mayor and her staff to not ensure the messages were kept organized and accessible. But "where’s the smoking gun? We just don’t know. What specific mistake do you think the mayor — a former U.S. attorney — actually made in writing text messages? Until we see something untoward, it’s speculation."

Balter and Hyde joined KUOW's Paige Browning to talk about the week in politics. Listen to the conversation by clicking the audio above.