Washington State’s Democratic leaders have spent the past eight years running the state with a trifecta — control of the governorship and both legislative chambers. Yet, as The Daily Wire reports, they are still pointing fingers at Republicans and President Donald Trump for economic troubles, even when the numbers tell a different story.
The latest controversy began with a Democratic press release that cited “new data” claiming Washington had lost 16,600 jobs over the past year. The release blamed Trump’s policies for the supposed decline, arguing his agenda was killing good-paying jobs and spiking prices.
But according to the state’s Employment Security Department, Washington’s economy actually gained 16,100 jobs from July 2025 to July 2026. The difference is not a rounding error — it’s a 32,700-job swing between the claim and the reality.
When The Daily Wire asked about the discrepancy, Democrats privately acknowledged the mistake and removed the line from their original statement. They did not, however, issue a public correction. And shortly afterward, they took a different tack: claiming credit for the job growth.
Washington Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad told The Daily Wire that the state’s success was due to Democratic leadership and a robust business sector.
“Despite economic chaos from the other Washington, our Washington’s Democratic leadership and robust business sector were able to add jobs while the rest of the country experienced a net loss,” Conrad said.
That statement came after the press release in which Conrad blamed Trump for Washington’s economic woes.
“On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to deliver a brighter future for Washington families, but instead all he’s done is try to ruin Washington’s economy, kill off good-paying jobs, and spike prices on just about everything,” Conrad said in an Aug. 21 statement. “Now, Washington families are forced to take on further debt or empty their savings account just to afford the essentials or pay their bills.”
Critics note that Washington has not elected a Republican governor since 1980 — the longest streak in the nation — and that the state’s Democratic trifecta has been in place for the last eight years. For a state that often positions itself as a counterweight to Washington, D.C., the habit of blaming the federal government for state-level problems strikes some as contradictory.
A History of Deficits and Taxes
The state’s fiscal picture is not a product of Trump’s agenda, according to The Daily Wire’s analysis. In 2024, Democrats put the state into a budget deficit of between $10 billion and $12 billion over four years. The path out, the outlet notes, has been higher taxes.
Washington already has the nation’s third-highest gas prices, averaging $5.13 per gallon — about 25% above the national average. But that is not a major spike from the Biden years. In 2022, Washington prices averaged $5.51 per gallon, The Daily Wire reported.
Last year, Democrats pushed a gas tax increase that would raise the state tax from 49.3 cents to 55.4 cents per gallon, with a 2% annual increase indexed to inflation. By comparison, the federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon.
The Daily Wire notes that while the war in Iran has raised gas prices modestly nationwide, Washingtonians could see lower prices if not for the state’s own tax burden.
Democrats Take Credit After Blaming Trump
The whiplash of blaming Trump for job losses that didn’t happen — then taking credit for the actual gains — has drawn criticism from observers who say it reflects a broader pattern of dodging accountability.
In a statement to The Daily Wire, Conrad praised the party’s primary performance, saying Democrats won over voters with a message of “affordability, lowering costs, and working to counter the chaos emanating from the Trump-Vance administration.”
But as The Daily Wire’s Christina Lewis put it, that “message of affordability” is built on statistical errors and an attempt to ignore taxes imposed on constituents.
“It’s time for Washington state Democrats to step up and take responsibility for their actions,” Lewis wrote. “If they want to blame imaginary job losses on Trump, they need to credit him for the real job gains they now enjoy.”
The episode raises questions about how voters should interpret partisan messaging on the economy — especially when the numbers are adjusted after the fact and the blame shifts sides depending on the news cycle.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/cooking-the-books-in-olympia-deficits-taxes-and-the-phantom-trump-slump