Poker Candidate Out of Washington State Gubernatorial Race

It was fun while it lasted.  Attorney Lee Rousso, who filed suit against his home state of Washington last year in order to repeal the 2006 law which made online gambling a Class C felony, has withdrawn from the race to be Washington’s next governor.  While he did admit that he felt he was only a “100 to one shot” to win, he dropped out not because of the long odds, but because of a new change to the state’s election law.

Washington’s primaries are open, meaning that residents may vote for any candidate, without concern for political parties.  Thus, Democrats could vote for a Republican if they feel, for instance, that the candidate would be a weaker opponent for the Democratic nominee, and vice versa.  Many states force voters to choose a specific party’s ballot for the primary to avoid any sort of shenanigans.  Rousso’s strategy was to try to get as many Republicans and independents as possible to vote for him (he is a Democrat) in his bid to unseat the incumbent, Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire. 

The election law change made this strategy impossible.  Rather than the top Democratic vote-winner facing off against the top Republican vote-winner in the general election, the top two overall vote-winners will square off.  Thus, it would not make sense for a Republican to vote for Rousso just to hurt Gregoire, as this would now take a vote away from that voter’s preferred Republican candidate.  If too many voters “crossed over,” both Rousso and Gregoire could conceivably be on the general election ballot, shutting out the Republicans.

While Rousso’s campaign is over, he is not done fighting for poker.  His lawsuit is still alive, and there will be a hearing regarding his constitutional challenge to the anti-online gambling law on April 25.