WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Welcome back. And let me tell you, what we have 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:05.259 for you today is an incredible story. It really 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:07.400 is. If you're joining us for the first time, 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:09.359 or I mean, even if you're a longtime listener, 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:11.619 you know the drill. We love taking something 00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:14.099 that looks entirely ordinary on the surface and 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:17.579 finding hidden gold inside. Right. So today our 00:00:17.579 --> 00:00:20.879 mission is to take a seemingly dry historical 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.160 document, literally just a Wikipedia page titled 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:27.019 List of United States Senators from Washington. 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:30.079 Sounds thrilling, I know. Right. It sounds completely 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:33.420 dry. But we are going to extract the human drama, 00:00:33.619 --> 00:00:37.219 the bizarre political plot twists, and the massive 00:00:37.219 --> 00:00:39.899 historical milestones hidden right there within 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:42.460 its table. There's so much packed into that one 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:44.939 page. Exactly. You might think a simple roster 00:00:44.939 --> 00:00:47.719 of names, dates, and party affiliations is just 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:50.259 trivia. But I promise you, by the end of this 00:00:50.259 --> 00:00:52.920 deep dive, you're going to see a sweeping epic 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:56.229 of American history. OK, let's unpack this. What's 00:00:56.229 --> 00:00:58.329 fascinating here is that a simple timeline of 00:00:58.329 --> 00:01:01.469 senators is actually a mirror. Yeah, it is reflecting 00:01:01.469 --> 00:01:04.730 the entire evolution of American politics. When 00:01:04.730 --> 00:01:07.489 you look closely at these columns and rows, you 00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:09.510 aren't just seeing who held a job. You're seeing 00:01:09.510 --> 00:01:12.469 the whole system change. Precisely. You are watching 00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:16.469 a state go from the chaotic, really messy frontier 00:01:16.469 --> 00:01:20.049 days of new statehood all the way to the highly 00:01:20.049 --> 00:01:22.989 structured modern political landscape we recognize 00:01:22.989 --> 00:01:25.569 today. It's all there in the data, if you know 00:01:25.569 --> 00:01:27.189 how to read it. And to read it, I think we have 00:01:27.189 --> 00:01:29.450 to start at the very beginning to establish our 00:01:29.450 --> 00:01:32.189 baseline. The foundation. Right. Washington was 00:01:32.189 --> 00:01:34.090 officially admitted to the union on November 00:01:34.090 --> 00:01:37.969 11th, 1889, and they did not waste any time getting 00:01:37.969 --> 00:01:40.430 their representation sorted out. No, they really 00:01:40.430 --> 00:01:42.969 didn't. Mere days later, on November 20th, the 00:01:42.969 --> 00:01:46.310 state elected its first two U .S. senators, John 00:01:46.310 --> 00:01:48.730 B. Allen and Watson C. Squire. The founding pair. 00:01:48.930 --> 00:01:51.069 Now, the table lists Allen taking what is called 00:01:51.069 --> 00:01:53.709 a class one seat and Squire taking a class three 00:01:53.709 --> 00:01:55.769 seat. For anyone who might be a little rusty 00:01:55.769 --> 00:01:57.890 on their constitutional civics, how does that 00:01:57.890 --> 00:02:00.010 class system actually work? Well, the Constitution. 00:02:00.269 --> 00:02:02.709 mandates that the Senate is a continuing body. 00:02:02.870 --> 00:02:05.629 Meaning it never completely empties out. Exactly. 00:02:05.730 --> 00:02:08.009 The founders didn't want the entire Senate up 00:02:08.009 --> 00:02:10.449 for re -election all at once because that could 00:02:10.449 --> 00:02:12.590 lead to total whiplash in the federal government 00:02:12.590 --> 00:02:15.250 during a volatile election year. That makes sense. 00:02:15.469 --> 00:02:17.889 So all Senate seats are divided into three classes. 00:02:18.229 --> 00:02:22.169 Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3. And each class 00:02:22.169 --> 00:02:24.770 is up for election in a different two -year cycle. 00:02:25.110 --> 00:02:28.150 So when a new state When a new state like Washington 00:02:28.150 --> 00:02:30.509 joins the union, their two new senators are assigned 00:02:30.509 --> 00:02:33.349 to two different classes. This instantly integrates 00:02:33.349 --> 00:02:36.110 them into that staggered rotating system. Washington 00:02:36.110 --> 00:02:39.590 received class one and class three. That guaranteed 00:02:39.590 --> 00:02:42.090 that the state's elections would always be slightly 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:44.169 out of sync with each other. Which sounds incredibly 00:02:44.169 --> 00:02:46.590 organized and functional on paper. On paper, 00:02:46.770 --> 00:02:49.189 yes. But then you look at the very first major 00:02:49.189 --> 00:02:51.110 anomaly in this timeline, which happens almost 00:02:51.110 --> 00:02:53.650 immediately. Oh, the 1890s. We are in the Wild 00:02:53.650 --> 00:02:56.469 West of the 1890s, and we hit what I'm calling 00:02:56.469 --> 00:02:58.250 the empty chair. That's a great name for it. 00:02:58.389 --> 00:03:02.969 In 1893, John B. Allen's Class I term ends. But 00:03:02.969 --> 00:03:06.349 the table shows that from March 4, 1893, until 00:03:06.349 --> 00:03:10.590 February 19, 1893, That seat is just listed as 00:03:10.590 --> 00:03:14.250 vacant. Completely empty. Two whole years. The 00:03:14.250 --> 00:03:16.490 state legislature just completely failed to elect 00:03:16.490 --> 00:03:18.650 a class one senator. You have to keep in mind 00:03:18.650 --> 00:03:20.930 the historical backdrop here. This is before 00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:23.509 the 17th Amendment was ratified. Remind us what 00:03:23.509 --> 00:03:25.889 that did again. Senators were not elected by 00:03:25.889 --> 00:03:28.750 popular vote yet. They were chosen directly by 00:03:28.750 --> 00:03:31.909 state legislatures in what were often chaotic 00:03:31.909 --> 00:03:35.419 backroom deals. Oh, right. The smoke -filled 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:39.740 rooms. Exactly. In 1893, the Washington state 00:03:39.740 --> 00:03:42.800 legislature was so severely deadlocked, just 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:44.800 fractured by regional and political disputes, 00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:47.120 that they simply couldn't agree on a candidate 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:49.539 before the federal deadline hit. It's like being 00:03:49.539 --> 00:03:51.900 handed the keys to the company car by your manager 00:03:51.900 --> 00:03:54.039 because you finally got promoted, and then corporate 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:55.939 immediately comes and tows it away because your 00:03:55.939 --> 00:03:58.039 managers couldn't agree on who pays for the gas. 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:01.360 Ha! That is a very accurate analogy. The state's 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:03.280 governor actually tried to step in and fix the 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.000 mess. He appointed the incumbent, John Allen, 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:08.759 to just keep the seat warm so the state wouldn't 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:11.219 lose its vote. But it didn't work. No. The U 00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:13.639 .S. Senate completely rejected his credentials. 00:04:14.099 --> 00:04:17.100 They flat out refused to seat him. Because the 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.920 U .S. Senate was sending a very clear, uncompromising 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:23.420 message to Washington state and really to all 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:25.879 the new Western states joining the union at that 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:27.959 time. What was the message? They were establishing 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:30.959 the supremacy of federal rules over state level 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:34.610 dysfunction. The message was, we don't care about 00:04:34.610 --> 00:04:37.310 your internal political gridlock. You have to 00:04:37.310 --> 00:04:39.889 follow the constitutional process. Wow. So they 00:04:39.889 --> 00:04:42.389 just had to deal with it. Washington was penalized. 00:04:42.610 --> 00:04:45.350 They had to suffer with only half of their representation 00:04:45.350 --> 00:04:48.569 in the Senate for nearly two years until John 00:04:48.569 --> 00:04:52.389 L. Wilson was finally seated in 1895 to finish 00:04:52.389 --> 00:04:54.959 the term. That is wild. It perfectly illustrates 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:58.259 how fragile the Democratic machinery can be when 00:04:58.259 --> 00:04:59.980 it's first being set up in a frontier state. 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:03.339 Fragile and incredibly fluid. Which brings us 00:05:03.339 --> 00:05:06.500 out of the 1890s and into the 1910s. I was scanning 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:08.319 down the rows of the timeline, looking at the 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.379 party affiliations. And they start shifting. 00:05:10.579 --> 00:05:12.779 It's exactly what you'd expect at first. Republican, 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:15.399 Republican, Democrat, Republican. And then I 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:17.860 hit the curious case of Senator Miles Poindexter. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:20.899 Ah, yes. Poindexter. Looking strictly at the 00:05:20.899 --> 00:05:23.420 table, Poindexter was elected to the class one 00:05:23.420 --> 00:05:26.920 seat in 1911 as a Republican. But then during 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:30.060 what is listed as the 63rd Congress, his party 00:05:30.060 --> 00:05:32.439 affiliation abruptly changes to progressive. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:35.899 Sudden pivot. Right. And then just as suddenly, 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:39.680 he switches back to Republican for the 64th Congress 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:44.430 and actually gets reelected in 1916. Before we 00:05:44.430 --> 00:05:46.709 dig into that, just to anchor us, what exact 00:05:46.709 --> 00:05:49.329 years are we talking about for the 63rd Congress? 00:05:49.670 --> 00:05:52.430 The 63rd Congress covers the period from roughly 00:05:52.430 --> 00:05:56.230 March 1913 to March 1915. OK, here's where it 00:05:56.230 --> 00:05:58.709 gets really interesting. We're talking about 00:05:58.709 --> 00:06:01.069 a sitting United States senator changing his 00:06:01.069 --> 00:06:04.050 official party label midstream while in office, 00:06:04.170 --> 00:06:06.009 serving under a totally different banner for 00:06:06.009 --> 00:06:08.050 a couple of years and then flipping back to his 00:06:08.050 --> 00:06:10.269 original party without losing his job. It's quite 00:06:10.269 --> 00:06:12.170 the maneuver. But I have to push back a little 00:06:12.170 --> 00:06:14.490 here. Is this an example? of genuine ideological 00:06:14.490 --> 00:06:17.569 shift or is this just pure cynical political 00:06:17.569 --> 00:06:20.350 opportunism? Was he actually changing his beliefs 00:06:20.350 --> 00:06:22.930 or just reading the room to keep his job? This 00:06:22.930 --> 00:06:24.750 race is an important question, doesn't it? Yeah. 00:06:24.810 --> 00:06:27.189 How does he get away with it? How does a politician 00:06:27.189 --> 00:06:31.029 survive that kind of whiplash without alienating 00:06:31.029 --> 00:06:33.870 their entire base? To understand Poindexter, 00:06:34.009 --> 00:06:37.009 you have to look at the massive ideological earthquakes 00:06:37.009 --> 00:06:39.850 of the early 20th century. The progressive era. 00:06:40.050 --> 00:06:42.490 Without taking any political sides, observe... 00:06:42.509 --> 00:06:45.430 Serving this single row in the timeline illustrates 00:06:45.430 --> 00:06:48.189 the sheer power of the progressive movement of 00:06:48.189 --> 00:06:51.389 that era. In 1912, former President Theodore 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:54.089 Roosevelt famously fractured the Republican establishment. 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:56.879 By forming the Progressive Party. The Bull Moose 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.579 Party, yes. So Poindexter was essentially riding 00:06:59.579 --> 00:07:02.060 that Bull Moose wave. Precisely. And the Pacific 00:07:02.060 --> 00:07:04.600 Northwest at that time was a hotbed for populist 00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:06.740 and labor movements. There were deep tensions 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:09.300 between massive industrial interests. Like the 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:12.100 timber barons and railroads. Exactly. Timber 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:13.879 and railroads clashing with the working class. 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:16.120 Yeah. So when Poindexter switched to progressive, 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:18.759 he wasn't necessarily abandoning his voters. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.300 He was following them. He was reflecting a very 00:07:21.300 --> 00:07:24.290 real. very deep fracture within the electorate 00:07:24.290 --> 00:07:27.189 itself. The fact that a sitting senator could 00:07:27.189 --> 00:07:29.790 officially change his party for a single Congress 00:07:29.790 --> 00:07:33.209 and then return to the Republican fold and still 00:07:33.209 --> 00:07:35.970 get reelected by his state. It's crazy to think 00:07:35.970 --> 00:07:38.430 about today. It shows a level of party fluidity 00:07:38.430 --> 00:07:41.470 that is almost unimaginable in today's highly 00:07:41.470 --> 00:07:44.589 polarized, rigidly structured political environment. 00:07:45.050 --> 00:07:46.829 They were voting for the person, not just the 00:07:46.829 --> 00:07:49.750 team color. Voters in Washington during the 1910s 00:07:49.750 --> 00:07:52.509 were clearly prioritizing individual platforms 00:07:52.509 --> 00:07:56.029 and regional issues over strict, unwavering party 00:07:56.029 --> 00:07:58.189 loyalty. It's like watching a real -time identity 00:07:58.189 --> 00:08:00.389 crisis play out in a spreadsheet. That's a great 00:08:00.389 --> 00:08:03.529 way to put it. But that era of ideological experimentation 00:08:03.529 --> 00:08:05.870 eventually gives way to something much darker 00:08:05.870 --> 00:08:08.730 as we move down into the 1930s and 1940s. The 00:08:08.730 --> 00:08:10.910 turnover gets intense here. I started noticing 00:08:10.910 --> 00:08:13.550 a really grim trend in the data. Let's look at 00:08:13.550 --> 00:08:16.250 Wesley Elgin. A very long serving senator. Yeah, 00:08:16.269 --> 00:08:18.709 a long serving Republican, first elected in 1909. 00:08:18.970 --> 00:08:21.449 He gets reelected time and time again, all the 00:08:21.449 --> 00:08:23.649 way through the 1920s. He wins reelection in 00:08:23.649 --> 00:08:27.089 1928. But the 1932 election changes everything. 00:08:27.370 --> 00:08:31.170 He loses his next reelection bid in 1932. And 00:08:31.170 --> 00:08:34.309 then, bizarrely, he dies in office in November 00:08:34.309 --> 00:08:37.549 1932, right after losing the election, but before 00:08:37.549 --> 00:08:40.490 his term actually ends. Yes, he died during what 00:08:40.490 --> 00:08:42.950 we call the lame duck period. Just so we're all 00:08:42.950 --> 00:08:44.879 on the same page. Today, a lame duck period is 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:46.879 only a couple of months. You lose in November, 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:49.419 you're out in January. That's true today. But 00:08:49.419 --> 00:08:52.879 back in the 1930s, how long did a defeated politician 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:55.980 actually stay in office? That is a crucial distinction. 00:08:56.379 --> 00:08:58.940 Before the 20th Amendment was fully implemented 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:02.059 to move inaugurations to January, a congressional 00:09:02.059 --> 00:09:04.700 term didn't end until March 4th of the following 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:08.080 year. Wow. So an incumbent who lost in early 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:10.840 November had to sit there for four solid months, 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.000 entirely stripped of their political mandate, 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:14.919 just waiting for the clock to run out. That sounds 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:17.039 agonizing. It was certainly an awkward period 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:20.080 for governance. And the chaos of this era doesn't 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:22.740 stop with Jones. Just a few years later, in the 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:25.279 state's other seat, you have Democrat Louis B. 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:27.379 Schwellenbach. Another fascinating career arc. 00:09:27.580 --> 00:09:31.860 He's elected in 1934, reelected in 1938. But 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:35.529 then he abruptly resigns in December 1940. And 00:09:35.529 --> 00:09:38.509 the timeline tells us exactly why. He resigned 00:09:38.509 --> 00:09:40.429 to become a judge on the United States Court 00:09:40.429 --> 00:09:42.370 of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A lifetime 00:09:42.370 --> 00:09:45.169 appointment. When you synthesize these events, 00:09:45.370 --> 00:09:47.990 a sudden death during a drawn -out lame duck 00:09:47.990 --> 00:09:50.809 session and a sudden midterm resignation for 00:09:50.809 --> 00:09:53.529 a lifetime judicial appointment, you get a master 00:09:53.529 --> 00:09:55.669 class in the mechanics of congressional succession. 00:09:55.990 --> 00:09:57.870 Because someone has to fill the seat. When these 00:09:57.870 --> 00:10:00.570 sudden vacancies occur, the system relies on 00:10:00.570 --> 00:10:02.929 a fail -safe mechanism. The state governor steps 00:10:02.929 --> 00:10:05.750 in to appoint someone to fill the void. And it 00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:08.230 leads to this frantic game of political musical 00:10:08.230 --> 00:10:10.950 chairs. Oh, absolutely. When Jones died, a man 00:10:10.950 --> 00:10:13.129 named Elijah S. Grammer was appointed by the 00:10:13.129 --> 00:10:16.049 governor to finish the term. He served from late 00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:19.649 November 1932 to early March 1933. Just a few 00:10:19.649 --> 00:10:22.090 months. That is a Senate career of just over 00:10:22.090 --> 00:10:23.909 three months. You barely figure out where the 00:10:23.909 --> 00:10:25.549 bathrooms are in the Capitol building by then. 00:10:25.690 --> 00:10:28.509 Let alone pass any meaningful legislation. Exactly. 00:10:28.730 --> 00:10:31.169 And when Schwellenbach left for the federal bench, 00:10:31.429 --> 00:10:34.529 Monrad Walgren was appointed in December 1940 00:10:34.529 --> 00:10:37.210 to bridge the gap. Which creates a very unique 00:10:37.210 --> 00:10:40.250 type of public servant, a placeholder. Just keeping 00:10:40.250 --> 00:10:43.029 the lights on. These appointees often know they're 00:10:43.029 --> 00:10:44.950 only there to keep things running until the next 00:10:44.950 --> 00:10:47.750 election, or in some cases, just for a few weeks 00:10:47.750 --> 00:10:49.789 until the newly elected senator can be sworn 00:10:49.789 --> 00:10:52.309 in. It must be strange knowing your expiration 00:10:52.309 --> 00:10:55.350 date from day one. It highlights a massive tension 00:10:55.350 --> 00:10:57.940 in American governance. The Senate is designed 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:01.340 to operate at a slow, deliberate, insulated pace. 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:04.440 Right. But it constantly collides with the sudden, 00:11:04.539 --> 00:11:06.879 unpredictable nature of human life, mortality 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:10.070 and shifting career ambitions. That friction 00:11:10.070 --> 00:11:13.610 is so palpable in the 1930s Rose. But just as 00:11:13.610 --> 00:11:16.450 you get used to the constant turnover, the resignations, 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:19.710 the short term placeholders, you hit the 1940s 00:11:19.710 --> 00:11:22.850 and the data takes a massive, undeniable turn. 00:11:23.009 --> 00:11:24.950 A complete paradigm shift. I'm looking at the 00:11:24.950 --> 00:11:27.629 table and the chaos just vanishes. It is replaced 00:11:27.629 --> 00:11:30.309 by an era of monumental, almost unbelievable 00:11:30.309 --> 00:11:33.490 stability. The era of the Titans. First, we have 00:11:33.490 --> 00:11:37.230 Democrat Warren Magnuson. He served an astounding 00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:41.259 36 years. From December 1944 all the way to January 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:44.559 1981, he remains the state's longest serving 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:47.000 senator. A towering figure in Washington history. 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:49.620 And right alongside him in the other seat, you 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:52.740 have Henry M. Jackson. Another Democrat who served 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:55.559 for 30 years from January 1953 until his death 00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:58.919 in office in September 1983. Unprecedented continuity. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:01.419 But I'm looking at Warren Magnuson's start date 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:04.480 in 1944 and the math isn't mathing here. Oh, 00:12:04.539 --> 00:12:07.539 the December start. Yeah. He won the 1944 election, 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:09.960 but normally freshman senators wouldn't start 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:12.000 their term until January of the following year. 00:12:12.179 --> 00:12:14.799 How did he officially start his term a month 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:16.580 before he was supposed to? That is one of the 00:12:16.580 --> 00:12:18.600 most brilliant tactical moves in the history 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:21.559 of the Senate. Really? The incumbent at the time, 00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:25.139 Homer Bone, resigned in November 1944 to take 00:12:25.139 --> 00:12:27.019 a judicial appointment. Another judge appointment. 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:29.960 Right. Now, Magnuson had already won the election 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:32.740 for the upcoming full term. But instead of leaving 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:35.500 the seat vacant until January, the governor appointed 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:37.960 Magnuson to finish the final few weeks of Homer 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:41.460 Bone's term on December 14th, 1944. It's like 00:12:41.460 --> 00:12:44.159 a political cheat code. It absolutely was. He 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:46.700 essentially got a multi -week head start on his 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:49.279 official start date over all the other freshman 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.120 senators elected in that exact same year. And 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:55.600 that tiny adjustment in his start date gave him 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.059 a permanent seniority advantage over his entire 00:12:58.059 --> 00:13:00.779 freshman class. Because seniority is everything 00:13:00.779 --> 00:13:03.240 in the Senate. In the Senate. Seniority dictates 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.399 committee assignments, chairmanships, and ultimately 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:08.419 raw power. So what does this all mean? If we 00:13:08.419 --> 00:13:10.980 connect this massive, decades -long tenure to 00:13:10.980 --> 00:13:13.559 the bigger picture, it is no coincidence that 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:15.679 Washington state suddenly locked in its senators. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:17.879 Because of the era. You are looking at the dawn 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.139 of the post -World War II era. The United States 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:22.379 was stepping into its role as a global superpower, 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:24.960 and the federal government was expanding rapidly 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:28.240 in infrastructure, defense and social programs. 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:30.440 And Washington state wanted a piece of that pie. 00:13:30.700 --> 00:13:33.039 Voters in Washington and really across the country 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:35.960 realized that seniority in the Senate equaled 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:37.980 immense federal funding for their home states. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:41.419 Keeping the same two men in office for decades 00:13:41.419 --> 00:13:44.179 wasn't just a political choice. It was an economic 00:13:44.179 --> 00:13:46.700 strategy. The stability of Magnuson and Jackson 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:49.240 brought enormous federal investments to the Pacific 00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:52.360 Northwest, from massive Columbia River dams to 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:55.960 defense contracts for Boeing. The data from this 00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:58.440 era reflects the stabilizing of American political 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:00.980 institutions during the Cold War. But eventually, 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:04.190 even the longest streaks come to an end. Magnuson 00:14:04.190 --> 00:14:06.809 finally loses his seat in the 1980 election to 00:14:06.809 --> 00:14:09.389 a Republican named Slade Gorton. A major upset. 00:14:09.669 --> 00:14:11.830 Which brings us to a chapter of the timeline 00:14:11.830 --> 00:14:14.409 I'm calling the comeback kid. Let's track the 00:14:14.409 --> 00:14:16.970 rollercoaster career of Slade Gorton. He's elected 00:14:16.970 --> 00:14:19.830 to the class three seat in 1980. He serves one 00:14:19.830 --> 00:14:22.450 term and then he loses his reelection bid in 00:14:22.450 --> 00:14:25.289 1986 to Democrat Brock Adams. Which is usually 00:14:25.289 --> 00:14:27.620 the final chapter. Normally, looking at political 00:14:27.620 --> 00:14:29.399 history, that's the end of the story. You lose 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:31.159 as an incumbent, you write your memoirs, you 00:14:31.159 --> 00:14:33.899 go into consulting, and you fade away. The historical 00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:37.080 precedent is very clear on that. Incumbents who 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:39.620 are ousted by voters rarely make a successful 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:41.899 return to the exact same political arena. But 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:44.639 Gordon doesn't fade away. No, he doesn't. Instead 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.559 of giving up, he waits two years, and in 1988, 00:14:47.820 --> 00:14:50.419 he runs for Washington's other Senate seat, the 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:54.019 class one seat, and he wins. It's an incredible 00:14:54.019 --> 00:14:56.139 pivot. He comes back and serves two more full 00:14:56.139 --> 00:15:00.059 terms from 1989 until 2001 before finally losing 00:15:00.059 --> 00:15:03.179 a very close race to Maria Cantwell. The resilience 00:15:03.179 --> 00:15:05.080 required for that kind of political resurrection 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:08.039 is remarkable. When we analyze electoral history, 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:11.139 we see how incredibly difficult it is to lose 00:15:11.139 --> 00:15:13.259 an incumbent seat. Because voters have already 00:15:13.259 --> 00:15:16.700 fired you once. Exactly. A loss usually carries 00:15:16.700 --> 00:15:19.820 a heavy stigma of voter rejection. To successfully 00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:21.919 pivot and conquer the state's other seat just 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:24.779 two years later requires a politician to completely 00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:27.139 retool their coalition. They have to change the 00:15:27.139 --> 00:15:28.919 narrative. They have to convince the electorate 00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:31.000 that their previous defeat was a situational 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.840 fluke, perhaps tied to a specific national mood 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:36.879 or a temporary economic downturn, rather than 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.100 a fundamental rejection of their policies. Which 00:15:39.100 --> 00:15:44.269 he clearly managed to do. rebrand and secure 00:15:44.269 --> 00:15:47.889 the other class seat is a very rare electoral 00:15:47.889 --> 00:15:51.070 feat that speaks to the shifting political tides 00:15:51.070 --> 00:15:54.470 of Washington in the late 80s and 90s. It's the 00:15:54.470 --> 00:15:56.929 ultimate dust yourself off and try again story. 00:15:57.210 --> 00:15:59.490 And the person who eventually defeats Gordon 00:15:59.490 --> 00:16:02.730 in 2001, Maria Cantwell, perfectly transitions 00:16:02.730 --> 00:16:06.169 us into the modern era and really the final major 00:16:06.169 --> 00:16:08.070 takeaway from our timeline. The contemporary 00:16:08.070 --> 00:16:10.509 delegation. Bringing us right up to the present 00:16:10.509 --> 00:16:13.070 day, Washington's current Senate delegation consists 00:16:13.070 --> 00:16:16.090 of two Democrats, Patty Murray, who has been 00:16:16.090 --> 00:16:19.570 serving since 1993, and Marie Cantwell, serving 00:16:19.570 --> 00:16:22.669 since 2001. A very stable pairing. Now, Washington 00:16:22.669 --> 00:16:25.009 is one of only four states in the entire U .S. 00:16:25.029 --> 00:16:27.110 to currently have two female U .S. senators. 00:16:27.409 --> 00:16:29.889 The other three, for those keeping score at home, 00:16:30.009 --> 00:16:32.470 are Minnesota, Nevada and New Hampshire. It is 00:16:32.470 --> 00:16:34.870 a profound milestone when you look at the entirety 00:16:34.870 --> 00:16:36.409 of the timeline we've just discussed. Because 00:16:36.409 --> 00:16:39.070 the whole list before them. For over a century, 00:16:39.230 --> 00:16:43.289 from 1889 well into the 1990s, that list of senators 00:16:43.289 --> 00:16:46.509 was exclusively male. The back -to -back elections 00:16:46.509 --> 00:16:49.250 of Murray and Cantwell and their subsequent decades 00:16:49.250 --> 00:16:52.309 of reelections demonstrate a massive shift in 00:16:52.309 --> 00:16:54.669 the electorate's values, representation priorities, 00:16:55.070 --> 00:16:57.250 and the breaking down of historical barriers 00:16:57.250 --> 00:16:59.669 in the Pacific Northwest. And to paint the full 00:16:59.669 --> 00:17:02.049 modern picture, we can't just look at the Senate. 00:17:02.169 --> 00:17:04.509 The state's current House delegation tells a 00:17:04.509 --> 00:17:06.970 really vital story about the political geography 00:17:06.970 --> 00:17:09.349 of Washington today. It's much more varied than 00:17:09.349 --> 00:17:11.150 the Senate seats might suggest. When you look 00:17:11.150 --> 00:17:13.130 at the House members, you see a sharp contrast. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:17.420 like Susan Delben, Rick Larson, Pramila Jayapal. 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:19.579 And Adam Smith, Marilyn Strickland. Right. And 00:17:19.579 --> 00:17:22.279 Marie Glusenkamp -Perez, Kim Schrier, representing 00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:25.359 these booming, highly populated areas, serving 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:27.980 alongside Republicans like Dan Newhouse, Michael 00:17:27.980 --> 00:17:30.259 Baumgartner. Don't forget Emily Randall on the 00:17:30.259 --> 00:17:32.220 Democratic side as well, shaking up the map. 00:17:32.339 --> 00:17:34.839 Right. So you have this mix where Republicans 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:37.900 like Newhouse represent the massive, crucial 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:40.240 agricultural center in the central and eastern 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.960 parts of the state. Contrasting those specific 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.400 districts provides essential context. While the 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:49.359 Senate seats in the modern era have skewed heavily 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.200 Democratic, which is a stark contrast to the 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:54.759 state's solid Republican beginnings back in 1889. 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:56.660 The map looks totally different depending on 00:17:56.660 --> 00:17:58.920 how close you zoom in. The House delegation shows 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:01.599 that both major political perspectives remain 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:04.549 deeply entrenched in Washington today. It reminds 00:18:04.549 --> 00:18:07.069 us that while statewide races might trend one 00:18:07.069 --> 00:18:10.509 way based on heavy population centers, the regional 00:18:10.509 --> 00:18:13.930 district by district landscape of a state is 00:18:13.930 --> 00:18:16.150 often much more complex. It's not a monolith. 00:18:16.369 --> 00:18:18.950 The urban rural divide shapes the daily lives 00:18:18.950 --> 00:18:21.210 and the local economies of millions of people. 00:18:21.309 --> 00:18:23.750 And that is reflected vividly in the House. It 00:18:23.750 --> 00:18:25.589 really is a patchwork quilt of representation. 00:18:25.829 --> 00:18:27.910 So I want to speak directly to you, the listener. 00:18:28.069 --> 00:18:30.349 Why does any of this matter to you? Why read 00:18:30.349 --> 00:18:32.890 the list at all? Why spend time unpacking a Wikipedia? 00:18:33.130 --> 00:18:35.230 a list of United States senators from Washington? 00:18:35.450 --> 00:18:38.069 Because scanning a list of dates, parties, and 00:18:38.069 --> 00:18:40.789 names isn't just about memorizing facts for a 00:18:40.789 --> 00:18:43.970 trivia night. No, it's a narrative. It is a literal 00:18:43.970 --> 00:18:46.809 time -lapse photograph of a society's changing 00:18:46.809 --> 00:18:50.150 values. It's the evolution of its rules from 00:18:50.150 --> 00:18:53.650 the messy, deadlock -prone frontier of the 1890s 00:18:53.650 --> 00:18:57.650 to the strategic procedural mastery of the 1940s. 00:18:57.690 --> 00:19:00.440 It's the story of institutions growing up. It 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:02.720 is proof of the endurance of our democratic system. 00:19:03.099 --> 00:19:06.960 Bumps, bruises, empty chairs and all. Knowledge 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:09.319 is most valuable when we can step back and see 00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:11.799 the patterns. When you connect the dots, you 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:14.819 see how in 1893 rejected credential by the federal 00:19:14.819 --> 00:19:17.740 government forced a young state to mature and 00:19:17.740 --> 00:19:19.980 conform to a national standard. It forced them 00:19:19.980 --> 00:19:22.680 to get in line. You see how a 1913 party flip 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:25.259 reflected a nation deeply questioning its political 00:19:25.259 --> 00:19:27.920 identities amidst major labor and industrial 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:30.779 shifts. Those chaotic early moments paved the 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:32.980 way for the stable, history -making delegations 00:19:32.980 --> 00:19:35.339 of today. The stability we almost take for granted 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:37.769 now. History isn't just a list of things that 00:19:37.769 --> 00:19:39.829 happened in the past. It's the foundation of 00:19:39.829 --> 00:19:41.710 the very political realities we're living in 00:19:41.710 --> 00:19:43.710 right now. Before we let you go, I want to leave 00:19:43.710 --> 00:19:46.289 you with one final provocative thought to mull 00:19:46.289 --> 00:19:48.930 over on your own. It builds right on the very 00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:51.670 first thing we discussed today. Those electoral 00:19:51.670 --> 00:19:55.069 classes. The staggered system. Remember, every 00:19:55.069 --> 00:19:58.240 single senator on this list. belong strictly 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:01.319 to either a Class 1 or a Class 3 electoral cycle. 00:20:01.779 --> 00:20:04.500 Their elections fall on very specific, rotating 00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:07.500 years. This is a system designed at the very 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:09.680 dawn of the republic so the Senate would never 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:12.400 turn over all at once. A safeguard against sudden 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:14.720 radical shifts. But I want you to consider the 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:17.440 arbitrary nature of those assigned classes. How 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.079 much does the mere timing of an electoral cycle 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:22.619 dictate a state's entire historical trajectory? 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:25.519 It's a fascinating variable. Say a Class 1 seat 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:27.640 happens to be up for re -election. in a politically 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:30.240 volatile year, a year with an unexpected economic 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:33.279 crash or a major global conflict. While the class 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:35.940 three seat is up in a quiet, prosperous year, 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:38.440 the outcomes could be entirely different. The 00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:41.140 exact same voters might make wildly different 00:20:41.140 --> 00:20:43.619 choices based simply on the mood of the nation 00:20:43.619 --> 00:20:46.779 in that specific 12 month window. How much of 00:20:46.779 --> 00:20:49.140 the fate of the people on this list and the massive 00:20:49.140 --> 00:20:51.880 generational laws they went on to pass was determined 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:54.519 by pure merit and how much of it was determined 00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:57.400 by the sheer arbitrary luck of the calendar. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:20:59.559 Climbing is everything in politics. It really 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:01.079 is. It's something to think about the next time 00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:03.430 you head to the ballot box. Thank you so much 00:21:03.430 --> 00:21:05.430 for joining us on this deep dive. We'll be back 00:21:05.430 --> 00:21:08.049 next time with another stack of sources and another 00:21:08.049 --> 00:21:11.210 hidden story. Until then keep digging.