Let’s Go Washington paying thousands to I-638 spokesteen’s family member

Let’s Go Washington has paid more than $22,000 to the family of a teen who frequently appears at Let’s Go Washington events and speaks to the media about I-638. Aimee Staudt, the mom of a teen girl who most recently spoke at a Let’s Go Washington event in Vancouver and on conservative talk radio in support of I-638, started receiving payments from Let’s Go Washington in April according to PDC records. 

Fact Check: The Millionaires Tax doesn’t apply to union pensions because MATH

Supporters of I-645 are falsely claiming that the Millionaires Tax is a “retirement tax” that would apply to union pensions. The truth is the Millionaires Tax doesn’t apply to union pensions because it’s mathematically impossible. A union worker must receive pension checks of more than $84,000 a MONTH to get to the $1,000,000 a year minimum triggering the 9.9% tax. To put it another way, a teacher in Olympia making the top salary would have to work more than 278 years to get a pension that big, according to the Economic Opportunity Institute. So why aren’t pensions explicitly exempted in the Millionaires Tax? Because, as Robert Cruickshank explains in this viral video, mega-millionaires and billionaires could use this as a loophole to get out of paying their share for Washington’s schools, hospitals, and other vital services. 

Big donors leaving Let’s Go Washington?

“Let’s Go Washington (Sponsored by Brian Heywood)” has virtually no cash on hand. Brian Heywood’s PAC reports $3,792,340.83 in 2026 contributions, $3,613,312.13 in expenditures, and $138,712.01 in debt, leaving just $40,316.69 in cash. And that’s not counting the $4,656,000 the campaign still owes Brian Heywood in “loans.” Will Heywood open up his wallet again to keep his eponymous campaign going?

Most high dollar contributors have been avoiding the stigma of giving to Let’s Go Washington and writing checks to the business-backed PAC focused just on I-645. That PAC is bankrolled primarily by the Madrona Venture Group, Lawrence Hughes, Kemper Freeman, BIAW, and interestingly Heywood’s primary backer, Steve Gordon and family. That PAC has more than $1.1 million cash on hand.