Rob Chase
Member of the Washington House of Representatives
from the 4th district
In office
January 11, 2021 – January 9, 2023
Preceded byBob McCaslin Jr.
Succeeded byLeonard Christian
27th Treasurer of Spokane County
In office
January 1, 2011 – January 1, 2019
Preceded byD.E. "Skip" Chilberg
Succeeded byMichael Baumgartner
Personal details
Born
Robert Steven Chase

(1953-08-02) August 2, 1953
Denver, Colorado, U.S.[1]
Political partyRepublican
Children4
EducationEastern Washington University (BA)

Robert Steven Chase[2] (born August 2, 1953)[3] is an American politician and businessman. A Republican, he was a member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 4th district. Elected in 2020, he assumed office on January 11, 2021.

Education

Chase earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from Eastern Washington University.[4]

Career

Chase is a former real estate agent.[5] In 2002, he unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Libertarian Party candidate against Republican incumbent George Nethercutt; in the 2002 blanket primary, he won 5% of the vote.[5] In 2010, Chase won election as Spokane County treasurer; as a write-in candidate, he qualified in the primary election for the general election ballot, and went on to defeat Democratic incumbent Skip Chillberg.[5] He was reelected to the position in 2014, defeating fellow Republican Mary Kuney.[6] He worked for Ron Paul's presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012 in Eastern Washington.[5] During his time as county treasurer, Chase was one of the chief proponents of a public entity bid to acquire Avista, either by an electric cooperative or by a special-purpose district,[7] and he tried to block Avista's sale to Hydro One.[8]

In 2018, Chase ran for Spokane County Commission, but was defeated by Kuney.[6] In 2020, he announced that he would challenge incumbent Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers in the Republican primary for Washington's 5th congressional district.[5] He later dropped out of that race to run for Washington House of Representatives instead.[9][10] He defeated Democratic nominee Lance Gurel in the November 2020 general election.[11] Chase's district, the Fourth Legislative District,[11] covers the communities of Spokane Valley, Washington and Liberty Lake; parts of Mead; and northwest Spokane County.[12]

Chase is a vocal supporter of Matt Shea, a Washington state representative who was expelled from the House Republican Caucus after an independent investigation determined that Shea participated in acts of domestic terrorism.[5] Chase holds the state House seat formerly held by Shea.[9] In 2020, Chase said, "I stand by Matt Shea. I don't think he did anything illegal."[5] Chase supports the creation of a create a new 51st state (the "State of Liberty") to be formed by the secession of Eastern Washington from the rest of the state, an idea previously promoted by Shea; Chase introduced legislation for Eastern Washington secession in 2021.[11][13][14]

Chase has previously promoted various extremist conspiracy theories; in online writings, he has promoted QAnon, birtherism, and chemtrails.[15] In 2019, Chase shared a link on Facebook to a report baselessly claiming that the September 11 attacks were an inside job involving "the Zionists" and others, and that the "Boston Bombing, Sandy Hook, Orlando, San Bernardino, and Las Vegas" attacks were all "false flag" hoaxes.[15]

After taking office in 2021, Chase hired Cecily Wright, the former chair of the Spokane County Republican Party and a longtime associate, as his legislative assistant. Wright was ousted from her chairmanship of the county party in 2018, after she defended white nationalist James Allsup, who had been unseated as a Whitman County precinct committee officer after he marched at the violent far-right Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Chase defended Wright as having "a good reputation" and being "dependable and loyal."[16]

Chase has pushed Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was marred by fraud.[17] Although no evidence supports this claim, in August 2021, Chase and four other state Republican lawmakers (Robert Sutherland, Jim Walsh, Vicki Kraft, and Bob McCaslin Jr.) held an unofficial hearing at a Snohomish, Washington church calling for "forensic audit" to take place in Washington State similar to the criticized Arizona audit. The organizers of the event invited speakers who have falsely claimed voter fraud.[17] Trump was defeated by Joe Biden in Washington state by almost 785,000 votes.[17]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chase promoted COVID-19 misinformation.[12][18] In a July 2021 Facebook post, Chase compared the COVID-19 vaccines to Nazi medical experimentation and falsely claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine "is not a vaccine"; that the vaccine "is not tested"; that the vaccine was the result of a nefarious conspiracy orchestrated by George Soros; and there are many "natural cures" for COVID-19. None of these claims are true.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Rob Chase's Biography". VoteSmart. Archived from the original on 2021-12-25. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  2. ↑ "Report of Investigation Regarding Representative Matt Shea" (PDF). Washington House of Representatives. 2019-12-01. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-11-08. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  3. ↑ "State Representative, Pos. 2". The Spokesman-Review. 2020-11-25. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  4. ↑ Ian Smay (November 2, 2020). "Republicans McCaslin, Chase leading in Washington's 4th Legislative District, including race for Matt Shea's seat". KENS. Archived from the original on April 2, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kip Hill (February 15, 2020). "Former Spokane County Treasurer Rob Chase files as Republican to challenge Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers". The Spokesman-Review. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Amy Edelen, Kuney defeats Chase for seat on Spokane County Commission Archived 2022-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press (November 7, 2018).
  7. ↑ Jim Camden, Plan for public group to buy Avista has major obstacles Archived 2022-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press (December 15, 2018).
  8. ↑ Spokane County treasurers tries to stop Avista sale Archived 2022-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press (September 16, 2018).
  9. 1 2 Doug Nadvornick, Chase, Gurel Run For Open Seat In WA Fourth Legislative District Archived 2021-10-05 at the Wayback Machine, Spokane Public Radio (October 16, 2020).
  10. ↑ Nadvornick, Doug. "SPR Campaign Interview: Republican House Candidate Rob Chase". Spokane Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  11. 1 2 3 Roger Harnack, Chase running away with 4th Legislative District seat: Former Spokane County Auditor backs Liberty state effort Archived 2021-10-05 at the Wayback Machine, Cheney Free Press (November 6, 2020).
  12. 1 2 3 Kip Hill, State Rep. Rob Chase's anti-vaccine comments removed from Facebook, called 'false information' Archived 2021-10-05 at the Wayback Machine, Spokesman-Review (July 21, 2021).
  13. ↑ Katherine Barner, 2 eastern Washington Reps. proposing bill to split state in half, creating 51st state 'Liberty' Archived 2021-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, KHQ-TV (January 18, 2021).
  14. ↑ Nick Bowman, With Matt Shea out, yearly push for Eastern Washington secession gets new co-sponsors Archived 2021-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, KIRO-FM (January 18, 2021).
  15. 1 2 Daniel Walters, Matt Shea-endorsed candidate Rob Chase dabbles in QAnon, 9/11 and other wild conspiracy theories Archived 2021-10-05 at the Wayback Machine, Inlander (August 27, 220).
  16. ↑ Emma Epperly, New state Rep. Rob Chase hires former Spokane County GOP chairwoman who resigned after defending white nationalist Archived 2021-10-05 at the Wayback Machine, Spokesman-Review (January 19, 2021).
  17. 1 2 3 Brunner, Jim (2021-08-13). "Washington Republican legislators push election fraud narrative at hearing on Sunday". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  18. ↑ Wilson Criscione and Nate Sanford, We asked more than 65 local politicians if they were vaccinated for COVID-19. Here's what they said Archived 2021-10-05 at the Wayback Machine, Inlander (August 26, 2021).
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