Is the Bird the Word in 2024?

What makes a person rise from anonymity to political superstar? Semi Bird shot onto the local political scene in Benton County last year as a political novice running for Richland School Board. If you read his background, he was immensely overqualified for the position. If you've ever heard him speak (which the authors of this blog have), he's immensely gifted. A decorated veteran and, let's be frank, a racial minority, he's got flashings of a potential rising star in the Republican Party.

His campaign for school board should have been a waltz into a budding political career. Instead, he only out-raised an unknown opponent via personal contributions, had some embarrassing 911 calls leaked, and won a closer-than-should-be race 53-47. Why is that? Well, quite clearly from his Facebook, he chose to mix it up with the local leftists and ham it up with the local righties. You've got to dig deep into the recesses of that page to witness all that. Rather than play it smart and placate his base by simply being himself and appealing to the middle and the moderate left through engagement, he chose to align with the hard right. This is most clear by his choices while serving in his thus far brief stint on the Richland School Board, where he is now, infamously, under a recall over multiple charges mostly stemming from a vote to defy the mask mandates from Governor Inslee just days before they were about to be lifted anyway. Inslee clearly is a power-hungry fanatic. However, was Bird wrong to openly defy the Governor's orders, or was he drawing a line in the sand? Well, the Richland schools closed after the vote and reinstated the mask mandate immediately thereafter. So, a courageous stand or all for not? Meanwhile, Bird recently led an effort to copycat an effort by the Kennewick School Board to effectively ban "critical race theory." Is this reprehensible, no, but is it politically expedient...absolutely not (courtesy reminder, this is a Blue State).     

Regardless, Semi aligned himself with the right wing of the local political scene. Now, he stands as a 1 year incumbent on a school board in eastern Washington after winning a close election and under real scrutiny. So, obviously, the question is...what's next? Well, it doesn't take too much research to parse that out. This event has been publicized on Facebook:

Semi himself "liked" the post which teased his gubernatorial run. 

The event is backed by failed 6th place congressional candidate Corey Gibson and his America First PACT which has endorsed numerous failed MAGA candidates but has notably endorsed Semi. This is interesting given if you had happened to visit the website back in June of 2022, well after Semi's election to the school board in November of 2021, he hadn't been endorsed by this group. Luckily, we can access the web archive at the link provided!

It's been quite clear on social media, that Semi is making the rounds with appearances throughout the state at local Republican Party events. He's trying to make a name for himself and it's obvious why.

Oh, but wait, there's more...this page exists on Facebook:

A few minor research points, this Facebook page was published on October 19 and the unpublished website was purchased on 10/11. With the Facebook page published and in constant teasing on Facebook posts, has Semi officially declared? Maybe, maybe not...but according to the PDC you are to file within 2 weeks of becoming a candidate.

Then we have this:

Ok, just another random endorsement...or:

Could it be that a first-year school board member from Richland who is under recall, is going to announce himself as a candidate for governor in a blue state where a viable Senate candidate in Tiffany Smiley was just trounced by Patter Murray by almost 15 points and has a 14-year old as a campaign advisor? Nah...