Kay drops out of Congressional race, supports Pakootas

David Kay’s short run for U.S. Congress is over.

The 59-year-old military veteran and Democrat announced Thursday he was ending his campaign to unseat Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, citing less-than-anticipated donations and a realization that his self-proclaimed moderate politics couldn’t win in Eastern Washington.

“The lay of the land is more difficult than I realized,” Kay said by phone Thursday.

Kay had entered an already crowded field when he announced his candidacy just a few weeks ago. Democrats had already rallied around Joe Pakootas, who will be making his second attempt to defeat McMorris Rodgers. Dave Wilson is running as an independent, and Tom Horne will be another option for the GOP in the August primary.

Bowing out now will allow Kay to refund his donors, he said, acknowledging his quick exit from the race. He said he hoped the remaining candidates would take up the issues he wanted to raise, including a four-lane highway south from Spokane to Boise and enhanced access to broadband Internet in the rural reaches of the Congressional District.

Kay said he’s supporting Pakootas, the former chief executive of the Colville tribe.

“For Eastern Washington to have some sort of salvation, it will have to have a Democratic label on it,” Kay said.