Last week, the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, which regulates state political finances, dismissed a complaint against the conservative initiative group Let’s Go Washington (LGW) alleging the group received unreported in-kind political donations from right-wing podcaster Brandi Kruse.
LGW-sponsored initiatives on November’s ballot include measures banning transgender girls from girls sports, eliminating a new millionaires’ income tax, and to modify student privacy rights in schools. Kruse has publicly supported all three of these with extra emphasis on the trans girls sports ban.
The complaint filed by Washingtonians For Ethical Government (WFEG) alleged there were 157 instances of Kruse boosting the anti-trans measure on her podcast from September 2025 to February 2026, plus two times she led political rallies on the same topic. Almost daily on her podcast, Kruse criticizes trans girls participating in girls sports. The Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association says only 5 to10 such athletes compete statewide.
The PDC sent a letter to LGW stating it found no proof that the initiative group paid Kruse for her podcasted support of the trans girls measure. Even though one of Kruse’s daily advertisers is Future 42, a subsidiary of the political action committee Project 42 run by Let’s Go Washington co-founders Brian Heywood and Steve Gordon, the PDC found no proof they controlled the contents of her show, the letter said.
In 2024, Future 42 and Kruse said in interviews that the group and Kruse have an advertising relationship because of shared political views, but Future 42 doesn’t have any say in Kruse’s podcast.
LGW acknowledged it invited Kruse to help lead two political rallies for keeping trans girls out of sports, but also told the PDC that it didn’t sign any contracts with Kruse or make any payments to her. Kruse’s attorney Ashley Burman successfully argued to the PDC that rally participation and online commentary are not considered political donations under state law.
In a written statement, Heywood said WFEG spokeswoman Pam Stuart helped put together the complaint to distract from a LGW accusation that she allegedly harassed an LGW signature collector. “This complaint should have never seen the light of day, and we’re grateful the staff at the PDC can now return to matters that warrant their attention,” he said.
On a mini-podcast last week, Kruse said about the complaint: “The goal of this was never for it to be successful. The goal of it was to get months of negative headlines calling my integrity into question and to cast LGW in a bad light leading up to the election.”
Meanwhile, in a written statement, the WFEG argued its concerns about LGW and Kruse, who it called a paid internet influencer, are still valid.
“Washington voters have a right to know who is paying to influence their votes. The Public Disclosure Commission’s dismissal of our complaint against Let’s Go Washington leaves serious questions about that right unanswered in its letter declining to keep the matter open and investigate further. … Those unresolved questions deserve a closer look,” the WFEG’s statement said.
The WFEG claimed that Kruse provided at least $345,000 worth of in-kind donations with her podcast—an estimate that was never independently verified.
Kruse cannot decide whether she is a journalist or a political mouthpiece. Earlier this year, Kruse, right-wing activist Jonathan Choe, and conservative radio talk show host Ari Hoffman sued the state legislature’s Capitol Correspondents Association and the Washington House of Representatives Clerk’s Office for not allowing them press passes.
The association had been providing advice to the Washington House of Representatives Clerk’s Office when it reviewed press pass applications. But the House Democrats required clerk-approved press passes—approvals that the trio hadn’t been able to get because of their activity in partisan politics.
Due to the ban, the three filed a federal lawsuit against the House clerk’s office and the correspondents association to get approval to enter the Democrats’ side of the House chamber. That lawsuit is still ongoing, though US District Court Judge David Estudillo indicated after a March 10 hearing that they were unlikely to win.
Estudillo wrote that blurring the line between reporter and political activist would “raise questions about the motives of everyone in the press corps.”
Recently, the Capitol Correspondents Association signed an agreement with Kruse, Choe, Hoffman that said the correspondents association would not oppose the trio from getting press passes, wrote Jerry Cornfield, a statehouse reporter who’s also the association’s president, in an email to The Stranger.
With the Capitol Correspondents Association’s change of tune, the three plaintiffs dropped the association as a defendant in the lawsuit. The lawsuit is continuing against the House Clerk’s office.
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