Targeting Patriotic Lawman, Wash. State Democrats Seek Power to Remove Elected Sheriffs

What do you do when the people elect a sheriff you don’t like? What’s your recourse when that lawman won’t push the “woke” agenda?

If you’re like Washington state’s Democrats, who control the government, you’ll seek veto power over the people’s will.

The current target of these politicians’ ire is Sheriff Keith Swank of Pierce County, the state’s second-most populated county. His trespass?

Did he brutalize a citizen?

Purposely violate the Constitution?

Plant dope on a suspect?

No, Swank issued un-woke social-media posts, with the most objected to mainly concerning the sexual devolutionary (LGBTQ+) agenda. And now Washington Democrats want to cancel him for it. Ironically, too, this effort may be unconstitutional — and hence illegal.

This isn’t Swank’s first rodeo. The lawman spent 30 years with the Seattle Police Department. And Seattle, of course, has become particularly woke in recent years. So it’s not surprising that he faced “decertification” from law enforcement there, too — also largely for social-media expression.

Swank resigned from the force before that could happen. He was elected Pierce County sheriff on November 5, 2024.

He Said, He Said — and the Media Often Don’t Say

As to what Swank wrote, the legacy media won’t always tell you. You’re often just supposed to assume it’s really, really bad. But I had Grok AI dig the comments up. Here’s a sampling, according to AI (mainly composed by Grok and edited by me):

• Swank replied to a post by MUSS (Made-up Sexual Status, aka “transgender”) Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr with: “You are a man, not a woman.” In another post, he suggested bestiality and pedophilia were part of the “LGBTQIA+” community.
• After the Minnesota Catholic school shooting by a MUSS suspect in 2025, Swank wrote something to the effect of: “Do you think it’s time to ban trans people from owning guns?”
• Abortion-related claim: He posted that “Democrats enjoy — deeply — chopping up babies.”
• Swank referenced a black teenager as a “thug,” which was called a “racially-charged slur.” Never mind “thug’s” origin. It described a member of “Thuggee,” a network of gangs that robbed and murdered people in India centuries ago. Oh, most Indians are technically Caucasian.
• He defended aspects of the January 6 Capitol events (e.g., calling the shooting of Ashli Babbitt “state-sanctioned murder”), claimed it was “coordinated” by Nancy Pelosi (labeling her a “criminal”), and promoted related theories.
• In response to a post about gun violence being the leading cause of death for children, Swank replied that “Black males are the leading cause of death for children in America.”

The latter is a provocative way of putting it, of course. But Swank was responding to the legacy media narrative that puts an onus on the tools (guns), not the users. It is true, too, that black youth constitute up to 50 percent of pediatric homicide victims. And at least 90 percent of them are killed by black males.

The Would-be Empire Strikes Back

Nonetheless, if there’s one thing that gets you in more trouble today than telling a really ugly lie, it’s uttering a really unfashionable truth. Washington Democrats’ response to Pierce County voters’ un-woke choice is Senate Bill 5974. This legislation, reports Fox 13 Seattle, “could undermine voters’ authority by allowing an unelected board to remove an elected sheriff.” (And this is the handiwork of the people who claim President Donald Trump is “destroying democracy.”)

Swank, however, is unbowed. Back in September already, in fact, he asserted that state decertification would be meaningless (tweet below).

And along with other Evergreen State sheriffs yesterday, Swank testified against SB5974, uttering words that went viral. He said in part:

You’re going to pass this qualification bill for law enforcement, but you won’t hold yourselves accountable. Therefore, I propose that everyone who runs for an elected office go through a background check, a social-media review, a polygraph, a psychological test. But, Democrats, you won’t agree to that because you have convicted felons who are elected officials here….

You want to silence [my voice] because I said “transgender” women are men. I said the truth….

I don’t recognize your authority to impose these controls over me, and when you try to remove me from office, thousands of Pierce County residents will surround the county/city building in downtown Tacoma and will not allow that to happen…. I and they are prepared — are you prepared?

Finally, anyone who votes for this will never have an audience with this sheriff.

The Democrat leading the hearing, Deputy Majority Leader of the Washington State Senate Manka Dhingra, responded to Swank imperiously. The Democrats had already, mind you, reduced his testimony time from the normal three minutes to 90 seconds. Because if there’s anything leftists can’t stand, it’s people who talk back. Swank’s testimony follows.

Battle of Powers

While patriots are applauding Swank’s comments, they weren’t welcomed by all. For example, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs condemned them as inflammatory. The organization may expel the lawman, too (tweet below).

Perhaps the above isn’t surprising, though. Swank points out that few of his fellow sheriffs are supporting him.

The lawman has promised, however, that no matter what any big government commission says, he’s going nowhere. “I won’t even acknowledge it,” Swank vowed. “I’ll just tell them I don’t really care what you say. I’m still the sheriff.”

So this is shaping up to be a battle over the separation of powers, as dictated by the Washington constitution. It very likely will end up in court, too. And this is all brought to you by the people who claim to be tolerant, inclusive, and nonjudgmental.

As the apocryphal saying goes, “There’s no one as illiberal as a liberal.”