Ted Cooke
Republican | Washington
Candidate Profile
Conservative
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Ted Cooke
Party
Republican
Election Year
2024
Election
Primary
Race
State Rep., Dist. 47 - Pos. 2
Incumbent
No
Links
EDUCATION
Beacon University, Columbus, GA, Bachelor of Theology, 2000
WORK & MILITARY
Microsoft (Vendor), Senior Software Tester, 13
AFFILIATIONS
Timberlane Homeowners Association, Covington, WA, Board of Directors, PAL (African education non-profit)
Board of Directors, Generational Hope Church, Maple Valley, WA, Multiple Leadership Positions
Vine Maple Place Women's Shelter, Volunteer, Union Gospel Mission
Volunteer, Maple Valley Food Bank, Volunteer
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Elected PCO (COV 47-3244, COV 47-1127), 2009-Present
KCGOP 2nd Vice Chair, 2020-2022
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
WA State Representative 47th District Position 2, 2018, 2020, 2022
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (3)
Local, County, and District Republican Organizations (2024)
State Republican Party Organizations (2024)
Kyle Lyebyedyev (2022)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (3)
Washingtonians Action PAC (2022)
Local, County, and District Republican Organizations (2020)
Mark Hargrove (2020)
OTHER INFORMATION
Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022.
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Under what circumstances should an elective abortion be allowed?
I am against taking the lives of innocent human individuals. We need to bring our laws up to date to match the knowledge of DNA and human development which we've gained since Roe v. Wade. At the moment of conception a person's unique DNA begins to form and they need only time, shelter and sustenance to live out their natural lifecycle, just like each of us still needs. We should follow the science.
Chemical abortion drugs should meet essential safety standards (such as in-person consultation with a medical doctor) and require reporting to gather evidence on reactions and outcomes.
Strongly Agree
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive taxpayer funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).
Strongly Agree
I support 'aid in dying' laws which legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Disagree
This is a form of taking innocent human life, and there is a danger of people feeling pressure to take their lives because of financial burden or other fears. Also, the hippocratic oath precludes doing harm.
ECONOMY
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
What is your position on the minimum wage?
The real minimum wage is $0, unemployed. What most people mean by "minimum wage" is an arbitrary government wage floor. Wage floors price minorities and youths out of the labor market and result in fewer goods and services in circulation.
Should environmental and social issues, like ESG (environmental, social, and governance) ratings, be used as criteria in deciding where to invest public monies?
No
Until government reaches zero debt and has a surplus of funds there isn't really any public money to invest. ESG ratings are entirely subjective and based upon the negative biases of the group(s) assigning the scores. As Vivek Ramaswamy has said, we should seek to replace "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" with the values "Excellence, Opportunity and Civility."
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Under what circumstances can government close churches?
Under no circumstances should government close churches. According to the First Amendment government should, "make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise...or abridging...the right of the people peaceably to assemble..."
Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.
Disagree
No individual or business should be required to provide services violating their moral or religious beliefs, and we already have regular fault law to cover any instance of someone knowingly, actively and directly causing another individual to perish from starvation or exposure.
HEALTHCARE
What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D) Taxpayer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be defunded.
Healthcare should be private because government is inherently inefficient when functioning as a charity. Medicaid and Medicare should be gradually privatized for the same reason.
Under what circumstances (if any) should a government, school, or employer be allowed to require vaccinations?
No entity should be able to compel vaccination. The word vaccine needs to be strictly defined as an attenuated sample of contagion, and all vaccine delivery medium & methods should be considered drugs as they're designed to stimulate a reaction.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The Chinese Communist Party poses serious military, cyber security, intellectual property, and global economic threats to the United States.
Agree
Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?
The US relationship with Israel is important because Israel is the leading democracy in the middle east. People of Arab descent, for example, enjoy more individual rights and protections in Israel than in any other middle eastern country.
IMMIGRATION
The U.S. should do more to physically secure the southern border.
Strongly Agree
EDUCATION
The state should fund education by allowing dollars to follow the child through programs which protect parents' freedom to choose their child's school – public, private, or homeschool.
Strongly Agree
We should change Title IX of the State Constitution to say it is the paramount duty of parents and communities to make ample provision for the education of children according to the parents’ worldview. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is "sinful and tyrannical". Much of education is simply the propagation of opinions.
VALUES
Children are the most vulnerable members of society and must be protected from abuse, including gender ideology, grooming, and bodily mutilation.
Agree
Parents should have the right to make decisions for their minor children.
Agree
Taxpayer funds should be used to provide gender transition services.
Strongly Disagree
People should be encouraged to love and embrace themselves the way they are. It is the height of cruelty to tell someone they are essentially a mistake, that they were born in the wrong body, or that they can only ever be a caricature of what they want to be. Rather people should be loved and accepted as they are, not altered irreparably or kept from being able to eventually have children.
Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.
Agree
I'll add that before the marriage redefinition movement people already had - or should have had - full right of private contract, and could enjoy all of the same legal rights under the designation civil union.
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I am a Christian.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Disagree
Each citizen's vote should be as secure as their pocketbook. Because it's surely going to affect their pocketbook!
States should join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact which makes the Electoral College irrelevant.
Strongly Disagree
The purpose of the electoral college is to keep the President from being beholden to whoever appointed them. It exists only once every four years, and then ceases to exist after the President is elected. In a direct election scheme just 10 states would wield more total votes than the other 40 combined. According to James Madison, straight democracies are always short and violent, which is why our founders crafted a representative, constitutional republic rather than a direct democracy.
EQUALITY
Is racism a threat to domestic security in the United States? Why or why not?
Racism is and always has been a threat to domestic security. Racism is the assignment of arbitrary racial definitions to people, and treating people differently based on those definitions.
I agree with Critical Race Theory (CRT) which asserts that the institutions in the United States are fundamentally racist.
Strongly Disagree
Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women's sports or occupy biological women's spaces whether it be bathrooms, locker rooms, sorority houses, women's shelters, or prison.
Strongly Agree
Men, i.e. people with XY chromosomes, are on average three inches taller, weigh 30 pounds more, and have much more upper body musculature than women, i.e. people with XX chromosomes. In a stadium with 100,000 people - picture a full Seahawk stadium plus some - everyone except for 12 people would have XX or XY chromosomes. And of the remaining 12, 10 would appear externally male or female. Only 2 would be truly intersexed, and these do not cause a strong prurient reaction from either gender.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Which comes closest to your view? (Select all that apply) A) Stricter environmental laws and regulations cost too many jobs and hurt the economy. B) Stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the cost. C) Stricter environmental laws undermine U.S. energy independence and deter development of reliable electricity sources. D) Climate change is real and requires urgent policy action.
This question seems to assume that many existing environmental laws are reasonable and well crafted. In reality many if not most environmental laws are based on advocate & activist hearsay, questionable studies and in some cases outright misrepresentation of data. Suggested reading: "Trashing The Planet" by former Atomic Energy Commission head and democrat Washington State governor Dixie Lee Ray.
What do you believe is the most reliable energy source that will supply the growing demand for electricity?
Nuclear plants have proven to be the safest and greenest method of providing cost effective energy. More suggested reading: "Atomic Mistakes" by James Mahaffey.
ABOUT YOU
Have you ever been penalized for sexual misconduct in either civil or criminal court? If so, please explain.
No
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, please explain.
No
What do you think is the general purpose of government?
It's right in the Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Conservative
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
I support redirecting funds from police departments to community programs.
Strongly Disagree
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
There should be almost no restrictions on gun ownership. Amendment 2: "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" Amendment 5: "No person shall be...deprived of... property, without due process of law" (i.e., implies felony conviction or mental illness)
Should teachers be allowed to carry guns at school?
Yes
