Vice President Mike Pence urged Eastern Washington voters to retain U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers in a stump speech Tuesday afternoon to push the administration’s economic policies and continue its momentum. Retaining Republican majorities in the House and Senate would enable the White House to continue pushing for conservative judges like embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Pence said. “I’m here for one reason and one reason only,” the vice president told an assembled late-lunch crowd of 900-plus that filled an auditorium at the Spokane Convention Center. “Washington and Washington, D.C., need Cathy McMorris Rodgers back.” In a 30-minute speech to donors that had gifted at least $125 to McMorris Rodgers in her re-election campaign against Lisa Brown, Pence credited Republican majorities in both chambers for eliminating bureaucratic regulations and passing President Donald Trump’s signature tax bill. He called McMorris Rodgers “one of the most important voices in Washington, D.C.” Though the House won’t weigh in directly on the Kavanaugh appointment, Pence made it clear the White House stood behind its pick and accused Senate Democrats of acting dishonestly in the confirmation process. “Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a man of integrity and impeccable credentials,” the vice president said, after the crowd stood and applauded for Trump’s second nominee to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh has faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct during drinking episodes in the early 1980s at his high school and Yale University, including by Christine Blasey Ford, who testified last week before a Senate panel tasked with reviewing his nomination. “Soon, the Senate will have the opportunity to vote,” Pence continued. “When all the facts are in, and the report is done, President Trump and I believe that Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed.” In remarks after the vice president’s speech, McMorris Rodgers – who initially offered strong support for Kavanaugh’s nomination when he was first picked by Trump – said it is important to let the ongoing FBI investigation into the claims play out. “I think it’s an appropriate decision that was made by the Senate, and then President Trump has backed up that decision,” McMorris Rodgers said. “I think it was very important that Dr. Ford be heard. I’ve said that from the very beginning.” Pence lauded the administration’s accomplishments on the economy and trade, giving McMorris Rodgers high praise for shepherding through the tax bill, which among other things eliminated the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that required Americans to purchase health care or face a tax penalty. “We cut out the core of Obamacare,” Pence said. “We got rid of the individual mandate.” He also said he was confident McMorris Rodgers, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, would work quickly to get Congress to approve the trade deal between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. announced by the White House on Monday. McMorris Rodgers said the speech was about celebrating GOP accomplishments and providing a clear choice in the November election, which is 34 days away. “There’s a lot to celebrate, and today was a day to celebrate,” McMorris Rodgers said. The congresswoman shied away in her remarks from directly attacking Democrat Brown, but Pence offered rebukes that plucked several talking points from the campaign so far. He said Brown idolized socialists, a reference to a 1986 university thesis in which Brown said she supported labor rights activist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who would eventually became chairwoman of the Communist Party in the United States. He called Brown “too liberal for this district.” “If she gets to Washington, D.C., Lisa Brown will sign up for the resistance on day one,” Pence said. In a phone call Tuesday, Brown was critical of the congresswoman’s big-name campaign events. “I think that she might be missing the point, because we know she’s connected to D.C.,” Brown said. “But … I think there are many people who feel she’s not connected to Eastern Washington anymore.” “The race is really close,” she added. “We have a poll that shows that it’s statistically a tie, and I think that is probably part of the motivation for bringing some of the D.C. heavy hitters to town.” Seated in the audience at the McMorris Rodgers fundraiser were three generations of the Fode family: Marilyn Fode; her daughter, Laura Hyde; and Laura’s daughter, Hailey Hyde. Marilyn Fode said her family grew wheat and that she has long supported McMorris Rodgers in the district, and she snatched up tickets for her family once the event was announced. Fode called Pence’s visit a “momentous occasion” and said she was struck by how personable he was in his speech. “He is amazing,” Fode said after the speech. “It makes you proud to be an American.” Her granddaughter, Hailey Hyde, said before the speech and lunch that she hoped the vice president would speak about bringing a divided political country together. Pence closed his remarks with a request for prayer. “I’d encourage you to pray for everybody in this country, the prosperity and the well-being of everybody in this nation,” he said. After stumping for a GOP Senate candidate in Bozeman on Tuesday morning, Pence landed at the Spokane International Airport aboard Air Force Two in the afternoon. McMorris Rodgers boarded the plane after it landed and then descended the stairs out of the plane with the vice president. Before getting in cars to travel to the convention center, they spent about 20 minutes taking pictures and shaking hands with a crowd of several hundred people, mostly airmen from neighboring Fairchild Air Force Base. Among those in attendance were state Sens. Michael Baumgartner and Mike Padden; Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell; U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside; and state House candidates Dave Lucas and Jenny Graham. Spokane Mayor David Condon, the emcee of the event who worked for McMorris Rodgers before running for mayor, told the crowd, “Cathy is an advocate. Cathy is a voice for all of us.” McMorris Rodgers has brought some conservative star power to town to back her candidacy. Rep. Devin Nunes of California and Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s counselor, have both stumped for the congresswoman in Spokane this year. Reporters Chad Sokol and Will Campbell contributed to this report.<doc-sep>It was Vice President Mike Pence who visited Spokane on Tuesday. But the focus of protesters outside his campaign fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers was his boss. The protest started about noon with the inflation of a giant Trump Baby balloon. The custom-made inflatable, a replica of one flown in London during Trump’s trip to the United Kingdom this summer, depicts the president as a snarling orange baby holding a smartphone with tiny hands. Unlike the British version, Spokane’s Trump Baby sat atop a giant black-and-red inflatable missile. Several protesters held onto ropes saddled at the balloon’s sides, keeping it from blowing away in the strong gusts of wind. Setting up in the entryway park to Washington State University’s Spokane campus at Division Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, about 150 protesters came to denounce the president and Pence, who spoke at the Spokane Convention Center. A few dozen Trump supporters stood on the opposite side of the busy roadway, while outspoken critics on both sides lobbed criticisms across the street. “We’re giving Trump the military parade he deserves,” said Bill Moyer, the director of Backbone Campaign, which helped organize the protest. “With a sort of ‘Dr. Strangelove’ twist.” Pence landed at Spokane International Airport aboard Air Force Two at about 2:30 p.m. to stump for McMorris Rodgers, who faces a stiff challenge from Democrat Lisa Brown in November. As his motorcade made its way to the Spokane Convention Center, traffic became snarled as people rushed to get out of the downtown core. Several protesters brought signs denouncing Trump and McMorris Rodgers. They stood along Division, where they hoped Pence’s motorcade would pass. Some came in costumes, draped in American flags or as the comic book character Wonder Woman. Jennifer Pacheco and her mother, Jeannine Pacheco, came dressed as handmaids from the dystopian novel and TV show “The Handmaid’s Tale,” about a fundamentalist regime in a near-future America that treats women as property of the state. “To me, it’s a symbol of oppression,” she said of her red dress and white bonnet that the main character is forced to wear. “And I feel like it’s not that far off from being a reality.” A few Trump supporters also demonstrated outside the convention center and on the opposite side of Division near Martin Luther King Jr. Way, where a majority of the protesters had set up. Justin Springer, 20, repeatedly shouted “Trump, Trump, Trump” through a megaphone into several protester’s faces, including one woman in particular. The woman, Genesis Heede, 19, said she was there to demonstrate for women’s rights, and that she had to stop herself from reacting to Springer’s yelling. Instead, she just continued holding up her protest sign. “It scares me being a young woman in our society,” she said. “He just started screaming in my face. I have respect for their party, but not this.” Springer, meanwhile, who came to the protest with his 17-year-old brother, indicated the megaphone was his best option for engaging in civil discourse. “I have 50 people around me,” he said. “I have to use the blow horn to talk peacefully.” After several hours, the Trump balloon was deflated and many protesters trickled out of the area. Once Pence was inside the building, however, nearly 100 women lined up and stood silently outside the convention center, all dressed as handmaids. “Vice President Pence’s record and words show that his agenda would lead us into a world that is based on this chauvinistic, white supremacist, hypertheocratic, militaristic dystopia,” said Liz Moore, who organized the gathering of the handmaids, called the Handmaid Brigade. “It’s not that far off from the book. That terrifies me as a young woman.” The demonstrations picked up again, and many causes were on display. Some women shouted, “We believe survivors,” likely in reference to the sexual assault allegations against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. One man, holding a sign opposing a Washington gun-control initiative, shouted back at them through a makeshift blow horn. Another man grinned at the demonstration while wearing a star-spangled “Trump 45” jersey. Several protesters and Trump supporters got into shouting matches, though nobody became violent. About a dozen Spokane police officers stood in the distance to keep the peace, though they only entered the crowd to make a path on the sidewalk when a person in a wheelchair needed to come through. As Pence’s speech came to an end, the protesters gathered on the corner of Spokane Falls Boulevard and Bernard Street and chanted at the people filing out. Many of those inside came out holding McMorris Rodgers signs, turning them toward the protesters as they cheered. “Lisa, Lisa, Lisa,” the crowd shouted, in support of McMorris Rodgers’ Democratic challenger. “Hey hey, ho ho, Trump and Pence have got to go.”<doc-sep>The Spokane Police Department estimates that Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Spokane may cost the city between $20,000 and $25,000. A spokeswoman for the Spokane Police and Fire Departments, Michele Anderson, said 101 extra officers and volunteers worked Tuesday. She said the department usually has 22 officers working that time of day, but Tuesday 123 were on duty. Marlene Feist said the city has billed campaigns from both parties for policing costs associated with visits by high-profile public figures, but it has not been reimbursed. Anderson said an invoice would be sent to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ campaign. President Donald Trump’s campaign did not pay the $65,124 invoice the city sent for overtime policing costs accrued during his 2016 visit. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton’s and Bernie Sanders’ campaigns did not pay their invoices from campaign appearances either. Clinton was in Spokane in 2008. Bernie Sanders’ two visits in 2016 cost the city about $33,000, and former President Bill Clinton’s public speaking appearance at Spokane Falls Community College in 2016 cost about $2,800. Feist said heightened police presence when high-profile officials are in town isn’t unusual and is designed to protect the official and people in the area. “The dangers that our vice president might face might impact local citizens as well,” she said. Anderson said the Secret Service requested that the section of Bernard Street between Main Avenue and Spokane Falls Boulevard, as well as the portion of Spokane Falls Boulevard between Washington Street and the Double Tree Hotel close between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. She said an additional 60 firefighters were working as well, but did not have an estimate on how much that cost the city.<doc-sep>The Backbone Campaign Company is responsible for bringing the blimp to Spokane. They've also brought balloons to other events, like the Bumbershoot music festival that was in Seattle last month. SPOKANE, Wash. — The ‘Trump Baby’ balloon will fly over Spokane Tuesday in protest of Vice President Mike Pence’s visit. The Backbone Campaign Company is responsible for bringing the blimp to Spokane. They've also brought balloons to other events, such as the Bumbershoot music festival in Seattle. The company's executive director, Bill Moyer, says it's a part of a concept called "Artful Activism." It's their way of responding to controversial political topics and figures. Tuesday's Trump Baby Blimp is coming all the way from the UK. The company ordered it about a month ago after local community members raised the funds to request it. It costs about $4,500 to make the balloon and another $900 to fill it with helium. It's about 40 feet tall and 14 feet wide. Moyer says there have been previous attempts to sabotage their plans to fly the blimp, so they are not publicly releasing its location for Tuesday. The balloon must be displayed in an open area away from trees and power lines. The weather will determine how high the balloon will fly, because a windier day means they have to keep it close to the ground.<doc-sep>
First it was a chicken, now it's a baby. No, that's not a "M*A*S*H" joke; it's a non-exhaustive list of balloons that have mocked and protested Donald Trump in Washington state (and beyond) since he became president. And the latter will be making its debut in Spokane today. The 20-foot "Baby Trump" balloon is being brought to the city by The Backbone Campaign in honor of Vice President Mike Pence's visit. The vice president is visiting in support of a re-election campaign for U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. RELATED: Connelly: VP Pence visit reveals details of big bucks political fundraising The Baby Trump balloon has already visited several other cities across the U.S., including New Jersey, Chicago and Los Angeles. The balloon was made in Great Britain, a replica of the one that flew over London when Trump visited the city in July. A Baby Trump balloon also made its way to Bumbershoot and Vashon Island earlier this summer. SEE ALSO: The global adventures of the "Trump Chicken" balloon It will fly between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., although the group is keeping its exact location a secret for now. It will coordinate with the protests by the Handmaid's Solidarity Brigade, Indivisible Spokane, and the National Organization for Women. The Spokane groups have raised money for the balloon over the past few months. McMorris Rodgers won the Republican primary election in August, but her Democratic opponent, Lisa Brown, landed within a few percentage points of her -- no easy feat in the typically conservative 5th District, making McMorris Rodgers' seat vulnerable. SeattlePI reporter Zosha Millman can be reached at zoshamillman@seattlepi.com. Follow Zosha on Twitter at @zosham. Find more from Zosha here on her author page.