Michael Cathcart is running for Spokane County Auditor as a Republican. Turn the record over and look at the other side: his votes to build the city’s DEI bureaucracy, the Democratic clubs he sits in, and the Democratic Party officers who host his fundraisers and fill his endorsement page. Every claim below is followed immediately by its source. Read along and click as you go.
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Chapter One
The DEI Votes
He voted to create Spokane’s DEI bureaucracy. Twice. Both votes are recorded in the City of Spokane’s own official documents.
Voted Yes · Ordinance C35159
December 13, 2021
Created the city’s Office of Civil Rights, Equity, and Inclusion
In December 2021, the City Council voted unanimouslyto pass Ordinance C35159, establishing Spokane’s first Office of Civil Rights, Equity, and Inclusion. Unanimous means Cathcart voted yes, right alongside Betsy Wilkerson and the rest of the Democratic majority.
The same budget cycle funded a director and two support staff for the new office. Wilkerson sponsored and championed the ordinance; today she is the Democratic Council President. Keep her name in mind — it comes up again below.
Created a brand-new full-time Equity & Inclusion Specialist
On May 11, 2026, in the middle of his run for County Auditor, Cathcart voted yes on Special Budget Ordinance C36869. The roll call in the city’s Official Gazette records him as an Ayeon the 7–0 vote. The ordinance, sponsored by Democrats Zack Zappone and Sarah Dixit, adds nine positions to the Parks budget, and item 6 reads: “Add 1.0 classified Equity and Inclusion Specialist position (from 0 to 1).”
From zero to one. A new full-time DEI job that never existed before. Printed in the May 20, 2026 Official Gazette, Volume 116, Issue 20, pages 613 and 619.
The other eight positions match what the parks levy campaign promised voters — park rangers, maintenance, caretakers, an irrigation specialist. Nowhere in the levy’s published plan did voters approve a DEI hire. It was added anyway, and Cathcart voted for it. He also voted in May 2025 to place the $240 million parks levy — a 20-year property tax increase — on the ballot, and publicly supported it alongside Democratic Mayor Lisa Brown.
Where a candidate spends his mornings, who hosts his fundraisers, and whose names he puts on his endorsement page tell you who he answers to.
Photographed · 2026 Campaign Season
In the audience at the Democrats’ Donkey Club
Sitting in at the Spokane Donkey Club
The Instagram account of Danny Tarkenton — the Democrat running to unseat Republican Prosecutor Preston McCollam — posted photos from a Spokane Donkey Club meeting. The speakers: Tarkenton, State Rep. Luc Jasmin (D), County Auditor candidate Callie Gee (D), and Michaela Kelso (D, LD 6). Then the post underlines the point for us: “Also present was Michael Cathcart, a Republican running for County Auditor.”
Callie Gee is his Democratic opponent in the Auditor race. Tarkenton is trying to take out our Republican Prosecutor. And there sits Cathcart, in the audience, at their club.
The @dannyforprosecutor post naming the Democratic speakers and noting Cathcart’s presence. Circle added.Closer view of the same meeting.Callie Gee and Danny Tarkenton at the same event — the Michaela Kelso for Representative, District 6 page.
July 21, 2026
His final fundraiser
Co-hosted by a Democratic Party officer
“The Final Boost,” a July 21, 2026 South Hill reception for the Cathcart campaign, lists its hosts: Jim and Gretchen McDevitt, Suzi Hokonson, Earl Moore, and others.
The event listing naming the hosts, including Suzi Hokonson.
Who is Suzi Hokonson? The public record answers, point by point.
She is an elected Democratic Party officer. Spokane County’s official roster lists her as the elected Precinct Committee Officer, Democratic, for Precinct 6008 in 2018 — and again in 2024. A PCO is an official elected position within the Democratic Party. This is not a swing voter; this is a Democratic Party official hosting the fundraiser of a man asking for Republican votes.
Her record beyond that is on the public file: state-reported political contributions; a named spot on the supporter list of a candidate for Spokane Municipal Court; the individual-supporters list of the Pride Foundation’s Gratitude Report; photographed and quoted at Spokane’s May Day 2025 immigrant-rights rally; a signed Spokesman-Review letter attacking the Trump administration; Sierra Club Beyond Coal volunteer; described by The Fig Tree as a social-justice advocate.
Under Current City and Local Officialssits Betsy Wilkerson, the Democratic Council President — the same Wilkerson who sponsored the DEI office he voted to create. His campaign also circulates a graphic with Democratic County Auditor Vicky Dalton declaring, in her words:
“I’m absolutely thrilled Michael is running… I’m crossing party lines.” — Vicky Dalton, Democratic County Auditor
And on the same endorsement list, one more familiar name: Suzi Hokonson. The Democratic Party officer hosting his fundraiser is also a named endorser on his website.
Cathcart, in his County Auditor campaign shirt, with Democratic County Auditor Vicky Dalton.Suzi Hokonson on the Cathcart campaign endorsement page.
The council voted unanimously for a resolution sponsored by Democrats Zack Zappone and Ryan Oelrich condemning bigoted groups and hate crimes after vandalism of the rainbow crosswalks and an LGBTQ+ youth center. Cathcart backed an attempt to soften the hate-speech language; when it failed, he voted for the resolution exactly as the Democrats wrote it.
Millions in federal grant & subsidized-housing spending
In the same session where he voted for the new DEI position, Cathcart is recorded as an Ayeon every roll call: $4,475,304.60 in CDBG, HOME, and ESG federal grant spending; blanket authorization for CDBG housing and homeless-services contracts without further council review; and Tax Increment Financing money steered to chosen recipients including Habitat for Humanity. Every item was sponsored by Democratic members. Every item passed 7–0 with his vote.
