By Jonathan Kaminsky
OLYMPIA, Wash., Nov 8 (Reuters) – A Republican U.S. House
candidate in Washington state whose comments about abortion and
rape angered women’s rights groups said Thursday he planned to
concede defeat to his Democratic opponent.
John Koster, a former dairy farmer turned Tea Party
favorite, blamed the loss on lackluster financial support from
state and national Republican leaders and said he would make his
concession to Democrat Suzan DelBene official on Friday morning.
DelBene, a former Microsoft Corp executive, led Koster with
53.3 percent of the vote to 46.7 percent with about 75 percent
of the ballots counted. He has now lost multiple bids for the
U.S. House.
Koster’s remarks drew comparisons to those of two Republican
U.S. Senate candidates, Richard Mourdock in Indiana and Todd
Akin in Missouri, who also were defeated in Tuesday’s election.
Akin in August was widely rebuked even in his own party for
saying that women have natural defenses against pregnancy from
“legitimate rape” and Mourdock said during a debate that
pregnancy from rape was “something that God intended to happen.”
Koster, who has long opposed abortion, was asked during a
fundraising appearance if there were any circumstances under
which he would approve of terminating a pregnancy.
“When a mother’s life is in danger … I’m not going to make
that decision,” Koster said in the remarks, a recording of which
was released in late October by a liberal activist group.
“Incest is so rare, I mean, it’s so rare. But the rape
thing, you know, I know a woman who was raped and kept her
child, gave it up for adoption. She doesn’t regret it. In fact,
she is a big pro-life proponent,” he said.
Koster continued by asking a rhetorical question: “But on
the rape thing, it’s like, how does putting more violence onto a
woman’s body and taking the life of an innocent child that’s a
consequence of this crime, how does that make it better?”
Koster’s campaign manager, Larry Stickney, said the state
Republican party gave Koster less than $10,000 and the national
committee less than $80,000.
“To be frank, we were on our own. Yet thanks to people such
as you, we nearly overcame the odds,” Koster said in a message
to supporters.
State Republican leaders said they wanted to see Koster meet
certain campaign goals before they offered more money.
“We tried everything we could to work with him. He refused
to meet us halfway,” state Republican Party Chairman Kirby
Wilbur said. “John Koster lost this race. Nobody but John Koster
lost this race.”
(Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Lisa
Shumaker)
