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“Miraculous.” That’s how Brad Payne, President of FPIW Action, describes the historical success of Let’s Go Washington (LGW). Such success is unprecedented in our state’s history, and it is all the more impressive given how Left-leaning our state has become. LGW rightfully deserves its top-tier, major league, and political powerhouse ranking. At heart, LGW is a citizen-action group formed to support conservative causes, especially by way of sponsoring initiatives. Founded in 2022 by Brian Heywood, LGW is located in Redmond. It is our privilege to highlight their impressive accomplishments and to play a supportive role in such conservative causes.
Initiatives
LGW’s main focus is initiatives. The initiative process allows a bottom-up, grassroots “power to the people” approach in order to shape what becomes law — rather than a bill trying to go through the Legislative process. In 2024, for instance, LGW made history. “It was the first time in state history,” reports the Lynnwood Times, “where six initiatives to the Legislature have been certified in the same year.” All six initiatives garnered a remarkable 2,662,310 signatures in total.
On the picture below, you can see examples of conservative causes that LGW supports including: reducing taxes, police protection, and parental rights. Four of those initiatives became law:
Like dozens of places across Washington State, FPIW was glad to support the noble cause by giving out petition sheets and promotional supplies, as well as being a drop-off location for completed signature sheets. Such a cause engages the grassroots and builds a team spirit. It inspires participation and gives us hope:
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Who Is Brian Heywood?
The success of LGW is rooted in the vision of its founder Brian Heywood. When Heywood walks into a room, people notice. He is tall and large, and with the rapid emergence of LGW, he is a powerful person in our state.
By way of background, the Seattle Times notes: “Heywood grew up in a Mormon family in Arizona, now lives on a big ranch-style property in the Sammamish Valley, where he runs a horse-boarding business, bales hay, grows apples for cider, and makes honey.”
Heywood also has been featured by the New York Times:
“Since 2022, when he formed a political action committee, Let’s Go Washington, Mr. Heywood has spent $11 million trying to put 20 conservative policy proposals in front of Washington lawmakers or voters. … Mr. Heywood, 58, described himself as an ‘uptight, poor, redneck Mormon kid,’ who made his way to Harvard, then helped found a hedge fund, Taiyo Pacific Partners. The firm was based in California until 2010, when Mr. Heywood moved north in search of lower taxes — Washington lacks an income tax and, at the time, had no capital gains tax — and a less restrictive regulatory environment.”
Says Heywood, “[Washington State] was more liberal than I am, but I saw it as a sort of libertarian left, a very livable kind of liberalism.” But that may be changing with even more radical and Left-wing measures to challenge.
More Initiatives
LGW’s initiative efforts in 2026 include defending girls’ sports, protecting parental rights, as well as repealing the recently passed state income tax. In Washington State, there have been a number of concerns with biological males competing against girls in our school sports. Not only is safety on the court or field a concern, but so is the issue of privacy in the locker rooms. LGW aims to defend these girls by sponsoring the initiative IL26-638, and Heywood was the featured speaker at an FPIW event in support (see left picture below).
In addition to protecting girls’ sports, LGW aims to protect citizens from having to pay the income tax that the Legislature passed in 2026. Currently, the tax is “only on millionaires” but many suspect that it is aimed to tax the income of virtually all citizens. As the saying goes, “A tax on some will soon be a tax on all.”
Toward that goal, LGW submitted an amazing amount of signatures to the WA Secretary of State’s office in a very short time. They needed 308,911 signatures and in only about 7 weeks to qualify, and they got 511,408 — more than half-a-million. It’s truly impressive.
Powerhouse
As our state’s premier powerhouse for initiative success, LGW holds a special place within the political landscape. They are well-funded and have built a very efficient infrastructure for gathering signatures. Above all, they have assembled a highly competent team to organize, market, and inspire. Their approach of selecting common sense, center-right issues empowers them to cross the political aisle. They share: “LGW is a non-partisan organization that is proud to work with people on the entire political spectrum. Over 57% of signers were Democrat or Independent. We are proud to be working with a diverse coalition of supporters from many different political backgrounds as we fix what’s broken.”
With such support, Heywood is not going anywhere. In fact, he has vowed not to let up. “I can afford to do this for a long time,” he said. After experiencing defeat after defeat for many years, LGW offers us hope and inspiration that change is possible — and FPIW will be proud to be right alongside LGW in support.
You can follow and support LGW’s efforts by finding them on social media: X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.