Will Baker


William T. "Will" Baker is an American perennial candidate from Tacoma, Washington.
Baker, described by the Tacoma News Tribune as "a roadside flower salesman with a history of annoying elected officials," has run for Pierce County Auditor, Washington state Auditor, United States Senator, Tacoma city council, and mayor of Tacoma, among other offices, but has never won a contest. He has been repeatedly arrested for speaking past his allotted time during public comment periods of the Tacoma city council, then refusing to yield the floor. On one occasion, in 1997, he continued his monologue after being booked into the Pierce County jail, even refusing to stop after jail guards left the door to his cell open "hoping he'd leave."
In the 2004 race for state auditor, the Washington State Republican Party nominated Baker as their candidate after efforts to recruit someone else failed, though later admitted they were unaware of his colorful past and had not properly vetted him. Another Washington perennial candidate, Richard Pope, attempted - unsuccessfully - to have Baker removed from the ballot. Baker ultimately lost the election with 32-percent of the vote.
Baker's frequent electoral campaigns have been motivated by what he's explained is institutional corruption that has engulfed Tacoma municipal and Washington state government. In the 2004 election for Auditor he declared the "number one issue... ought to be the attempts by the FBI to cover up the events surrounding Crystal Brame’s murder" while, in his 2010 run for United States Senator, he opined that "Secretary of State Sam Reed and several County Auditors are manipulating the 2010 U.S. Senate election."