(The Center Square) – A Kennewick man says he “did nothing wrong” and was not stalking the adult daughter of Washington Senator Nikki Torres, R-Pasco.
Trevor Delorme, 21, is charged with a gross misdemeanor related to his April 30 arrest after he was reported being outside a home owned by Torres for several hours taking photos.
The senator’s 26-year-old daughter lives in the home with her six-year-old daughter.
After a Wednesday pretrial hearing, Delorme told the Tri City Herald he was trying to verify if Torres was living in the home.
“We can question our elected officials without persecution. And, personally, I don’t want to be represented by someone… who is jumping around the district,” Delorme told the Herald.
He admitted he stopped by the home multiple times over three days and took photos, but says he took no pictures of Torres’ daughter or granddaughter.
The incident centers around Torres’ relocation to the 8th Legislative District so she could run for another term after being gerrymandered out of the 15th Legislative District.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik’s ruling in 2024 redrew 13 districts in Washington with a goal of strengthening the political voice of Hispanic voters in the Yakima Valley.
“I said very clearly, I was planning to move and run because I am not putting up with this gerrymandering crap,” said Torres in a Thursday interview with The Center Square.
“They’re trying to say I don’t live where I filed my candidacy and I do live here,” she said. “I’m here now.”
Delorme told the Tri City Herald he consulted the campaign of the other Republican running for the 8th District Senate seat, Gabe Galbraith, about residency requirements.
He stated he was acting on his own to verify Torres’ residency but admitted getting advice from the Galbraith campaign.
“He went on live TV and said that he received guidance from the Galbraith campaign,” Torres said. “I mean, I think that’s very telling right there. That’s pretty much an admittance.”
Galbraith, who is currently the president of the Kennewick School Board, provided a statement to The Center Square on Wednesday.
“Many constituents have questions about where she [Torres] resides and whether she meets the residency requirements to represent the 8th Legislative District,” Galbraith said.
“The clearest way to address those questions would be for Nikki Torres to publicly provide documentation, without a shadow of doubt, that establishes her residency in the 8th District and the length of time she has lived there. Doing so would help put speculation to rest and allow voters to make informed decisions.”
Kevin Holt, Delorme’s attorney, said it was the Benton County Republican Party that sent his client to the home, according to the Herald.
Torres said things have gone too far when people are setting up outside her daughter’s home.
“She was very upset because she’s been through a lot. And when someone, especially a woman with a child, notices somebody is outside and is very visibly recording her and her child, she’s going to call the cops,” Torres said.
The Center Square reached out to Party Chair Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, for comment on the 8th Legislative District race to inquire if the state Republican party is supporting Torres or Galbraith.
“The State Party is not taking any position,” told The Center Square in a phone interview. “I’ve spoken well of Gabe. I’ve spoken well of Nikki. They both have their qualities. They both would offer a set of skills to the people of the 8th District, and the party is not taking any position on this.”
Walsh blamed Lasnik and the redistricting for creating the chaos.
“This contentious primary is the result not of anything that Nikki Torres has done. Not of anything that Gabe Galbraith has done. This is the result of Judge Lasnik in Seattle messing with the legislative districts in Yakima and Tri-Cities,” said Walsh.
“This is a hyper partisan Democrat driven campaign to create chaos in the legislative districts in that part of Washington and this situation now is just a side effect, a downstream effect of the Seattle judge acting like a left-wing activist and messing with the legislative districts in Central Washington, and it’s shameful,” he added.
The current state senator in the 8th District, Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick, is running for the U.S. House seat held by Rep. Dan Newhouse. Newhouse is not running for reelection.
The Washington primary will be held Aug. 4, and the general election is Nov. 3.
Given only Torres and Galbraith are running in the 8th with no Democratic challenger, both will advance in the top-two primary to the fall ballot.