Rob Chase

Robert Steven Chase (born August 2, 1953) is an American politician and businessman. A Republican, he was a member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 4th district. Elected in 2020, he assumed office on January 11, 2021.

Education Chase earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from Eastern Washington University.

Career Chase is a former real estate agent. In 2002, he unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Libertarian Party candidate against Republican incumbent George Nethercutt; in the 2002 blanket primary, he won 5% of the vote. He worked for Ron Paul's presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012 in Eastern Washington. and he tried to block Avista's sale to Hydro One.

In 2018, Chase ran for Spokane County Commission, but was defeated by Kuney. He defeated Democratic nominee Lance Gurel in the November 2020 general election. Chase's district, the Fourth Legislative District,

Chase is a vocal supporter of Matt Shea, a Washington state representative who was expelled from the House Republican Caucus after an independent investigation determined that Shea participated in acts of domestic terrorism.

Chase has previously promoted various extremist conspiracy theories; in online writings, he has promoted QAnon, birtherism, and chemtrails. In 2019, Chase shared a link on Facebook to a report baselessly claiming that the September 11 attacks were an inside job involving "the Zionists" and others, and that the "Boston Bombing, Sandy Hook, Orlando, San Bernardino, and Las Vegas" attacks were all "false flag" hoaxes.

Chase has pushed Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was marred by fraud. Although no evidence supports this claim, in August 2021, Chase and four other state Republican lawmakers (Robert Sutherland, Jim Walsh, Vicki Kraft, and Bob McCaslin Jr.) held an unofficial hearing at a Snohomish, Washington church calling for "forensic audit" to take place in Washington State similar to the criticized Arizona audit. The organizers of the event invited speakers who have falsely claimed voter fraud. In a July 2021 Facebook post, Chase compared the COVID-19 vaccines to Nazi medical experimentation and falsely claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine "is not a vaccine"; that the vaccine "is not tested"; that the vaccine was the result of a nefarious conspiracy orchestrated by George Soros; and there are many "natural cures" for COVID-19. None of these claims are true. Christian attributed his victory to Chase's far-right views.

In 2024, Chase was reelected to the Fourth Legislative District.