At least three Tacoma restaurants announced last week that they would cut ties with E9 Brewing Co. after learning that the brewery’s owners, brothers John and Lucas Xitco, gave money as individuals in June to Let’s Go Washington, a PAC formed in 2022 by Redmond-based hedge-fund founder Brian Heywood that has sponsored three initiatives — around transgender athletes, the “parents’ bill of rights” and the “millionaires tax” — for the 2026 general election.
The Xitcos said their June donation was solely in support of the campaign to repeal the millionaires tax. The discovery of their donation, readily available in Public Disclosure Commission data, landed via local political organizer Zev Cook, who is a former Tacoma City Council candidate and co-chair of the Tacoma chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. In a video posted to her Instagram account Aug. 23, she pointed out the Xitcos’ contributions and said, “Here is a list of Tacoma businesses that are helping fund Let’s Go Washington’s anti-trans initiatives.” She specifically named E9 and Asado, which are co-owned by the brothers under the umbrella of X Group Restaurants, and Frisko Freeze, the historic burger shack which John Xitco and his son Nico Xitco bought in 2023 and restored in 2024.
By the end of the week, restaurants including Corbeau, Dusty’s Hideaway and a local Dickey’s Barbecue Pit franchise said on social media they would stop carrying E9 beers. Dusty’s also shared that it would donate earnings from its remaining E9 inventory to a fundraiser for a transgender employee to receive top surgery.
In a phone call this week, John Xitco strongly disputed the characterization that he, his family or his businesses were “anti-trans” and expressed disappointment at the rhetoric that quickly permeated local social media. He stressed that he and his brother had donated $1,000 and $250, respectively, on June 10 through an email fundraising campaign specifically about repealing the millionaires tax, a 9.9% levy on households earning more than $1 million annually set to start in 2028. He said they were not familiar with Let’s Go Washington at the time and were unaware of the PAC’s other initiatives until last week.
Fuck them for trying to repeal the millionaires tax too
Pretending like they had no idea what they were funding when they donated is foolish. It’s insult on top of injury that they’re only donating 10k to local LGBT+ groups as an apology.
Yeah a very bad attempt at saving face
Statement from the person who exposed all of this:
I posted the original video and this was the response I posted to their statement:
Last week I posted a video about the Xitco family and donations they’d made to Let’s Go Washington. They posted a response today, with coverage also coming out in the Tribune as well.
Their central claim is that they only donated to support the millionaires tax repeal, but as someone who works in politics, that simply isn’t how donating to PACs works. Donations can support an initiative that PAC is working on, but you’re also supporting the general operations of that organization. In this case an organization dedicated to advancing a right-wing anti-trans agenda.
John Xitco also has at least 5 years of history donating directly to the Republican Party and Republican candidates (anyone can find this on the PDC), so the claim that they had ‘no idea’ what kind of organization Let’s Go Washington was when they gave the money is suspect, to say the least. I’m also generally unsure how years of donating to Republicans and right-wing groups constitutes John’s claim of having ‘long welcomed and supported the LGBTQ+ community.’
Now, I never called for a boycott and don’t plan to, but I do believe community members deserve to be able to make an informed decision about where they want to spend their money and if they want to give it to someone who may use it to support causes counter to their values. That’s a judgment folks living here should be able to make for themselves, but at the end of the day, the Xitcos are extremely wealthy, and beyond some reputational damage, this won’t really have an impact on them. I do feel for their workers at these restaurants. It must suck to enjoy working somewhere and see it be bought out by right-wing trust fund kids who didn’t build the business and whose views you want nothing to do with. I think it’s really unfortunate that the Xitcos have chosen to use their wealth and privilege to impose themselves on others in this way, as well as funding right-wing attacks on our communities.
On a positive note, I was very much surprised by how much people cared about this issue and showed up for our trans community. According to the Tribune article, Corbeau, Dusty’s, Side Pony, and The Mule have all dropped partnerships with E9, and I think it’s great to see local businesses willing to make a sacrifice to do what they see as supporting the kids. I’m already a regular at some of these locations and look forward to checking the others out soon. I hope y’all will too.
These vile motherfuckers also bought Frisco Freeze a few years ago, and they own another steakhouse in town, Asado. I’m glad people are finally realizing they’re trash people.
They’re all on my boycott list now. I hope these guys lose their business completely.
