SEATTLE — Ten straight Washington gubernatorial elections have gone to Democrats. However, Attorney General Bob Ferguson told his supporters on Sunday that he thinks his expected Republican opponent, former Congressman Dave Reichert, will be tough this fall.
Ferguson talked about how competitive the last two open-seat races for governor have been at his yearly shrimp feed lunch fundraiser in North Seattle.
“I know that the state where I live is called a blue state.” Also, I know that all state officials are Democrats. I have never lost an election, and I don’t plan to start this year either. He said, “I think one reason is that I try to be very objective about my campaigns.”
He talked about the 2004 election for governor, which was the tightest in U.S. history. At that time, Democratic Attorney General Chris Gregoire beat Republican Dino Rossi by just 133 votes, and the result was confirmed only after two recounts and a lawsuit.
He told the about 200 people in the room, “The people in this room more than decided that race for governor.”
In 2012, when there was no sitting governor, Jay Inslee, who was then a congressman, was behind in the polls for months before beating Rob McKenna, who was attorney general at the time, by 3 percentage points.
Ferguson said he thinks the 2024 fight will be just as close, even though he is undefeated and has raised a huge amount of money.
Ferguson’s 19th shrimp feed fundraiser is a custom that he got from the late Gov. Mike Lowry. Lowry’s annual events were well-attended by Democrats in the area.
On Sunday, people ate shrimp and salad at the Northgate Community Center while Ferguson chatted with them. T-shirts and copies of the U.S. Constitution were for sale at tables outside the hall.
At the event, Ferguson did what he does every year: he thanked Lowry for supporting him when he was a wild outsider running against Cynthia Sullivan, a Democrat who had been on the Metropolitan King County Council for 20 years.
Ferguson said, “There’s no doubt in my mind that without that endorsement, I’m not talking to you right now.” Since then, he has kept a Lowry campaign sign in his office.
Since his first win, Ferguson has changed from a rebellious party-crasher to the leader of the Democratic elite. During the 2012 election, he was chosen as Attorney General. Inslee and the state Democratic Party have backed his bid for governor.
Ferguson will be up against some Democrats in the primary election on August 6th. The main one is state Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, who is running as a reasonable candidate backed by businesses.
In return for Ferguson giving $1 million, the state Democratic Party made a deal that essentially endorsed Ferguson. Mullet recently spoke out against this deal, calling it a “horrible precedent.”
Ferguson, on the other hand, is mostly ignoring both Mullet (who he has refused to fight) and Semi Bird, the former Richland school board member who was backed by the state Republican Party for governor in April.
He is getting ready for a race in November against Reichert, who used to be the sheriff of King County and a representative for the 8th District in the U.S. House.
On Sunday, Ferguson criticized Reichert for comments he made at a GOP dinner in March that were leaked. Reichert said that climate change is not caused by humans but by “the guy upstairs,” as reported by the Washington State Standard.
Reichert told the Standard that he thinks climate change is real, but that fighting it shouldn’t “come on the backs of hardworking families of Washington,” taking as an example the rising cost of gas and energy.
Reichert is ahead of Bird in polls among Republican candidates. So far, Reichert is second among all candidates in terms of money raised, with about $3 million raised compared to $7 million raised by Ferguson.
On June 1, he will be the main speaker at the Mainstream Republicans of Washington’s Cascade meeting in Yakima.
