Donald Trump isn’t running for governor of Washington, but he loomed large in the first debate matchup Tuesday night between Democrat Bob Ferguson and Republican Dave Reichert.
Ferguson, the state’s longtime attorney general, and Reichert, a former congressman, traded jabs over what the two candidates agreed is the state’s top issue: public safety.
It was during that clash, early in the debate at the KING 5 studio in Seattle, that Ferguson brought the former president into the mix, leading Reichert to declare that he won’t be supporting Trump — or Vice President Kamala Harris.
The exchange reflects Ferguson’s strategy of trying to tie Reichert to the polarizing former president in an election year when he is again on the ballot for the country’s top job. Reichert, meanwhile, countered that Ferguson is too fixated on Trump.
“You’re obsessed with Donald Trump,” Reichert said. “I’ve moved past that. I’m focused on the problems here in Washington state.”
Tuesday’s debate — organized by The Seattle Times, KING 5, El Sol de Yakima and KREM 2 — was the first of two scheduled in the race for the governor’s office. Reichert faces an uphill climb to become the first Republican to win the office in four decades. Ferguson clinched nearly 45% of the vote in the Aug. 6 primary, compared with Reichert’s 27.5% share. The seat is open for the first time in more than a dozen years as Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, isn’t seeking a fourth term.
Reichert painted Ferguson as soft on crime and contrasted Ferguson’s hiring of hundreds of new attorneys in his office with police departments around the state that face shortages of officers.
“I think it’s clear that I’m the only public safety candidate in this race,” Reichert said, pointing to his 33 years at the King County Sheriff’s Office, including eight as sheriff, and saying that certain crimes had risen during Ferguson’s tenure as attorney general.
In a rebuttal, Ferguson lobbed back, bringing Trump into the mix.
“I’m going to take no lectures from you about public safety when you are voting for and supporting a convicted felon for president, who by the way, is also a convicted sexual abuser,” Ferguson said. Trump was found liable of sexual abuse in a lawsuit but has not been convicted of sexual abuse. “In that race for president, I support a prosecutor. You support a convicted felon. So you have no standing to say you are somehow the only public safety candidate.”
He pointed to earlier reporting from The Seattle Times that at a GOP event this spring, Reichert nodded his head but did not answer out loud when asked if he would vote for Trump. Audio of the exchange was recorded by a Democratic operative and given to The Times by Ferguson’s campaign.
But Reichert said he wouldn’t vote for the former president.
“I hate to disappoint you Bob, but I’m not supporting Mr. Trump,” Reichert said.
After the debate, he told reporters he would write in a candidate but didn’t specify whom. Ferguson declined to speak with reporters.
In response to Reichert’s criticism about hiring lawyers, Ferguson said he expanded his office to include growth in its criminal division and the creation of a consumer protection division to “take on the biggest corporations in the world that fueled our opioid epidemic,” and that his office was a “revenue generator” for the state including through case settlements.
“We return millions of dollars to Washingtonians,” he said. “The total is literally in the billions of debt relief and dollars back in the pockets of Washingtonians.”
Candidates on hiring cops, abortion and climate change
Both candidates highlighted the low number of police officers in the state. Washington has had the fewest law enforcement officers per capita for more than 12 years, ranking 51st among states and the District of Columbia, according to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
Police agencies throughout Washington have suffered from attrition and recruitment problems over the past few years amid public backlash against biased policing as well as the firing of officers who refused to get COVID vaccines.
Washington’s governor does not directly control most police hiring in the state, which is done by cities and counties. The exception is the Washington State Patrol, whose chief is hired by and reports to the governor.
Ferguson said he would request $100 million in the state budget for police hiring and that he would create a dedicated unit within the State Patrol to investigate hate crimes.
The candidates also butted heads over abortion and the state’s efforts to fight climate change.
Reichert and Ferguson are on opposite sides of Initiative 2117, which would repeal the state’s cap-and-trade system. Ferguson opposes the repeal and says he’d work to get farmers an exemption they were guaranteed in the law but haven’t received, while Reichert plans to support the measure and said he’d work with lawmakers to “find a way forward that’s not placing the cost of great clean energy efforts on the backs of hardworking Washingtonians.”
Asked what he would do to address increased demand for abortion services in Washington, Reichert said that as governor, he would “support and protect the abortion laws that currently exist in Washington state.” Ferguson said he’d make sure the state was investing in services to make sure all women in and out of state could “access the full range of reproductive freedom.”
Ferguson needled Reichert on his stance on abortion, pointing to Reichert’s record in Congress, saying he supported national abortion bans.
Reichert voted for three bills that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks, with exceptions to save the life of the mother and for rape and incest.
“Look, you do not support a woman’s right to choose,” Ferguson said. “You say one thing when you’re speaking to Washington people in a forum like this, and you say something else entirely when you think you are behind closed doors.”
Reichert countered that his votes mirrored existing law in Washington.
“It’s almost the same law that exists here in Washington state, which is 24 weeks,” he said. In Washington, abortion is legal until viability, or to protect the life or health of the mother.
Up next
The Association of Washington Business and Greater Spokane Inc. will host the two candidates at 6 p.m. Sept. 18 in Spokane. It will be moderated by KHQ-TV anchors Sean Owsley and Kalae Chock, and Austin Jenkins, a Pluribus News staff writer and host of TVW’s “Inside Olympia.”
NonStop Local KNDU/KNDO will air the debate in the Tri-Cities and Yakima. The debate will be rebroadcast on TVW and C-SPAN and posted at nonstoplocal.com.
Washington ballots for the general election will be mailed starting Oct. 18. Also on the ballot are a slate of statewide initiatives, other state-level elected offices including attorney general, Washington’s U.S. House districts, a U.S. Senate seat and more.
Ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 5, or put in a drop box or returned in person to a county elections office by 8 p.m. that day.
