Ferguson, Reichert to face off in Washington's race for governor this November

Initial voting results in Washington’s primary are pointing to a face-off between Attorney General Bob Ferguson and former congressman Dave Reichert in what’s expected to be a competitive race for governor this November.

Early results have Ferguson at 46%, with Reichert trailing at 28%. Twenty-six other candidates appeared on the ballot, but only the top two advance to the state’s general election.

“It’s a huge win,” Ferguson, a Democrat, said of his results, at a bustling party in Seattle. “Of course we have a long way to go to the general election, but we’re very excited about the results.”

Reichert, meanwhile, addressed a crowd of supporters and other members of the state Republican party in Puyallup. He stood at the podium taking in the scene for several moments as the crowd cheered, following the release of the initial results.

"My message tonight is: Never give up," he said. “We’re going to get this done.”

The winner of this race in November will take over for outgoing Democratic governor Jay Inslee, who is serving his third term. Washington has not elected a Republican governor since 1980, one of the longest gubernatorial losing streaks in the country.

Still, contests for Washington state’s top job can be tight. Democrats scraped by in the last two open races for governor. In a 2004 race that's considered one of the closest in U.S. political history, Democrat Christine Gregoire won by less than 200 votes. Current governor Jay Inslee won his initial election to the position by only about three percentage points.

This year’s race took an odd turn in May, as candidates filed their paperwork to get on the ballot. A conservative activist recruited two additional candidates named Bob Ferguson to run for governor as Democrats. Ultimately the other Bob Fergusons withdrew from the race, after the attorney general publicly called for them to do so and threatened possible legal action.

“I’m the real Bob Ferguson,” the attorney general said Tuesday night to applause.

Public safety has emerged as a key component of this race, with Republicans criticizing Democrats for being too “soft on crime.” Reichert has made his law enforcement background a central focus of his campaign, and has criticized Ferguson for not doing more to support law enforcement as attorney general. Reichert served as sheriff of King County, home to Seattle, and worked on the Green River killer case.

Ferguson, meanwhile, has spent a great deal of time trying to tie Reichert to former President Donald Trump, in an attempt to dissuade moderate voters from supporting Reichert. The Ferguson campaign has also run TV ads blasting Reichert for his record of voting against abortion access while he was in Congress. Ferguson also talks often about Reichert’s views on abortion on the campaign trail.

The Associated Press called the primary for Ferguson and Reichert on Tuesday. More ballots will be tallied in coming days, and officials will finalize the primary election results mid-August.

Voting results released Tuesday reflect ballots that were received and processed by elections officials across the state in the first weeks of voting. Results will be updated as more ballots that were mailed or placed into drop boxes on election day are counted.

Other candidates for governor received shares of the vote in the single digits Tuesday night. Far-right candidate Semi Bird, who received the state GOP endorsement over Reichert, nabbed just 9%. State Sen. Mark Mullet, a moderate Democrat from Issaquah, received 6%.

Bird said Tuesday night that he does not plan to endorse Reichert, who needs every Republican vote to best Ferguson in November.

“Dave Reichert does not reflect my values, nor does he align with my beliefs whatsoever,” Bird said. “And to be specific, Dave Reichert has called me a thief, a con man, a snake oil salesman.”

Tuesday night’s results also point to a possible Democrat lockout in the race for State Commissioner of Public Lands – the state’s top firefighting and lands management job.

Five Democrats are vying for the position, while two Republicans – including former congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler – are competing in that race. Herrera Beutler lost her re-election bid for Congress in the 2022 primary, after voting to impeach former president Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021.

The initial results show Herrera Beutler leading the pack at about 22% of the votes, followed by another Republican who was endorsed by the state GOP, Sue Pederson, who has 20% of the votes counted so far. Democrat Dave Upthegrove is not far behind and could make up ground in the coming days, earning 19.9% of the initial votes cast.

Scott Greenstone in Enumclaw and Katie Campbell in Seattle contributed to this report.