BELLEVUE — Washington Democrats acknowledge the quest to maintain their party's decades-long hold on the governor's mansion could be hard-fought this November.
In a short speech Saturday night at the party's biennial convention in Bellevue, Bob Ferguson, the party's heir apparent for the top spot in state politics, didn't mention the challenger within his own party, Mark Mullet.
Rather, he was laser-focused on the leading Republican in the race, Dave Reichert. He pointed to the thin margins of victory in 2004 and 2012, the most recent years when there was an open governor's seat.
"This election could be decided by 133 votes," Ferguson said.
The Cook Political Report now ranks Washington's race for governor as "Lean Democrat" instead of the bluer rating of "Likely" Democrat, citing Washingtonians' familiarity with Reichert, a former King County sheriff who then held a seat in Congress for more than a decade, retiring from the post in 2019.
The state's Democratic Party has thrown its weight behind Ferguson, who has far outraised other candidates in the race to the tune of about $7.5 million, according to state campaign finance records. Mullet has raised about $1.3 million and skipped the weekend's activities after he wasn't invited to speak.
Ferguson's remarks underlined his continued focus on Reichert as his main opponent, styling the former congressman as too conservative for the state on issues including abortion and the Affordable Care Act and pointing to his record of voting in alignment with former President Donald Trump.
During its April convention in Spokane, the state Republican Party endorsed former Richland School Board member Semi Bird. Reichert withdrew his bid for endorsement and didn't attend the convention.
Democrats weren't slated to vote on which candidate to endorse in the governor's race or in any contest at their convention.
Instead, on Sunday, delegates were scheduled to vote on a party platform and nominate candidates in the event a vacancy for an elected office needs to be filled.
Shasti Conrad, the chair of the party, said the convention was also about "building enthusiasm" before the election.
Carol Brock, a delegate from Onalaska, said she was leaning toward supporting Ferguson and had not considered Mullet.
"It's because of the work that Bob Ferguson has done over the years" as attorney general, including his work supporting immigrants and workers, she said.
Chris Porter, a delegate from West Seattle, pointed to Ferguson's legal action against the Trump administration over its attempt to ban Muslim immigrants.
"He used every tool in his office to rally folks to go out to the airport to try to right a wrong," Porter said.
While Mullet was invited to attend the convention as a delegate, the Issaquah Democrat wasn't invited to speak. So he released a taped video message on Friday, saying Washington needed to elect a Democrat for governor with a "track record" of bipartisanship.
"I'm not running for governor because we are getting everything right," Mullet said in the video. He added that Democrats need to "make progress" on affordability and public safety issues "for our state to achieve its full potential."
He also stressed his support for reproductive health care, protecting the climate and LGBTQ+ rights.
Conrad defended the party's backing of Ferguson, pointing to what she said was the overwhelming support he received from local party organizations and describing him as the party's "best shot at winning that seat."
"We needed to get behind our best chance of being able to win the governor's race early," Conrad said. "And that is what we are doing."
___
(c)2024 The Seattle Times
Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
