A deadly opioid epidemic. The housing shortage and cost-of-living crisis. Climate change. Farmworkers' protections.
These are a few of the topics discussed Tuesday night in a debate between the two candidates running to be Washington's next governor.
Hosted at the KING5 TV station in Seattle, Democrat Bob Ferguson and Republican Dave Reichert fielded questions in the first of two Washington gubernatorial debates scheduled this year in Washington.
Tensions escalated early on in the debate as each candidate pointed fingers and denounced the other's professional record and political views.
The hourlong debate, which took place immediately following the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, marked a fleeting opportunity for the state's nearly 5 million voters to see their candidates discuss policies in the same room.
Reichert, of Seattle, kicked off the debate with an opening statement in which he described his childhood, growing up poor in the East Renton Highlands.
A former U.S. Representative and the former sheriff of King County, Reichert said he's running his campaign based on the criminal justice system and the homeless.
"I've had a life of service," Reichert said. "... A life of service, of coaching police, being a police officer, being a member of Congress and serving in Central America and working on human trafficking."
For his opening statement, Ferguson took the stage and said Washington needs a governor who defends the core freedoms of residents, such as reproductive freedom.
"I'm the only candidate in this race who rejects all political donations from large corporations and corporate PACs," Ferguson said. "Why? Because I advocate for you."
Ferguson has worked as the state's elected attorney general since 2013. He previously served on the King County Council and worked as a lawyer.
In the debate, each candidate got 75 seconds to answer a primary question on a topic, followed by a period of discussion in which answers were limited to 45 seconds. Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times, Mark Hanrahan of KREM 2 News and Gloria Ibañez of El Sol de Yakima all asked questions, and KING 5 News anchor Joyce Taylor served as the moderator.
Topics included public safety, homelessness, immigration, abortion access and slain Indigenous women.
The first question came from Brunner, who asked the candidates about public safety.
Overall crime rates in the state started to decline last year, Brunner told the candidates, but homicides and car thefts are still significantly higher than they were in 2019. What would they do to address public safety if elected as governor?
Ferguson said he'd spend $100 million to hire additional police officers in the state and create a hate crimes unit in the attorney general's office.
Reichert said he's the "only public safety candidate in this race," pointing to the 33 years he spent working in the King County Sheriff's Office.
"I understand police officers," Reichert said. "I was one. Just to address, this is an issue about trust for cops."
Ferguson rebutted Reichert's comments, arguing his challenger has no standing and saying he's the only public safety candidate because of his political views.
"You are voting for and supporting a convicted felon for president, who, by the way, is also a convicted sexual abuser," Ferguson said. "And in that race for president, I support a prosecutor."
Reichert denied any allegiance to Trump.
"I'm not supporting Mr. Trump," Reichert said. "I'm also not supporting Mrs. Harris."
Earlier in the year, Reichert avoided publicly stating whether he will vote for Trump in the presidential election. But speaking to a group of Republicans in March, the former sheriff indicated he would vote for the former president, the Seattle Times reported, adding that making such a statement publicly would be a "nail in the coffin" of his political campaign.
The next question addressed the homelessness crisis in Washington, pointing to the more than 31,000 people who went unhoused in Washington at some point in 2024.
Reichert began his response by blaming Ferguson, saying his 12 years overseeing the attorney general's office have only made the state's homelessness and substance abuse crises worse.
"Mr. Ferguson supported the legislation that legalized drugs on the streets of our cities across this state," Reichert said, adding that the former King County sheriff would use "$1 billion that we somehow misplaced during the COVID moneys."
Ferguson responded in criticizing what he said was Reichert's stated plan to send homeless people to McNeil Island.
"We, in my office as attorney general, have taken on some of the most powerful corporations in the world who fueled the opioid epidemic by not playing by the rules," Ferguson said. "What have we done by bringing those cases? We've recovered more than a billion dollars."
When asked what role the state should play in fighting climate change, Ferguson said he supports Washington's current climate policy, but that he would make some changes as well.
If elected, Ferguson said he will work to help farmers across the state who are eligible for gas tax exemptions and expand the amount of money being sent into the Working Families Tax Credit program. Ferguson added that the state's transition to clean energy will be good for the economy.
"When I was in Wenatchee, I went to an apprenticeship training program there," Ferguson said. "What were those hundreds and hundreds of Washingtonians trained for? The clean energy economy."
Reichert said he has a great record on climate in Congress but that he will vote "yes" on Initiative 2117, which would overturn the Climate Commitment Act.
"The problem with the gas tax is that we weren't told the truth," Reichert said. "We were lied to. We were told it was going to be pennies. It's more than pennies. It's gone up 50 cents. At some points, we're competing with California now to see who can have the highest gas tax."
Ibañez, the editor of El Sol de Yakima, a weekly Spanish-language paper, asked the candidates about farmworker protections.
A recent state law that mandated overtime pay for farm workers has been unpopular among agriculture workers across the state who say their employers are capping their paid hours at 40 per week, resulting in less pay overall, Ibañez said.
Ibañez asked the candidates whether they'd recommend changes to the farmworker overtime laws.
Reichert said he would look forward to collaborating with the workers and the farmers to find some compromise.
Ferguson responded in saying he was proud to be endorsed by the United Farm Workers, a national organization working toward fair treatment of farm workers and ethical immigration reform.
This year marks the state's first incumbent-free race for governor in more than a decade. Sitting Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, announced last year he would not seek re-election for another four-year term.
In recent history, incumbent-free races for governor in Washington have been close. When Inslee was elected in 2012, he barely beat his Republican opponent Rob McKenna, by 3% of the vote. And in 2004, Chris Gregoire beat her Republican opponent Dino Rossi in the closest gubernatorial race in U.S. history, winning by a mere 133 votes.
It's been nearly 40 years since Washington last elected a Republican governor. Although the state is made up of politically and geographically diverse regions, the highly populated western side of the state tends to outnumber conservative voters and usually paints statewide elections blue, albeit sometimes in razor-thin margins.
Unlike Washington, most states don't hold their gubernatorial elections in the same year as presidential elections. Only 11 states have governor races this year. Political action committees are pouring money into the Evergreen State's race as a result. All told, candidates vying to be the state's next governor have spent nearly $14 million on their campaigns.
Tuesday's debate was organized by The Seattle Times and KING 5 news in partnership with El Sol de Yakima and CBS affiliate KREM 2 in Spokane.
The next gubernatorial debate will take place at 6 p.m. on Sept. 18 in Spokane's Fox Theater. The event, hosted by the Association of Washington Business, will be broadcast live on KHQ-TV in Spokane and stream at nonstoplocal.com.
General election ballots will be mailed in mid-October for the Nov. 5 election. Along with governor, a number of local, statewide and national races will appear on Washington residents' ballots, as well as proposed city ordinances and statewide initiatives.
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