BELLEVUE — Washington state Democrats are acknowledging that the fight to keep the party’s control of the governor’s mansion for decades could be tough this November.
Bob Ferguson, the party’s presumed heir apparent to the top spot in state politics, made no mention of his internal challenger, Mark Mallett, in a brief speech Saturday night at the party’s biennial convention in Bellevue.
Instead, he focused on the front-runner, Republican Dave Reichert, and pointed to his narrow victories in 2004 and 2012, the last time the governor’s seat was open.
“This election could be decided by 133 votes,” Ferguson said.
The Cook Political Report is currently rating the Washington state gubernatorial race as “leaning Democratic” instead of its blue-tinted rating of “likely Democratic,” citing Washingtonians’ familiarity with Reichert, a former King County sheriff who later served in the U.S. Congress for more than a decade before retiring in 2019.
Ferguson has been fully supported by the state Democratic Party, and state campaign finance records show he has raised about $7.5 million, far outpacing any other candidate. Mallett has raised about $1.3 million but was absent from the weekend activities because he wasn’t invited to speak.
Ferguson’s comments underscored his continued focus on Reichert as his primary opponent, criticizing him as too conservative for the state on issues such as abortion. and They pointed to his record of voting in opposition to Obamacare and in lockstep with former President Donald Trump.
The state Republican Party endorsed former Richland School Board member Semi Byrd at its April convention in Spokane. Reichert withdrew her endorsement and did not attend the convention.
Democrats were not scheduled to vote on which candidate to support in the gubernatorial race or in any contests at their convention.
Instead, delegates were scheduled to vote on the party platform on Sunday and nominate candidates in case any vacancies in elective offices need to be filled.
The party’s chairperson, Shasti Conrad, said the rally was also aimed at “building enthusiasm” ahead of the elections.
Carol Bullock, a delegate from Onalaska in Lewis County, said she was leaning toward supporting Ferguson and had not considered Mallett.
“This is a credit to the work Bob Ferguson has done over the years as attorney general, including his work advocating for immigrants and workers,” she said.
West Seattle Representative Chris Porter pointed to Ferguson’s legal action against the Trump administration over its ban on Muslim immigrants.
“He used every tool in his office to rally people together and go out to the airport to try to right that wrong,” Porter said.
Mallett was invited to attend the convention as a delegate but the Issaquah Democrat was not invited to speak, so he released a recorded video message Friday in which he said Washington state needs to elect a Democrat with a “track record” of bipartisanship for governor.
“I’m not running for governor because everything is going well,” Mallett said in the video, adding that Democrats need to “make progress” on rising housing prices and public safety issues “for our state to reach its full potential.”
He also highlighted his support for reproductive health care, climate protection and LGBTQ+ rights.
Conrad defended the party’s backing of Ferguson, noting that he had overwhelming support from the local party organization and said he was the party’s “frontrunner to win the seat”.
“We needed to maximize our chances of winning the governor’s race early,” Conrad said, “and we’re doing that now.”
