Washington state gubernatorial candidates Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, and Dave Reichert, a Republican, politely disagreed on the solutions to most issues facing Washington during the first face-to-face televised debate of the 2024 election Tuesday night.
The debate, hosted by The Seattle Times, KING 5 News, El Sol de Yakima and KREM-TV, took place shortly after the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Although Ferguson talked over the moderators a few times and neither candidate focused on all the questions posed, the gubernatorial debate offered a clear picture of how their visions for Washington differ.
Ferguson, the current Washington attorney general, and Dave Reichert, a former congressman and King County sheriff, delineated their differences and argued directly a few times during the hour-long debate. The two will face off a second time on Sept. 18 during a debate hosted by the Association of Washington Business and Greater Spokane Inc.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s debate:
1. Public safety is a top priority for both candidates
Both Ferguson and Reichert said they would do some things differently in terms of public safety for Washingtonians.
Ferguson noted that one of his first campaign issues was public safety, and said he would request $100 million in the state budget to distribute to agencies statewide to hire new law enforcement officers. That money could be used for hiring bonuses or to add to already existing salaries. Another part of his plan, he said, is to hire more troopers with the Washington State Patrol, specifically to create a “Hate Crimes Unit.”
Reichert argued that he is the only candidate with experience on public safety due to his background as a law enforcement officer and his time on the Committee on Homeland Security in Congress. But he did not specifically state what he would do as governor to address public safety issues, other than connecting crime with homelessness and drugs. Reichert then pointed to his time working on the case to find the Green River Killer, and argued that it’s not simply a “money issue” as it relates to funding law enforcement agencies but instead a “trust” issue for police officers.
2. Former President Trump got brought up. A lot.
Ferguson used the public safety discussions to make one of his frequent jabs against Reichert, saying that the former congressman is supporting a felon while he is supporting a prosecutor for president. Reichert answered back that he would not be supporting either Trump or Harris for president.
He then told Ferguson that he was the one who was obsessed with Trump after Ferguson accused him of supporting Trump in front of his campaign donors in March.
“Mr. Ferguson, you are obsessed with Donald Trump. I am not obsessed with Donald Trump,” Reichert said. “Please move off of Donald Trump and stop your obsession with Donald Trump. And if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Ferguson continued to bring up Reichert’s support for Trump and his policies and ideas as the debate carried on, adding that as attorney general he beat Trump’s administration more than 50 times in court.
In a similar way, they argued about Reichert’s stand on abortion more than about what each candidate might do to support reproductive health care in Washington. Ferguson accused Reichert of saying one thing in public and another behind closed doors, concerning abortion – and his feelings about Trump.
3. Agreement on the complexity of the homelessness crisis
While Reichert first blamed state leadership over the past 12 years for the homelessness crisis, he later said that he believes it is a result of drugs, substance abuse and mental illness. Reichert said he would pay to fix the homelessness crisis with the misplaced COVID funding that was provided to the state by the federal government, but did not point to any specific policies to address the issue.
Ferguson noted that in his role as attorney general he has already taken measures to address the crisis, such as suing the companies responsible for the opioid crisis and using that money to invest in treatment and first responders.
4. Division on an initiative to repeal the Climate Commitment Act
Ferguson says he will be voting no on the statewide initiative to repeal parts of the 2021 Climate Commitment Act, but said that the cap-and-invest system does need to be adjusted, specifically as it applies to rebates for farmers. He said that as governor he would make sure farmers get the exemption they are entitled to. Additionally, he said he would like to see increased funding from the Act for the Working Families Tax Credit.
Reichert, on the other hand, argued that gas prices under the cap-and-invest system cost more than what lawmakers originally told residents as they were trying to pass the measure. He believes Washington residents were misled, along with farmers and truck drivers. Reichert said Washingtonians should vote yes on Initiative 2117 and he would “find a way forward” with the Legislature that doesn’t place the cost of green, clean energy efforts on the backs of those who can least afford it.
5. Both candidates said they would not support new revenue sources
The cost to the state budget of repealing the cap-and-invest system and another initiative that would repeal the state’s new capital gains tax – a total hit of as much as $3 billion a year – didn’t get much attention during the debate. Both Reichert and Ferguson said they would not support new funding sources in Washington.
Ferguson said that during his time in office he has led a state agency that has made money for Washington, and also talked about his experience cutting bipartisan budget deals on the King County Council. Reichert noted flat-out that if elected governor he would veto any new tax laws. Instead, he said he believed that money is being misspent on “programs that just don’t work.”
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