There are 28 candidates on the ballot for Governor of Washington State. Of them, there are four that have any sense of support. Of those, it will be former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert versus Attorney General Bob Ferguson in the Finals. I'm calling it here.
Bob Ferguson has been a big noise for the past decade, an aggressive legal voice who has been fighting against corporate malfeasance and Trumpian nonsense. He's got the funding, the endorsements, and the attention. And yeah, he's got the proven competence to be Governor.
Mark Mullet, the other recognized Democrat, is frustrating. A moderate, he's got a good provenance as well (State Senator for a decade), as well as ground-level endorsements (local mayors, firefighters), but has just flamed out as far as the campaign is concerned. But, if you hate Ferguson, Mullet is a good alternative, and I would be very comfortable with a battle between the two in November. Such is unlikely, sadly.
Dave Reichert should also be doing better, though it is likely that he will be Ferguson's competition in the Big Show due to name recognition from his time as King County Sheriff a couple decades back (Yeah, I know, everyone is OLD. It's thing). But, he failed to get the endorsement of both his own party and of the Seattle Times, which has traditionally been in the tank for him. It seems that he was saying one thing to the Times in interviews, and something completely different to his supporters on the other side of the Cascades. Apparently they didn't like that much.
Semi Bird DID get the official GOP endorsement, and does embrace the Trumpian nonsense. He lost his job as a school board commissioner for opposing mask updates in a recall election, and in the GOP tradition has been failing upwards ever since. He also never mentioned he had an ancient criminal record (misdemeanor bank larceny, thirty years ago), which makes him a typical Republican candidate .
And the rest. As elsewhere, some are perennials, some are well-intentioned newcomers, some are single-issue candidates seeking to front their particular concerns/grind their proverbial axes. And there was some hijinks, in that a Republican operative went out and found some OTHER Bob Fergusons to run for office, in hopes of confusing the issue. And then bragged about it publicly. When it was pointed out that this was specifically a felony, his chosen candidates dropped out, and the GOP weasels complained about how unfair the system was that wouldn't let them cheat.
So yeah, Bob Ferguson for Governor.
More later,
