(NewsNation) — With 56.2% of the vote, NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ has called the race for governor in Washington in favor of Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson. See the results of the presidential election here.
Ferguson and seven-term Republican Rep. Dave Reichert, a former King County sheriff, emerged from a 28-person field in August to vie for the office.
The election was held a year after Democrat Jay Inslee announced in 2023 that he would retire and not seek a fourth term.
Ferguson sought to continue the string of Democrats to occupy the governor’s mansion after the party has held the office for the past four decades. Ferguson rose to national prominence when he sued Donald Trump’s administration, becoming the first attorney general to challenge Trump’s travel ban. Ferguson went on to sue the Trump administration almost 100 times.
Ferguson said in media interviews that if elected, he would direct the Washington State Legislature to allocate $100 million to help local law enforcement agencies hire more officers.
Reichert also called for the need for more officers in the state, saying that people who commit crimes need to be held accountable for their actions.
Both candidates also vowed to address the state’s high cost of living as a priority of their administration.
In gubernatorial debates, Ferguson has pledged to become an agent of change while also remaining committed to protecting the core freedoms of Washington’s residents. Meanwhile, Reichert has attempted to link Ferguson’s time as attorney general to Inslee’s policies and Washington’s Democratic-led legislature for the reasons behind the state’s high cost of living as well as public safety concerns.
The two also differ on the issue of abortion. In a debate, Ferguson attacked his Republican challenger’s voting record in Congress to ban most abortions after 20 weeks as well as his push to attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. When questioned by Ferguson, though, Reichert said that he would protect the rights of women and said that women had the right to choose to have an abortion.
Ferguson has also gone after his opponent’s stance on marriage, saying that his belief that marriage can only be between a man and a woman “stings for LGBTQ Washingtonians.”
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However, Reichert, who was looking to become Washington’s first Republican governor since the early 1980s, said that while his faith dictates what marriage should be, he believes residents should be able to choose who they love.
Having elected Democrats in the past nine presidential elections, Washington has become reliably blue. In 2020, President Joe Biden defeated Trump by a 58% to 39% margin in a state where Republican candidates have failed to garner more than 45.6% of the vote in presidential elections since 2000.
