This November, voters in Washington state will choose between two candidates for governor: Republican Dave Reichert and Democrat Bob Ferguson. In an exclusive interview with The Messenger, Dave Reichert, the Republican candidate and former King County sheriff, shared his thoughts.

“I have a broad breadth of experience,” Reichert said. After serving in the Air Force Reichert joined the King County Sheriff’s office where he began as a cop before being appointed as Sheriff. Reichert was the lead detective in the Green River Serial Killer case, where he worked with a team to capture the killer. “[The case] gave me a tremendous drive and desire to focus on solving problems and helping people,” Reichert said. In 2004, he was elected to represent Washington’s 8th Congressional District in Congress and did so until 2019. As a congressman, Reichert was a moderate republican who focused on preventing violence against women, improving child safety, and supporting first responders, according to his campaign website. If elected, Reichert would be the first Republican governor in Washington since 1985. “It’s been a government that’s only represented one side,” Reichert said.

Democratic candidate Bob Ferguson started off as a law clerk in Spokane, Washington. He worked as a litigator before earning a seat on the King County Council in 2003. In 2012, Ferguson’s career took off when he was elected Attorney General of Washington. As Attorney general, Ferguson prioritized “protecting the people of Washington against powerful interests that don’t play by the rules,” as written in his Attorney General biography. The Messenger reached out to the Ferguson campaign for an interview but did not receive a response.

Both Ferguson and Reichert had much to say regarding the state’s education policies. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Ferguson commented that the state is failing to meet its obligation on education funding. “There’s been a backsliding on the investment for [students] and the challenge is … the needs are only increasing,” Ferguson said. Special education and the construction of new schools both require funding, yet many financial limitations make it difficult to meet these demands. Ferguson seeks to address this as governor by proposing and writing new budgets. He wants to work with the legislature to ensure these policies are put in place. 

Reichert believes that the state education system is flawed because of other factors; he credits a lot of the state’s problems in education to a mismanagement of funding. “If you look at some recent news stories… 1 billion dollars in COVID money from the federal government has been misplaced in the state government,” Reichert said. Reichert believes that if the money weren’t misplaced much of it could have been used to uplift state education. As governor, Reichert seeks to “[look] at where the funding would come from,” and to “[work] with individual communities and superintendents on a statewide standard…making that a community effort.”