DNR chief Hilary Franz will challenge AG Ferguson in 2024 race for WA governor
Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz announced Wednesday that she will run for governor of the state of Washington in the 2024 election.
The gubernatorial run announcement came one week after Gov. Jay Inslee announced that he would not be seeking a fourth term as governor. The announcement also came a week after Attorney General Bob Ferguson said that he would be “exploring a run” for governor in 2024.
“My office has been on the front lines of our changing world. I know what it means to take bold risks to make big progress because there isn’t time to wait,” Franz said in a tweet Wednesday when she made the announcement. “We’re facing many challenges, but we can tackle them, together.”
Franz’s 2024 campaign for public lands commissioner has so far raised more than $300,000, according to the Public Disclosure Commission.
According to reporting by the Seattle Times, the PDC currently allows candidates’ surplus money in lump sums to be transferred to campaigns for different offices. But Franz, unlike Ferguson, has been supportive of the closure of the loophole, which some say allows skirting of the state’s contribution limits.
Franz became commissioner in 2017, the second woman in the state’s history to be elected to the office, and was re-elected in 2020. Prior to that, she served on the Bainbridge City Council for one term after being elected in 2008.
