3 Bob Fergusons file for crowded WA Governor’s race as filing week comes to a close

Friday evening marked the deadline for county, statewide, and federal candidates in Washington state to declare their candidacy for the 2024 elections.

The 5 p.m. cutoff time brought several last-minute candidates vying for some big offices along with some interesting surprises.

As of the deadline, 30 gubernatorial candidates declared their intent to run for the office, including two other candidates named Bob Ferguson. That brings the total to three candidates named Bob Ferguson, including Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who are running for governor. All three are registered as Democrats. The two newest candidates are registered to the same address in Olympia.

According to reporting by King5 news, a spokesperson with the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed that the two other candidates are registered voters with the same name as the state AG.

Derrick Nunnally, deputy director of external affairs for the office, told McClatchy in an email that the SOS has “reached out to all three candidates to ask their occupation to help determine if listing that information on the ballot as authorized by (state law) would alleviate voter confusion.”

AG Ferguson’s campaign told McClatchy that he would address the issue on Monday. The campaign also provided a statement from former Democratic Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, who called the last-minute filing by two unknown candidates an effort to confuse Washington voters.

“It’s nothing less than an attack on our democracy,” Gregoire said in the statement. “Washington voters are smart and will see through this highly deceiving — and potentially illegal — effort to mislead them.”

Glen Morgan, a conservative political activist in Washington state, took credit for the filings in a Facebook post Friday evening.

“Yes, I am the volunteer campaign manager for two of the Bob Fergusons running for Governor,” Morgan wrote. “They are both superior in every way to the AG running for the same office, and I believe they can provide better choices for the Democrats in our state for that office.”

When asked if the move by Morgan was illegal, Nunnally responded by saying “filing papers can be delivered or mailed.”

Washington state law notes that a person can be guilty of a class B felony for filing for public office using “A surname similar to one who has already filed for the same office, and whose political reputation is widely known, with intent to confuse and mislead the electors by capitalizing on the public reputation of the candidate who had previously filed.”

Some statewide offices will be more crowded with candidates than others.

Voters will decide between seven insurance commissioner candidates, seven candidates for the commissioner of public lands seat, five candidates for Lt. Governor, four superintendents of public instruction candidates, four secretary of state candidates, and three candidates for state attorney general.

In addition, 11 candidates have filed to unseat longtime incumbent U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, D-WA, who first assumed office in 2001.

Primaries will be held Aug. 6, and the top two candidates from each race with the most votes will move forward to the Nov. 5 general elections.

Two offices will have only two candidates who will automatically appear on general election ballots: state treasurer and state auditor. Each office will have a Democrat and Republican competing against each other for the office.

More than 1,000 candidates total filed for various Washington state offices.

There were some other election-related surprises this week during a McClatchy interview with Washington State GOP Chairman Jim Walsh.

On April 24, the state GOP donated $20,000 to former House Rep. Jesse Young, a Gig Harbor Republican who was voted out of the 26th Legislative District in 2022. Young filed for office earlier this week to run again as a state House Representative.

It is the largest donation from the organization to a candidate so far during the primary cycle this year, and is “definitely on the larger side” Walsh confirmed with McClatchy Friday. For comparison, the state GOP’s contribution so far to gubernatorial candidate Bird was $5,000. Bird also took home the GOP endorsement in April.

Walsh added that while money from the party isn’t earmarked for specific candidates, the money comes from major contributors in the party who support Young. Walsh said that the GOP has from time to time made larger contributions to candidates, and that he expects and hopes to see more donations of the same scale later.

Walsh said that the donation does not necessarily mean an endorsement, and that the GOP decided not to do legislative endorsements during the convention in April because it made more sense “logistically.”

So far 11 other Republican House lawmakers have endorsed one of Young’s opponents, Jim Henderson, who is also running as a Republican for the position.

Young and Henderson will also face Democrat Adison Richards, a staff attorney for Thurston County Volunteer Legal Services, in the primary.

The full list of candidates for all offices can be found on the Secretary of State website. The website crashed for more than an hour on Friday evening right as the filing deadline hit, but was back online more than an hour later.

Former Thurston Sheriff files for office

Former Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza has announced his bid for a seat in the 2nd legislative district that will be left open by Rep. J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, who first took office in 2011. Wilcox is also the former House Minority Leader, a position he stepped down from last year.

Snaza, a three-term Sheriff, was voted out of office in the 2022 race against Derek Sanders.

Three other candidates have also declared their run for the office.

Matt Marshall is the former president of the Washington Three Percenters, an anti-government extremist group that are part of the militia movement, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Marshall previously tried to run against Wilcox in 2020, but lost in the primary that year.

Two Democrats will also compete for the seat: Yanah G. Cook, a registered lobbyist who previously ran for Pierce County Council, and Michael Holloman, a candidate who is not accepting donations or endorsements according to his website.

Several state lawmakers will run unopposed in their districts

Legislative District 1 – Sen. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell

Legislative District 1, position 2 – Rep. Shelley Kloba, D-Kirkland

Legislative District 2, position 1 – Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia

Legislative District 3, position 2 – Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane

Legislative District 8, position 1 – Stephanie Barnard, R-Pasco

Legislative District 9 – Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville

Legislative District 11 – Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Tukwila

Legislative District 11, position 1 – Rep. David Hackney, D-Seattle

Legislative District 13, position 1 – Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake

Legislative District 13, position 2 – Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy

Legislative District 17, position 1 – Rep. Kevin Waters, R-Stevenson

Legislative District 20 – Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia

Legislative District 20, position 2 – Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama

Legislative District 29, position 2 – Rep. Sharlett Mena, D-Tacoma

Legislative District 35, position 1 – Rep. Dan Griffey, R-Allyn

Legislative District 36, position 1 – Rep. Julia Reed, D-Seattle

Legislative District 37, position 1 – Rep. Sharon Tomiko-Santos, D-Seattle

Legislative District 40, position 1 – Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Anacortes

Legislative District 40, position 2 – Rep. Alex Ramel, D-Bellingham

Legislative District 44, position 1 – Rep. Brandy Donaghy, D-Mill Creek

Legislative District 45, position 1 – Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland

Legislative District 48, position 2 – Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland