Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) has opened a wide lead over ex-U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R) in the race for governor, according to two new surveys.
An Elway Poll conducted for Cascade PBS shows Ferguson leading Reichert 51%-37%. Ferguson has built a huge lead in liberal Seattle, and smaller but significant leads in Western Washington and in parts of King County outside Seattle.
Reichert holds a lead only in Eastern Washington, the more conservative but less populated region of the state.
A separate poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the Seattle Times, KING 5 Television and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public shows Ferguson ahead 50%-34%.
That poll shows Ferguson and Reichert virtually tied among independent voters, and Ferguson leading among all racial and age cohorts. Ferguson leads Reichert by 10 points among men and by 21 points among women.
Ferguson, a three-term attorney general, would be the sixth consecutive Democrat to win the governorship in Washington, the longest Democratic winning streak of any state in the nation. Washington last elected a Republican governor in 1980, when John Spellman (R) won a single term in office.
Reichert, a traditional Republican who represented a swing district in King County for seven terms after a career in law enforcement, represented the best possible candidate for his party.
But the polls suggest Washington’s electorate is too Democratic for a Republican to overcome in a presidential election year — both surveys showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump by huge margins. The Elway survey showed Harris leading Trump by a 57%-32% advantage.