OLYMPIA, Wash. – Attorney General Bob Ferguson his election race against Republican Dave Reichert Tuesday night, ensuring Democratic control of the executive branch in Washington for another four years.
Ferguson and Reichert’s campaign centered on two major issues; and Ultimately, voters favored the
Ferguson is a Washington native with roots in Seattle, where he attended a private Catholic high school before studying political science at University of Washington and obtaining his law degree at New York University School of Law. He also served for a year in the Northwest Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
He started his legal career in Spokane clerking for Judge W. Fremming Nielsen. After a few years of federal clerking in offices around the US, he landed in Seattle at K&L Gates, a private law firm representing global corporate interests.
In 2003 he won a seat on King County Council, where he focused on land use and housing issues. After winning reelection twice, he launched a campaign for attorney general.
The 2012 campaign for attorney general pitted him against fellow King County Council member Reagan Dunn (R). Ferguson won the race, ending six years of Republican control of the AG’s office.
His decade-long tenure as attorney general was marked by significant legal and social developments across the Evergreen State in addition to broader national upheavals.
In the early years in office, his office worked alongside the Obama Administration in implementing environmental protections and immigration reform efforts.
When Donald Trump assumed the presidency in 2016, Ferguson joined a cohort of Democratic attorneys general who combated the administration’s priorities, from a Muslim-majority nation immigration ban to a ban on transgender US service members.
Under Ferguson’s leadership, the attorney general’s office expanded into a large operation with a boosted consumer protection division and antitrust focus. He is currently arguing that the consolidation of grocery chains in Washington is anti-competitive and bad for consumers.
Now that Ferguson is headed to the governor’s office, Jay Inslee will return to private life after ten years as the head of the state’s executive branch. His years in office were marked by a focus on .
The governor captured national attention in 2020 when Under his leadership, the legislature passed the in 2021, putting the state on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050.
As Ferguson prepares to become governor, it’s unclear whether he will similarly prioritize a main policy issue. However, his election does ensure that Inslee’s environmental legacy will have the gubernatorial protection of a fellow Democrat.
