Let’s chat about the highlights! by Ashley Nerbovig Former Republican US Congressman Dave Reichert let his GOP freak flag fly Wednesday during his second gubernatorial debate with Democratic Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The Association of Washington Business hosted the debate in Spokane, and with what sounded like a fairly conservative audience egging him on, Reichert advocated for school vouchers, attacked Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, and said he believed “marriage is between a man and a woman.” As Reichert emphasized his conservatism, he tried his best to paint Ferguson as someone who’d raise taxes, install property thieves as mayors or whatever, and scare away businesses. But Ferguson stayed cool, parrying away most of Reichert’s attacks while calmly hammering home the fact that the Republican former sheriff holds anti-abortion, homophobic views.  Let’s chat about the highlights! Personal beliefs as defense: Late into the debate, the moderators asked about DEI programs, giving Reichert the opportunity for an aw shucks moment, where he called America the land of opportunity and said the country doesn’t need a curriculum to teach people to respect each other regardless of race, religion, or creed. Ferguson shot back and referenced a series of transphobic and homophobic statements Reichert made earlier this year to a group of Pierce County Republicans. Onstage, Reichert reiterated his personal belief in the notion that marriage is “between a man and a woman” but argued that he wouldn’t foist that deeply held belief onto Washingtonians. For Reichert to act as if his opposition to marriage equality exists in the vacuum of his own religious practices ignores the fact that his statement comes from the very political anti-gay marriage movement. Reichert tried his best to pivot the conversation to anti-semitism, but he ran out of time.  Reichert oblivious to his own backwardness: Ferguson managed to expose Reichert’s transphobic beliefs as well, though he seemed uninterested in pouncing on them. He once again resurfaced the moment–captured on audio–when Reichert told a group of Republicans that his ascension to the Governor’s House would allow him to “unravel” affordable abortion services.  During the debate, Reichert argued that Ferguson had taken those comments out of context, explaining that he only wanted to unravel allowances for transgender women participating in women’s sports. He also referred to “men” in women’s bathrooms, another transphobic attack on transgender women using women’s bathrooms. Soooo, Reichert seemed to think that he could wiggle out of an attack on women’s rights by attacking other women’s rights.  He then circled back to the topic of abortion and said straight to the camera, “I will protect your rights, ladies.” (The last time a man told me something like that, he was trying to sell me on the concept of living a trad wife lifestyle.) Anyway, in his rebuttal, Ferguson continued to hammer on Reichert as an anti-abortion nut, but he failed to address the transphobic remarks. Reichert on the offense: Ferguson spent the night focused on abortion and homophobia, while Reichert focused on trying to bully Ferguson into saying something dumb on crime. Over and over, Reichert tried to tie Ferguson to issues of social disorder, such as public drug use and homelessness.  When moderators gave the candidates a chance to pose a question to one another, Reichert used the opportunity to give an inflammatory speech. He knocked Ferguson for supporting drug decriminalization after the State Supreme Court’s Blake decision, which, he argued, led to overdoses, “skyrocketing” crimes (which actually dropped between 2022 and 2023), and murders “doubling” (when adjusted for population, the 2022 murder rate remains lower than in 1994, and the homicide rate also dropped in 2023). Reichert then pointedly asked Ferguson, “Who’s to blame?”  Ferguson could have pointed out that the Attorney General’s office has very little to do with street-level crime, and that the fentanyl crisis had already started to surge in 2020, and that Washington’s fentanyl overdose rate matched national trends. But instead he answered by flexing that prosecutors across Washington support him, and that they reach out to his office for help when prosecuting difficult cases because they trust his office “to hold folks accountable and stand up for victims.” Reichert spent the rest of the night repeating the question, “Are you responsible,” and occasionally peppered it in as a non sequitur. Ferguson never took the bait. Dog-whistle translation: As Reichert tried to goad Ferguson into making a gaffe, Ferguson quietly and calmly exposed Reichert’s conservative beliefs. On the topic of the need for more education funding, Reichert began his answer by outlining a plan to use surplus money in the state budget to start funding additional head start and trade programs. He also touched on a couple Republican talking points about government waste and cutting funding to unnecessary programs. Then, he shifted to talking about the need for choice in schools. Ferguson pounced on that, emphasizing the fact that Reichert’s support for “choice” really means support for school vouchers, which would take public dollars and send them to private schools, making the state’s education funding problem much worse. Ferguson stressed that the percentage of the state budget going to education has actually shrunk in recent years, and he plans to change that once in office. A sweeter, softer Ferguson: Compared to the last debate, Reichert seemed more animated and prepared for attacks on Ferguson. When Ferguson referenced a comment Reichert had made about sending the homeless to McNeil Island, a place where the state civilly commits some sexual offenders for treatment after they finish they’re prison sentences, Reichert retorted by claiming that Ferguson’s office had released dozens of sexual offenders, some of whom went on to reoffend. (Of the 179 people released from McNeil Island since the program began in 1990, only 13 committed a new sexual offense after release.) Ferguson, though, simply restated the fact that his office sends people to McNeil Island but does not control their release–that’s up to the courts. Reichert interrupted Ferguson during his answer, at which point Ferguson turned to Reichert and addressed him directly, speaking almost slowly and making the grinning Reichert look a little dumb. Ultimately, Ferguson came across as a more likable candidate than he did during the first debate. At one point, he immediately apologized to the moderator after he went overtime, and he even approached Reichert to shake his hand after the debate.  Overall, Ferguson performed well, especially compared to Reichert, who seemed to bluster a lot and at times almost seemed unsure about which point he wanted to make. Most of the night, Ferguson just stepped back and let Reichert dig himself into a hole with his conservative values and his meandering arguments.