Is Dave Reichert getting ready to run for governor in 2024? It sure looks that way

For­mer Unit­ed States Rep­re­sen­ta­tive and King Coun­ty Sher­iff Dave Reichert, a Repub­li­can, appears to be on the verge of join­ing the increas­ing­ly crowd­ed field of can­di­dates run­ning for Gov­er­nor of Wash­ing­ton State next year, if recent state­ments from Repub­li­can state leg­is­la­tors are any indication.

We don’t pub­lish much in the way of rumors, spec­u­la­tion, or gos­sip here on The Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate — it’s just not our thing. But our team has noticed that an increas­ing num­ber of Repub­li­can leg­is­la­tors and oth­er promi­nent local Repub­li­can elect­ed offi­cials are pub­licly stat­ing on Twit­ter that they’ve had great con­ver­sa­tions with Reichert and will glad­ly be sup­port­ing him if he runs for gov­er­nor, which seem to be part of a coor­di­nat­ed ramp-up for Reichert.

That sug­gests an announce­ment is immi­nent. Reichert is run­ning.

Reichert, sev­en­ty-two, was the King Coun­ty Sher­iff for many years before seek­ing high­er office. He served sev­er­al terms in Con­gress rep­re­sent­ing the 8th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict. He won the Repub­li­can nom­i­na­tion for Con­gress in 2004, defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­nent Dave Ross in the gen­er­al elec­tion, and took over for long­time rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jen­nifer Dunn in Jan­u­ary 2005.

A few weeks lat­er, Reichert held a “town hall” in Belle­vue, which fea­tured rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the Wash­ing­ton Pol­i­cy Cen­ter and the Bush admin­is­tra­tion try­ing to sell the pri­va­ti­za­tion of Social Secu­ri­ty to East­side vot­ers. We report­ed on the event here on the Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate; the post is still avail­able from our archives. Reichert, who appeared vis­i­bly uncom­fort­able through­out that event, nev­er held anoth­er in-per­son town hall dur­ing the rest of his time in Congress.

He did man­age to pre­vail over Demo­c­ra­t­ic chal­lengers Dar­cy Burn­er and Suzan Del­Bene to secure reelec­tion in 2006, 2008, and 2010, after which point Democ­rats basi­cal­ly gave up on try­ing to unseat him.

Reichert opt­ed to leave Con­gress after Don­ald Trump got installed in the White House by the Elec­toral Col­lege, and Democ­rats prompt­ly mount­ed a huge effort to take the 8th (a sub­ur­ban-exur­ban-rur­al dis­trict), which was successful.

Reichert’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic suc­ces­sor Kim Schri­er has, like Reichert, been able to beat back repeat­ed chal­lenges from the oppo­si­tion, and con­tin­ues to hold the seat.

Reichert pri­vate­ly and pub­licly con­tem­plat­ed run­ning against Jay Inslee for gov­er­nor in 2016 and 2020, but he decid­ed against it each time.

In 2016, he said: “Like so many of you, I have been extreme­ly dis­ap­point­ed in the deci­sions com­ing out of the Governor’s Office — regard­ing our schools, the health of our chil­dren, and most recent­ly a deci­sion to give the Green Riv­er ser­i­al killer a chance to enjoy life in a nicer prison. We deserve better.”

“Yet, I believe I can bet­ter serve you now, today, in anoth­er Wash­ing­ton where politi­cians are more inter­est­ed in fight­ing each oth­er than fight­ing for Amer­i­ca; where lead­er­ship has been in retreat, and courage has been on recess.”

In 2020, he said: “I am hon­ored and hum­bled to have recent­ly been asked to con­sid­er run­ning for Gov­er­nor in 2020. After much thought­ful prayer and dis­cus­sion with fam­i­ly and friends, I have decid­ed not to run.”

Now, how­ev­er, with Jay Inslee retir­ing and the state’s top job open for the first time in twelve years, Reichert seems to be in and ready to run.

Con­sid­er these tweets:

As some may know I was con­sid­er­ing a run for Gov- I recent­ly spoke w/ Dave Reichert and he is active­ly explor­ing a run. With that in mind I am ful­ly endors­ing him as he is the right per­son for the job. Dave can restore bal­ance to WA!

– Drew MacEwen, Repub­li­can state sen­a­tor from the 35th Leg­isla­tive District

I had a great con­ver­sa­tion with Dave Reichert about his vision for WA. He is solu­tions focused, proven leader, & will deliv­er the bal­ance we need after gen­er­a­tions of 1‑party rule. When Dave Reichert announces his 2024 Guber­na­to­r­i­al cam­paign, he’ll have my sup­port & endorsement.

– Peter Abbarno, Repub­li­can state rep­re­sen­ta­tive from the 20th Leg­isla­tive District

Spoke with Dave Reichert today, and we had a great con­ver­sa­tion about his vision for WA. Our state is in cri­sis, and we need an expe­ri­enced leader to bring much need­ed bal­ance back to our great state. When he announces his run for Gov­er­nor, he will have my support!

– Travis Cou­ture, Repub­li­can state rep­re­sen­ta­tive from the 35th Leg­isla­tive District

I had a great chat with Dave Reichert today. If he choos­es to run, it would be my hon­or to sup­port him for the job of gov­er­nor of Wash­ing­ton. ‘The right per­son at the right time for Wash­ing­ton state.

– Cyn­dy Jacob­son, Repub­li­can state rep­re­sen­ta­tive from the 25th Leg­isla­tive District

Crime Fight­er. Air Force Vet­er­an. Fis­cal con­ser­v­a­tive. Fam­i­ly man. That’s Dave Reichert & I hope he runs for Gov­er­nor. We need a leader who is expe­ri­enced, firm, and fair-mind­ed. He’s been King Co Sher­iff, an effec­tive leader in Con­gress, & he’s tough enough to lead our state!

– Bruce Dammeier, Repub­li­can Pierce Coun­ty Executive

That last one is par­tic­u­lar­ly notable — it’s from Bruce Dammeier, the exec­u­tive of the sec­ond largest coun­ty in Wash­ing­ton State, and a for­mer state leg­is­la­tor rather than a cur­rent­ly-serv­ing one. Dammeier was part of the hypo­thet­i­cal field of guber­na­to­r­i­al can­di­dates that we test­ed in our March 2023 statewide poll along with Attor­ney Gen­er­al Bob Fer­gu­son, Com­mis­sion­er of Pub­lic Lands Hilary Franz, and King Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Dow Constantine.

After the results were released, Dammeier reit­er­at­ed he would not be run­ning for gov­er­nor. (He had said so before, but we want­ed a cred­i­ble Repub­li­can to put up in the sur­vey along with the three Demo­c­ra­t­ic pos­si­bil­i­ties, and chose him.) Con­stan­tine fol­lowed suit with­in hours, say­ing he would­n’t run either.

Weeks lat­er, Gov­er­nor Inslee announced his retire­ment. Attor­ney Gen­er­al Bob Fer­gu­son prompt­ly launched a guber­na­to­r­i­al cam­paign and Hilary Franz did like­wise sev­er­al days lat­er. Demo­c­ra­t­ic State Sen­a­tor Mark Mul­let has since jumped in too, along with Yaki­ma physi­cian Raul Garcia.

Those four plus ultra MAGA con­tender Semi Bird met the cri­te­ria we estab­lished for inclu­sion in our June 2023 statewide guber­na­to­r­i­al poll ques­tion. As an unde­clared can­di­date, Reichert did not meet our cri­te­ria. How­ev­er, if he enters the con­test, he will be includ­ed in our next sea­son­al statewide survey.

A Reichert can­di­da­cy would real­ly shake up the cur­rent guber­na­to­r­i­al field. Reichert is well known and would be very well posi­tioned to secure one of those top two spots next year along with Demo­c­ra­t­ic Attor­ney Gen­er­al Bob Fer­gu­son, who cur­rent­ly leads the field accord­ing to our June elec­toral research.

While a Reichert can­di­da­cy prob­a­bly would­n’t faze Fer­gu­son’s cam­paign, it seems like it would be a huge, show­stop­ping prob­lem for the oth­er high­er-pro­file guber­na­to­r­i­al hope­fuls — Franz, Mul­let, Gar­cia, and Bird, all of whom are hop­ing to get through to the gen­er­al elec­tion along with Ferguson.

Mul­let, in par­tic­u­lar, is bet­ting that he can win with a coali­tion of Demo­c­ra­t­ic, inde­pen­dent, and Repub­li­can vot­ers as an alter­na­tive to Fer­gu­son. But that plan will only work if Mul­let can get through the Top Two election.

Raul Gar­cia is in a sim­i­lar predicament.

If Reichert does­n’t run, Gar­cia stands a decent chance of unit­ing enough Repub­li­can vot­ers behind his can­di­da­cy (and per­haps also attract­ing some inde­pen­dents) to get through to the gen­er­al elec­tion. Gar­cia came in sec­ond in our poll ear­li­er this month and has had a good start to his 2024 bid.

On the oth­er hand, if Reichert gets in, he’s the instant Repub­li­can fron­trun­ner in the eyes of a lot of Wash­ing­to­ni­ans. He will have lit­tle dif­fi­cul­ty rais­ing mon­ey or col­lect­ing endorse­ments. Plen­ty of Repub­li­cans hun­gry for a break­through in Wash­ing­ton will see him as their best chance in a long time to win the gov­er­nor’s office, which they last man­aged to do in 1980 with John Spellman.

Even if he locks down one of the top two spots and gets to the gen­er­al elec­tion,. how­ev­er, Reichert will almost cer­tain­ly have to share a tick­et with the likes of Don­ald Trump, Ron DeSan­tis, or anoth­er ultra MAGA Repub­li­can pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee, which will make cam­paign­ing rather dif­fi­cult and uncomfortable.

This is part of what I imag­ine deterred him from run­ning last time around.

It also does­n’t help Reichert’s chances that he is opposed to repro­duc­tive rights. That stance is not a prob­lem as far as Wash­ing­ton State Repub­li­cans are con­cerned, but most Wash­ing­to­ni­ans sup­port abor­tion care and Reichert’s posi­tion will be an anvil around his cam­paign, espe­cial­ly giv­en the Dobbs decision.