Gubernatorial candidates Bob Ferguson and Dave Reichert will face off in two, hour-long debates this month.
Ferguson, the Democratic state attorney general, and Reichert, the Republican former congressman, will meet Sept. 10 in Seattle and then eight days later in Spokane. These will be the first, and possibly only, opportunities for the state’s nearly 5 million voters to see and hear the candidates discuss their policies side by side ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Ferguson, a former member of the King County Council, was first elected attorney general in 2012. He is concluding his third term. Reichert, a former King County sheriff, was elected to Washington’s 8th Congressional District in 2004 and served seven terms.
In the Aug. 6 primary, Ferguson received 44.9% of the vote and Reichert collected 27.5%. There were 28 candidates in the race.
Here is what we know about each upcoming event.
First debate
When:
8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10. It will follow the presidential debate.
Where:
KING 5 studio in Seattle. There will be no audience.
Sponsors:
KING 5 in Seattle, KREM 2 in Spokane, The Seattle Times and El Sol de Yakima.
How to watch:
KING 5 and KREM 2 will televise. All four of the media sponsors, along with the Yakima Herald, will stream it live on their respective websites.
Format:
Both candidates will make opening and closing statements. Several topics will be addressed. Each candidate will get 75 seconds to answer a primary question on a topic. This will be followed by a period of discussion during which answers to questions will be limited to 45 seconds.
Who will ask the questions?:
Jim Brunner of The Seattle Times, Mark Hanrahan of KREM 2 News, and Gloria Ibañez of El Sol de Yakima, will ask questions and KING 5 News anchor Joyce Taylor will serve as moderator.
Second debate
When:
Where:
Fox Theater in Spokane. Attendance is limited to attendees of the Association of Washington Business policy summit.
Sponsors:
Association of Washington Business and Greater Spokane Inc.
How to watch:
KHQ-TV in Spokane will broadcast live and stream at nonstoplocal.com. KOMO News in Seattle will televise live. The debate will air at a later date on TVW and C-SPAN, organizers said.
Format:
Each candidate will have one-minute opening and closing statements. In each round, one candidate will be given 90 seconds to answer a question, their opponent will get one minute to respond and then the first person will have 30 seconds to offer a rebuttal. There also will be an opportunity for Reichert and Ferguson to ask each other one question.
Who will ask the questions?:
KHQ news anchors Sean Owsley and Kalae Chock, and Austin Jenkins, staff writer for Pluribus News and host of TVW’s “Inside Olympia.”
– By Jerry Cornfield
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence.
Reichert has the heavy ball and chain of Trump dragging him down.
Especially given the recent economic analysis by Goldman Sachs that a Trump presidency would cause an economic downturn, while Harris would result in a slight economic upturn. The American public would suffer thousands of dollars more of extra costs under a Trump presidency.
The toxic cancer of MAGA is killing the GOP from the inside out, and candidates like Reichert will never get a fair shot until the GOP cuts the MAGA cancer out for good.
I will watch this debate though. We should talk about ideas to solve the issues in WA, even if Ferguson is already widely expected to win.
Goldman Sachs, hardly nonpartisan, has a long history of supporting Democratic presidential candidates. Before running Hillary Clinton accepted $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. Ferguson is favored to become the governor of Puget Sound, The rest of the state not so much.
Wouldn’t you just know it. More competition for distracting from Public Comment at the similarly scheduled Hearing on RFA next Tuesday. Just for those special times when limiting Joe Schmoe tax payer to 3 min.s of comment just isn’t enough to really control the narrative.
It has been pointed out to me that the City plan for a public hearing on RFA at the same time as the the National and State debates was made long before those debate times were known, so I owe our local officials an apology for suggesting this might be something contrived on their part so consider this my humble apology on that score. I was further informed that the public hearing on RFA isn’t going to be changed because the Mayor has a budget due by Oct. 1st. so the hearing must go on as scheduled. People will have to draw whatever conclusions they want about the wisdom of doing that. Mine is that it isn’t smart from a PR perspective and it will affect the narrative on RFA, but I don’t know everything so maybe I’m wrong about that too. What I do know for sure is we will be asked to vote ourselves lot’s more property taxes to pay for fire service and cover recent extreme deficits in other areas of the budget and I will be a no vote unless I see more efforts to really control costs. If we give up local control of public safety, it should be based on sound judgement as well.
The Reichert Ferg debate is no audience? It says televised. I am recording that one. The Harris Trump debate I am watching. The CC meeting I already know how and why I will vote. And most importantly IT is my 44th Wedding Anniversary. I’m sorry but it will not be televised. It will however to me be the most important event of the evening. I have a wonderful husband.
Think seriously about detaching Reichert from Trump. You can vote for the man, without voting for the group.
Give Reichert a chance.
I’m afraid I have to differ. In the first place, Reichert’s declaring his vote for Trump shines a light on his sympathies; and in the second, no matter how good a politician may be, he will tend to appoint people from his party who will reflect that party’s views. And finally, he will be subject to his party’s pressures.
I don’t dislike Mr. Reichert but I cannot vote for a candidate who supports Trump or who is a member of a party which has gone mad.