The state’s longtime attorney general is now the only Bob Ferguson in the race for governor, after two people with the same name dropped out of the race on Monday.
The state’s candidate filing week ended in chaos — and with more than a few jokes on social media — on Friday, when the field of candidates for governor increased by two more. Bob Fergusons.
Their entry into the race, orchestrated by conservative activist Glen Morgan, raised legal and logistical questions, but the drama subsided on Monday when the other Bobs dropped out under what they said was pressure from Bob Ferguson, the Democratic front-runner in the race.
The attorney general on Monday urged both men to drop out by the 5pm deadline for candidates to withdraw, or else risk Criminal charges. Flanked by supporters at Kerry Park in Queen Anne in the morning, Ferguson said his campaign sent cease and desist letters to the other Bob Fergusons over the weekend.
State law says it is a crime for a person to run for election with a surname similar to that of a person who has already run for the same office “and whose political reputation is widely known, with the intent to confuse and deceive voters by capitalizing on the reputation public view of the candidate who had already presented himself.”
A statement posted on the Neighbors for Bob Ferguson PAC website, attributed to Robert Ferguson, an Army veteran in Graham, said the candidate “would face harassment and legal action if I did not drop out of the race.”
“I have been publicly labeled a ‘threat to democracy’ by another candidate and his supporters,” Monday’s paper said. statement said. “In typically hypocritical fashion, this other candidate’s actions are the real threat to democracy. I believe this shows that the other candidate fears that he has not done enough to stand out, or that he thinks voters are not competent enough to think for themselves.”
The statement went on to say that it was unfair to his family and supporters to deal with “optimistic behavior from someone who is too afraid to come face to face with me.”
The second Bob Ferguson, a retired public servant from Yakima, withdrew on Monday. In a statement to The Seattle Times, he said his “dream” was “destroyed.”
“I had a policy platform and policy positions that would have given Democrats a better choice than our state’s lawless AG could ever offer,” he said. “I regret that I was illegally denied this opportunity to live my dream and share it with the public, but I am retired, widowed and need to pay my rent. There was no way I could afford the legal costs necessary to defeat the enormous threatening power of the state, billionaires or other wealthy elites who clearly enjoy hurting us.”
Morgan told The Times on Friday that the Bobs wanted to “clear their name.”
Ferguson – the attorney general – said on Monday that he did not want the other two Bobs to be prosecuted and that he had “no ill will” toward them. He said he suspected they were unaware of the “legal implications” of their actions at the time they stood for election.
“If they don’t do the right thing, and they are certainly aware of the legal implications, we will have no choice but to take more serious action and ask local prosecutors to do the right thing and take additional action,” Ferguson said at the morning press conference .
He described the three Bobs movement as an attack on democracy and the electoral system. His campaign planned to ask the secretary of state to include his and the other Fergusons’ occupations on the ballot, for the other Fergusons to be called “Robert” and to include his initial or middle name.
He also said the campaign would have requested that the Fergusons be listed together on the ballot. The other two Fergusons were scheduled to appear in second and third place, with the attorney general in position number 13, as determined by random drawing on Friday. With the other Bobs out, the attorney general will appear in vacancy 11, according to the Secretary of State.
“Voters deserve bona fide candidates who run on their ideas to make Washington a better place to live and work, not people who pay a registration fee just to rig elections,” said Secretary of State Steve Hobbs in a statement on Monday. . “Washington’s long history of free and fair elections must be protected and preserved in every year and campaign cycle.”
In total, 30 candidates ran for governor.
Two of Ferguson’s main rivals in the Aug. 6 primary, Republican Dave Reichert and Democrat Mark Mullet, criticized the three Bobs’ strategy in statements Monday.
“In all of my previous nine campaigns, I won without any games or shenanigans like that,” said Reichert, a former congressman and King County sheriff. “I do not support any effort to mislead Washington state voters.”
Mullet, a state senator, agreed that the other Fergusons should quit, calling it an “illegal spectacle” that would confuse voters and threaten democracy.
“Bob’s efforts to decriminalize dangerous drugs like fentanyl in the 2021 session are the reason we don’t need any shenanigans to beat him in the race,” he said.
However, Semi Bird, a Republican and former Richland School Board member running for governor, said Ferguson’s “whinings” were false, saying in a statement posted on X that the attorney general “has personally endeavored to infringe constitutional rights.” from the citizens of Washington State on a multitude of topics.”
“Bob Ferguson is directly responsible for ‘undermining democracy’ in Washington state and will be held accountable through the vote of citizens who are fed up with career politicians and who seek positive change and common-sense governance,” he said.
The Washington primaries will be on August 6th. The top two candidates will advance to the general election regardless of party.
