By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The traditionally anti-gun Seattle Times has endorsed Democrat Attorney General Bob Ferguson for governor in what political commentators, grassroots Second Amendment activists and every conservative voter in Washington state consider the biggest non-surprise of the campaign.
Ferguson has been attorney general for the past almost 12 years. He lobbied hard for, and finally got, bans on so-called “assault weapons” and “large capacity magazines.” He has been closely allied with the billionaire-backed Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the Seattle-based gun prohibition lobbying group.
Since 2012, when Ferguson was first elected to office, according to data from the FBI and Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC), the number of statewide homicides went up more than 100 percent (194 in 2012 to 394 in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available).
In Seattle, Ferguson’s hometown, the number of murders has gone up from 24 in 2012 to 73 in 2023, an increase of just over 300 percent.
In its editorial, the Times pointed to a “failing” education system, over-budget transportation projects, and “community safety metastasizing into outright fear” while carefully omitting the fact that all of these woes developed while Democrats have been in control of the Legislature and the governor’s office, and Ferguson has been part of the power structure in Olympia, the state’s capital.
The endorsement editorial also included this caveat: “The good Bob Ferguson is smart, hardworking and fearless. The other Bob Ferguson can occasionally appear petty, pushy and overly ambitious.”
Ferguson critics are jumping on the endorsement. Podcaster and former broadcast journalist Brandi Kruse, host of (un)Divided, quickly reacted. She said Seattle media must ask Ferguson 15 questions “before ballots go out.”
Ferguson’s most prominent opponent is Republican Dave Reichert, former seven-term congressman and former King County sheriff. Reichert is seen by man as the candidate who can dislodge Democrats from control in the state capitol.
The Seattle Times has traditionally backed gun control legislation. In an editorial earlier this year, the newspaper encouraged the state to continue defending restrictive gun control. In another editorial, the newspaper supported passage of two more gun control measures.
