The state’s longtime attorney general is now the lone Bob Ferguson in the race for governor after two people with the same name withdrew from the race Monday.
The state’s candidate filing week ended in chaos — and more than a few jokes on social media — on Friday when the field of candidates for governor increased by two more Bob Fergusons.
Their entrance into the race, orchestrated by conservative activist Glen Morgan, had raised legal and logistical questions, but the drama subsided 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 had urged the two to pull out by a 5 p.m. deadline for candidates to withdraw, or else risk felony charges. Flanked by supporters at Kerry Park in Queen Anne in the morning, Ferguson said his campaign had sent cease-and-desist letters to the other Bob Fergusons over the weekend.
State statute says that it is a felony for a person to file for an election with a surname similar to a person who has already filed for the same office “and whose political reputation is widely known, with intent to confuse and mislead the electors by capitalizing on the public reputation of the candidate who had previously filed.”
A statement posted on the website Neighbors for Bob Ferguson PAC, attributed to Robert Ferguson, an Army veteran in Graham, said the candidate was “faced with harassment and legal action if I did not withdraw from the race.”
“I was publicly labeled a ‘threat to democracy’ by another candidate and his supporters,” the Monday statement said. “In a typical hypocritical fashion, this other candidate’s actions are the true threat to democracy. I believe this shows that the other candidate fears he has not effectively done enough to stand out, or that he thinks voters are not competent enough to think for themselves.”
The statement went on to say it was unfair to his family and supporters to deal with “bullish behavior by someone that is too afraid to stand toe-to-toe with me.”
The second Bob Ferguson, a retired state employee from Yakima, withdrew later on Monday. In a statement to The Seattle Times, he said his “dream” had been “destroyed.”
“I had a political platform and policy positions that would have given Democrats a better choice than our state’s lawless AG could ever provide,” he said. “I’m sorry I’ve been illegally denied this opportunity to live my dream and share these with the public, but I’m retired, widowed and need to pay my rent. There was no way I could afford the legal costs necessary to defeat the massive threatening power of the state, the billionaires or the other rich elite who clearly enjoy hurting us.”
Morgan told The Times on Friday that the Bobs had wanted to “clear their name.”
Ferguson — the attorney general — said Monday that he didn’t want the other two Bobs to be prosecuted and that he held “no ill will” toward them. He said he suspected they did not know the “legal implications” of their actions at the time they filed for election.
“If they do not do the right thing, and they are surely aware of the legal implications, we will have no choice but to take more serious steps and ask local prosecutors to do the right thing and pursue further action,” Ferguson said at the morning news conference.
He described the three-Bobs move as an attack on democracy and the election system. His campaign had planned to ask the secretary of state to include his and the other Fergusons’ occupations on the ballot, that the other Fergusons be referred to as “Robert,” and that it include their middle initial or middle name.
He also said the campaign would have requested for the Fergusons to be listed together on the ballot. The other two Fergusons had been slated to appear second and third, with the attorney general in slot number 13, as determined by a random draw on Friday. With the other Bobs out, the attorney general will appear in slot number 11, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
“Voters deserve good-faith candidates who are running on the strength of their ideas to make Washington a better place to live and work, not people who pay a filing fee just to manipulate elections,” Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in a statement Monday. “Washington’s long history of free and fair elections must be protected and preserved in every year and campaign cycle.”
Altogether there were 30 candidates who had filed to run for governor.
Two of Ferguson’s leading rivals in the Aug. 6 primary, Republican Dave Reichert and Democrat Mark Mullet, criticized the three-Bobs strategy in statements Monday.
“In all nine of my previous campaigns, I have won without any games or antics such as these,” said Reichert, a former congressman and King County sheriff. “I don’t support any effort to deceive the voters of Washington state.”
Mullet, a state senator, agreed the other Fergusons should drop out, calling it an “illegal sideshow” that would confused voters and threaten democracy.
“Bob’s efforts to decriminalize dangerous drugs like fentanyl in the 2021 session is 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 “whining” was disingenuous, saying in a statement posted to X that the attorney general has “personally gone out of his way to infringe upon the constitutional rights of Washington State citizens on a myriad of topics.”
“Bob Ferguson is directly responsible for ‘undermining democracy’ in Washington state and will be held accountable via the vote of citizens who are fed up with career politicians and seek positive change and common sense governance,” he said.
Washington’s primary is Aug. 6. The top two candidates will advance to the general election, regardless of party.