Two days after the general election, a Democratic member of our state’s congressional delegation publicly offered this advice to Washington’s governor-elect Bob Ferguson:
“If you want to stand up to Trump,” he said during a television interview, “I suggest you don’t ever mention him. I suggest you govern well. We have many challenges … crime, homelessness, drug abuse, just inefficient and ineffective government in too many places.
“If we want to offer an alternative to Trump, then offer an alternative. Govern. Deal with the challenges we face.”
U.S. Rep. Adam Smith’s suggestion didn’t end there. “Let’s stop with the ‘…I’m going to stop Trump,’” he added. “Great. OK. What you are you doing for the state of Washington?”
That same day, Ferguson did the opposite of what Congressman Smith recommended.
For the past year, he told reporters, he had been preparing for the possibility that former President Trump would become President-elect Trump.
His comments led to headlines like this: “Ferguson and other WA Democrats prepare for new era of showdowns with Trump.”
While Senate Republicans care who occupies the White House, it doesn’t change our policy priorities.
We remain focused on making our communities safer, lowering the cost of living in Washington and improving the lives of our children.
Those continue to be the issues that concern people across our state the most. How they are addressed depends far more on state policymakers than actions taken in Washington, D.C. That would be true no matter which political party was in charge in our nation’s capital.
To be optimistic, there is some overlap between Republican priorities and proposals and the claims Ferguson made as a candidate.
Take what the “defund the police” extremists did to reduce public safety. Gov. Jay Inslee did nothing, year after year, to support the bipartisan plan we offered to help cities and counties rebuild their decimated law-enforcement agencies.
As a candidate, Ferguson publicly supported our legislation’s goal of hiring more officers. If he is true to his word, he will have the opportunity as governor to work with Republicans when we reintroduce our pro-police proposal for consideration during the 2025 legislative session.
It’s harder to tell where Ferguson stands on the issue of affordability. As a candidate he acknowledged the high costs of living in our state but did not support any of the cost-saving voter initiatives on the ballot.
Ferguson also has been silent about taxes, which is especially relevant now that state government may face a multibillion-dollar budget deficit in a matter of months.
He was smart enough to avoid making a no-new-taxes campaign pledge, only to trash it after being elected, as Inslee had done in 2012.
Still, while tax increases are the last resort for Republicans when a budget needs balancing, they are typically the first place Democrats go.
The budget trouble on the horizon is the result of Democratic spending decisions, not a lack of revenue. Taxpayers have provided more than enough dollars to fund essential state services and programs. Many are struggling and don’t deserve to be tapped for more.
Candidate Ferguson made a point of mentioning how, during his county council days, he pushed for the purchase of used furniture to save money. That isn’t going to cut it now.
Way back in 2003, a Democratic governor and a Republican-led Senate used a priorities-of-government approach to produce a no-new-taxes solution to a state budget shortfall.
For the good of Washington’s families and employers, today’s Senate Republicans will be ready to jump in and work with Ferguson on the same kind of prioritizing.
That brings me to the issues that affect our children — starting with support for K-12 education, which is the state government’s top priority.
Like many candidates, Ferguson says our schools are underfunded. Yet he seems unaware that the proportion of spending on K-12 has sunk to approximately 43% in recent years, under Democrat control.
When Republicans led the Senate in 2017, more than 50% of the operating budget went to K-12, as was appropriate for the paramount duty of government.
When school districts complain they aren’t getting enough money from the state, Democratic legislators inevitably respond with talk of tax increases.
Should that happen in 2025, Ferguson can remind them that raising taxes to support schools is not justified, for a very simple reason: Providing for education is our first responsibility, and as such, existing tax revenue should go to education first, ahead of all else.
When legislators are unable to use education as an excuse for tax increases, the real question becomes apparent — whether hard-working Washingtonians should be taxed more to fund lower-priority spending requests.
Also, Ferguson’s campaign website is silent about the falling test scores and other signs that countless public-school students have experienced post-pandemic learning loss.
Republicans have proposed the use of intensive tutoring and other tools to help get students caught up, but Democrats have had other priorities, unfortunately.
The governor-elect is clearly proud of how, as attorney general, he faced off against the first Trump administration. But that was then, as the saying goes.
The public safety, budget and education challenges facing our state are largely the result of decisions made by Democrats at the state level. If Ferguson is serious about addressing them, he’s unlikely to get there by pushing back at the next Trump administration.
One of the newspapers that endorsed Ferguson for governor described him as having two sides: a good side that is “smart, hardworking and fearless,” and another side that “can occasionally appear petty, pushy and overly ambitious.”
People who have been around the Capitol longer than me remember Christine Gregoire, who was elevated from attorney general to the governor’s mansion in 2004, as being smart and hardworking.
Gov. Christine Gregoire was a Democrat, to be sure — and in her first term she relied on the advice of legislative Democrats, which led to a budget that increased spending by over 33%.
After the Great Recession hit, however, she actively reached out to legislative Republicans. That bipartisan approach led to a much better budget outcome for the state and its taxpayers.
In contrast, Jay Inslee came to Olympia from Washington, D.C. It showed in his hyper-partisan, heavy-handed approach to governing.
The description of Ferguson as sometimes seeming petty and pushy would apply to much of Inslee’s time in office. That was especially true after one-party rule returned to the Capitol in 2018, and it got worse during the pandemic.
Obviously, time will tell whether Ferguson governs more like Gregoire’s second term or whether he is basically a more cerebral version of Inslee.
The people will get a clearer sense about the incoming governor when he submits his first budget proposal to the Legislature.
Democrats are fond of claiming a budget is a statement of values. Ferguson’s spending choices, and how he would go about funding them, will show whether he places more value on catering to the 12 counties that preferred him, or being a governor for Washingtonians in all 39 counties.
In the meantime, it would be helpful if Ferguson took Congressman Smith’s advice and stopped focusing on the next Trump administration, in favor of dealing with the challenges here at home.
Our state could really use a long break from the bitter partisanship that emanated from the governor’s mansion under Inslee. Ferguson can help turn that page.
Rather than prepare for more bickering with the incoming president, Ferguson should get ready to push back against the special interests working to move our state further in the wrong direction on public safety, affordability and the issues that affect our children.
Those are the showdowns worth having.
Republicans will be ready with policy solutions. We will welcome the new governor and our Democratic colleagues to join us.
That’s how we make Washington better for everyone.
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Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.
