State Politics Update: Reichert Launches “Sorta” Pro-choice Ad; Inslee Unleashed

Facing an avalanche of independent advertising on his anti-abortion voting record, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert has rolled out an interesting 11th-hour tactic: A sort-of pro-choice ad featuring his sister. 

Here’s the spot: 

Reichert doesn’t exactly embrace abortion rights here, or even stake out much of a position at all in the ad’s vague message, although he’s said in the past that he wouldn’t attack reproductive rights as governor. The thrust is more that he was supportive of his sister’s choice to have an abortion back in the day. 

Abortion rights was always going to be a vulnerability for the former Congressman and King County Sheriff because, despite his support for his sister, his voting record in the U.S. House provided ample fodder for a negative campaign in a blue state. Evergreen Values, a PAC fueled mostly with dark money from the Democratic Governors Association, has overwhelmingly delivered that campaign. The PAC disclosed nearly $1 million in additional spending this week, bringing its total spend against Reichert to more than $7 million.

Reichert’s tactic can be viewed as a 2024 version of Republican Dino Rossi’s attempt to finesse this issue when he ran for governor 20 years ago. Rossi acknowledged that he was personally opposed to abortion, but conceded that abortion rights had been upheld by Washington voters twice and were protected by Roe v. Wade nationally. That almost worked for him back in the day but looks less effective in light of the Big Supremes’ decision to toss Roe v. Wade two years ago, which turned the issue into a potent political weapon here.  

As we’ve noted before, Reichert and his allies are being brutally outspent by Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson and allied groups, which is making it difficult for him to advance any message.

The new ad ran during Tuesday evening’s broadcast of NBC’s “The Voice.” Viewers also saw multiple showings of Evergreen Values’ spot and ads from Ferguson’s campaign that paint Reichert as a toady to Donald Trump. Four recent public polls show Reichert trailing Ferguson by double digits. 

Inslee’s closing campaign

If you perused Gov. Jay Inlsee’s calendar for early October, as we often do, you might be forgiven for concluding that he was running for a fourth term instead of gliding toward whatever his next act turns out to be. 

His official schedule is chockablock with “personal time” events, which are code for politics rather than governance. He’s campaigning hard against Initiative 2117, which would repeal the Climate Commitment Act. 

That’s to be expected, the cap-and-trade system for major carbon emitters and the billions of dollars it pours into clean energy and green transportation is the landmark achievement of Inslee’s tenure as governor on the signature issue of his political career—climate change. It would be a bitter pill indeed to have it yanked away in the closing weeks of his governorship. 

Inslee’s schedule includes regular blocks of time with his fundraising consultant, Tracy Newman, which likely means he’s shaking down big donors for No on 2117, which has raised an eye-popping $16 million to fight the ballot measure. He also spent the last two weeks helping to launch the final field campaign against the initiative. 

Inslee headlined events in Bellingham, Everett, Olympia, Vancouver, Spokane, and Yakima. There was a definite craft-beer theme in those events, which included stops at Aslan Brewing in Bellingham, Loowit Brewing in Vancouver, and Whistle Punk Brewing in Spokane. We’re told this was coincidental, but the campaign also rolled out a list of 52 beer-makers around the state as part of its coalition to defend the CCA. The beer cognoscenti will find the list interesting. Some notable brands are missing from the collection of logos, perhaps because Big Beer has bought up many of the larger craft breweries in recent years. 

This article first appeared in the author’s political website, The Washington Observer.