Ferguson, Reichert spend heavily ahead of primary

Plus money updates in Insurance Commissioner and Lands Commissioner races, and a surprise endorsement for IC

The two leading candidates for governor are spending aggressively ahead of next month’s primary, even though both figure to get through the first round of this year’s election with relative ease. 

Attorney General Bob Ferguson spent $3.1 million between June 1 and July 15, per his 21-day pre-primary filing with the Public Disclosure Commission. That’s a sizable chunk of the Democrat’s contest-leading war chest. He has raised nearly $8.4 million overall and had almost $2.6 million in hand. 

Republican Dave Reichert reported spending $1.1 million during the same period. The former congressman and King County Sheriff has pulled in more than $4 million but had just $821K in the bank. Reichert’s “burn rate,” the amount of money he spends to raise money, has been high throughout his campaign as some big-money Republican donors have taken a wait-and-see approach with Reichert. For comparison purposes, the last legit GOP gubernatorial hopeful, then-Attorney General Rob McKenna, had raised more than $6.8M by this point in the 2012 campaign.

Meanwhile, the Washington State Democratic Party plowed more than $300K into the race, including this mailer highlighting Reichert's voting record on abortion rights when he was in Congress: