While the Legislature froze fundraising for others, Reichert stacked cash

Plus labor wins and losses and some recommended reading

Former Congressman Dave Reichert had a big fundraising month for his bid for governor. The Republican pulled in more than $450,000 in February while two of his Democratic rivals were barred from raising cash because the Legislature was in session. 

That brings him to roughly $2 million raised thus far. He still trails Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The presumptive Democratic front-runner has raised $5.6M thus far and has more than $4M in hand. However, Reichert’s monthly total is more than Republican rival Semi Bird’s total for the entire campaign thus far.   

Here’s why you should care about this: Reichert still trails the historical benchmark for GOP gubernatorial hopefuls. Then-Attorney General Rob McKenna had raised about $4M by this point in 2012. He went on to outraise Democrat Jay Inslee, pulling in more than $13M. Inslee won that election by about 94,000 votes. 

Former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert prepares for a TV interview earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of the Reichert campaign.)