(The Center Square) – Washington State Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Bob Ferguson has threatened legal action against two other candidates running for governor who share the same name as him.
Last week two men living in separate parts of the state, both also named Robert Ferguson, filed to run for governor. In response, the attorney general said at a Monday morning press conference that cease and desist letters had been sent to their homes, warning them to withdraw their candidacy by the end of Monday.
“This is not an attack on me,” Ferguson said. “It’s an attack on our election system.”
Also speaking at the press conference was former King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who described the two figures running for governor as “vandalism to the ballot.” Satterberg argued that they run afoul of a state law that makes it a Class B felony if a person files for candidate with a “surname similar to one 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.”
Washington State Republican Party Chair and state Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, wryly noted on X that “Good to see this guy asking local prosecutors to pursue a B felony. For a decade, he’s been ignoring those.”
