(The Center Square) – Washington state gubernatorial candidates Dave Reichert and Bob Ferguson are preparing for their first televised debate on Tuesday.
Reichert, the former Republican congressman and King County Sheriff, and Ferguson, the Democratic three-term state attorney general, will meet in Seattle for a live debate at 8 p.m. on KING 5, following the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
The Center Square reached out to both the Reichert and Ferguson campaigns on Monday, but only received a response from Reichert, who said he expects Ferguson to continue negative attacks that have shown up in campaign ads.
“He’s got a lot more money than we do, so his ads have been out there and his attacks continue,” Reichert said.
“The problem with Bob’s attacks is they are all lies,” he continued. “He says that I want to reduce teacher pay, and that’s not true. It was taken out of context from a discussion of our education budget.”
Reichert said Ferguson can’t stand on his own record.
“The only thing he can do is lie about my positions and spread fear,” Reichert claimed. “He cannot stand on his own record, so what he has to try and do is destroy my character and credibility.”
Political strategist Ron Dotzauer of Strategies 360 told The Center Square Ferguson is the obvious frontrunner, but Reichert is the more likeable candidate.
“Likeability becomes a major factor in debates,” Dotzauer explained. “People are watching and thinking, ‘Is this somebody I’d like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with?’”
Dotzauer’s golden rule in any debate is to not say anything to set the campaign back.
“Do no harm,” he said. “Don’t screw up, and that means no misstatements or factual errors, because debates can’t necessarily help a candidate that much, but it can hurt them.”
Dotzauer worked on the Booth Gardner campaign. Gardner served as governor of Washington from 1985 to 1993.
“Booth Gardner was not a very good debater, so I set up a debate on Halloween night, knowing people weren’t going to be watching,” he said.
As for the gubernatorial debate following the highly anticipated presidential debate?
“I think there will be a hell of a viewership for the presidential debate, but I’m not sure about the gubernatorial debate,” said Dotzauer, who suggested viewers may be glued to commentary following the presidential debate and skip the gubernatorial debate. “If I was Bob Ferguson, I would have picked this time, and if you’re Dave Reichert, you’d probably have a different time because he needs to score some points.”
Reichert said his focus will be on crime, the economy, homelessness and education.
“We have a minute and 15 seconds to answer a question,” he said. “I think we get a 45 second response time.”
The candidates will be standing at podiums and there will be no live audience.
Reichert said he gave Ferguson the choice of going first or second for the opening and closing statements at the debate.
“I always like to test personalities,” he said. “I let him choose, and of course he chose last for both.”
The Center Square reached out to Ferguson’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
Ferguson and Reichert were the top two vote getters in Washington’s Aug. 6 primary election, advancing to the general election.
The candidates will meet again on Sept. 18 in Spokane.
