If you want to learn more about Gov. Bob Ferguson’s term so far and hear from lawmakers, a pollster and journalists about how he’s doing, listen to Northwest Reports’ newest series “Ferguson vs. Everyone,” which premiered Wednesday.
Nearly everyone had an expectation of who Bob Ferguson might be as Washington’s 24th governor.
The “American Heartthrob” who gained national recognition during his many fights against the first Trump administration. The statewide elected official who some say spent too much time and money worrying about the politics of Washington, D.C. The chess champion always thinking four moves ahead. The former King County Councilmember known for bipartisanship and a desire to reform government.
But throughout his first few months on the job, Ferguson the governor didn’t seem to align with these previous iterations. Instead, lawmakers and voters alike expressed surprise, confusion and sometimes disappointment about the public servant they thought they knew.
A recent Cascade PBS/Elway poll found Ferguson had the worst first approval rating of any Washington governor in more than 30 years. Only 32% of Washington voters rated Ferguson’s first six months as “excellent” or “good” – though they cited a variety of reasons for their low marks.
Some had hoped Ferguson would approve more taxes on the very wealthy; others were disappointed he had not been more cautious about signing off on new revenue streams. Still others wanted him to do more to stand up to the second Trump administration, or said he had focused too much on federal challenges. He was too moderate for some Washingtonians, and too progressive for others.
“It’s a curse of trying to be in the middle,” said Seattle pollster Stuart Elway of these warring expectations. “You get hit from trucks going both ways.”
Ferguson’s politics weren’t the only surprise to those paying attention. In his first few months in office, he lost two legislative advisors and his top aide over allegations of a hostile work environment. Just last month, yet another top policy advisor began an extended personal leave.
Ferguson also received criticism for not being available to the press: He did not hold weekly general press conferences his first few months as governor like past governors did. (Ferguson’s office did not respond to multiple requests to be interviewed for this story.)
As his tenure continues, he’s become known for keeping his cards close to his chest, leaving even lawmakers guessing as to his opinions on controversial policies. In the final quarter of his inaugural year as governor, no one seems to know what’s next.
Here to reform
The first of many surprises from the new administration came minutes after Ferguson was sworn in.
In a packed House of Representatives chamber, the new state executive gave his first speech.
For 30 minutes, he expressed a promise to eliminate as much bureaucracy as possible and remain fiscally responsible in crafting a budget. He threatened to veto policies that would require spending more than four years into the future.
Ferguson emphasized bipartisanship, noting his support for several policies backed by conservative lawmakers, like increasing the state’s law enforcement funding and limiting the executive branch’s emergency powers.
In the chamber, Republican lawmakers cheered, repeatedly standing in support of policies they had pushed for years. Democrats were less enthusiastic, applauding at times but also responding with evident confusion and skepticism.
Ferguson’s first speech wasn’t what anyone had expected from the state’s first new governor in 12 years, and it set the tone for the challenging legislative session to follow, as the new executive struggled to win over Democrats, Republicans, activists, voters and even some of his own staff.
In that first address to the Legislature and to the public, Ferguson made his mission clear: “I’m not here to defend government. I’m here to reform it."
Keeping quiet
It quickly became clear that Ferguson’s governor’s office would operate differently than those previously.
He stopped holding general weekly press conferences and issued a memo in the first few weeks of his term requiring that most cabinet agencies’ public messaging go through his office first. Ferguson’s lack of communication became a theme throughout his first few months, frustrating lobbyists, journalists and lawmakers.
After weeks of trying to get a meeting with the governor, Mike Yestramski, president of the Washington State Federation for State Employees, decided to go public with his concerns about Ferguson’s proposal to furlough state workers and his refusal to support a wealth tax.
He criticized Ferguson at public rallies, held sit-ins outside the governor’s office, called him a “ratfink” on social media posts – all in an attempt to get the governor’s attention.
“I expected to have some tough conversations this session, I expected that there would be difficult decisions,” Yestramski told Cascade PBS. “I didn’t expect to not have conversations.”
Almost no one knew where Ferguson stood on controversial issues throughout the session.
Toeing the tax line with Democrats
In the middle of Ferguson’s first legislative session as governor, he had a meeting over coffee with Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle. The two had worked together for decades: They’d started at the same law firm early in their careers.
Pedersen’s caucus was in the middle of writing the state’s budget for the next four years, and Ferguson was still settling into his new job.
Ferguson had already stated publicly that he would not support a budget reliant on a “wealth tax” – meaning a tax on the state’s most affluent residents. A tax like that, he said, would be unsustainable, and had never been legally tested in Washington.
But many Democrats thought the governor might change his mind, Pedersen said.
At their meeting, Pedersen said, Ferguson was blunt. He said there was no way he would sign a budget that depends on a wealth tax, according to Pedersen.
Pedersen went back to his colleagues with the bad news: “It’s not happening,” he recalled telling them.
Ferguson’s refusal to support the tax surprised many Democrats in the Legislature, who had hoped the governor would locate more revenue sources to fill a looming multibillion-dollar budget hole instead of just making cuts to state programming.
Treasure Mackley, executive director of progressive tax advocacy group Invest in Washington Now, said it was disappointing to hear of Ferguson’s hard line against the wealth tax so early in session.
“There were folks that would have liked the opportunity to be able to have a conversation and work together to be able to build a budget that would help us close our deficit, as well as build a more equitable tax code,” she said.
Ferguson’s opposition to a wealth tax drew criticism from progressive lawmakers like Rep. Shaun Scott, D-Seattle, who knocked Ferguson’s alternative proposal to furlough state workers and cut state entitlement programs. At a rally in March, Scott called the policy “Fergonomics.”
Despite the criticism, Ferguson stood by his word.
“I understand that my approach is making some of my friends and supporters unhappy,” Ferguson said at a press conference in April. “That is OK. Sometimes we need to tell our friends hard truths.”
Republicans’ fading optimism
For those on the other side of the tax debate, Ferguson’s hesitation was welcome.
“I give credit to Ferguson,” said Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima. “He basically said, ‘This is not something that we can just rely on, it will be challenged. How do you tax unrealized wealth and not have it violate [the] state constitution?’”
Many Republican lawmakers like Corry were at first cautiously optimistic that the new governor would support their party’s approach to budgeting – fewer taxes, more cuts.
“I sure hope that he's willing to stand firm and follow through on the promises he's made as governor to govern responsibly and in the best interest of all of Washington, and not just part of that progressive base,” House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, told reporters as the legislative session wound down.
But in the weeks that followed, Republicans’ optimism quickly faded.
Ferguson would end up signing off on more than 400 bills, including $9 billion in new taxes, an increase to the state gas tax and dozens of progressive priorities, like yearly rent caps and changes to parents’ rights for K-12 children.
Ferguson’s approval of these policies brought relief to many Democrats who had been unsure about where the governor stood on controversial proposals. Their relief was mirrored by Republicans’ frustration: Conservative legislators had hoped the governor would side with them.
Ferguson’s approach to the budget may have cost him. In the Cascade PBS/Elway poll, 59% of those who gave negative ratings blamed Ferguson’s approval of new tax increases, his disapproval of more taxes, or his handling of the state budget in general.
“I think maybe Gov. Ferguson tried to split the baby a little too much, and it didn’t pan out,” Corry said.
At a press conference on federal tariffs held earlier this month, Ferguson defended his decision, though said raising taxes was not what he had wanted to do.
“We had a challenging budget situation, and there was no easy way out of that,” Ferguson said. “Given the challenge we were facing, I think the balance between the revenue and the reductions was a balance that made sense.”
‘Part of Bob’
Long before being elected governor and his 12-year stint as the state’s attorney general, Ferguson served as a King County Council member – a position he won in an uphill political battle.
In his first campaign, Ferguson ran against a 20-year Democratic incumbent, Cynthia Sullivan. The 38-year-old attorney – as determined and focused as ever – spent weeks doorbelling thousands of voters in the district ahead of the primary election.
In one of the biggest upsets of that election, Ferguson narrowly beat Sullivan. He was sworn in as a Councilmember in 2004.
Two years later, he ran against another Democratic incumbent on the council, Carolyn Edmonds. He won and continued to serve on the Council until 2013.
Ferguson’s priorities then looked a lot like they do now. As a councilmember, he was known for his bipartisanship, his leadership on budget issues, his efforts to improve public safety and his work to reform elections and government efficiency.
Ferguson has always believed that public officials have a responsibility to make sure taxpayer dollars are used wisely and frugally, Pedersen said. Anyone who paid attention to Ferguson’s early career would not be surprised by anything he’s done as governor.
But to those who knew him only in his previous role as attorney general, his more moderate policy approach might come as a surprise.
After all, Ferguson was the attorney general who filed or joined nearly 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration on behalf of the state of Washington during the president’s first term in office, sparking local and national fandom. “American Heartthrob” Bob Ferguson graced the cover of a 2017 edition of The Stranger, where reporters praised Ferguson for his tenacity in a “feud against Trump” and said he had “a crisp narrative about his progressive cred.”
That same year he was on Time’s list of 100 most influential people.
“Most people who started paying attention to him during that time thought of him as this sort of gleeful progressive warrior who’s fighting the good fight against the Trump administration, and assumed that’s Bob,” Pedersen said. “And that’s part of Bob, right? But it’s only a part.”
Now eight months into his role as governor, Ferguson is still finding his footing.
He’s leaned into his fight against the second Trump administration, often holding press conferences to decry decisions from the federal government. He’s vowed to take another look at the state budget and new taxes ahead of next legislative session, though he has not made clear what changes he may propose.
But introducing himself to Washington voters could take a bit more opening-up, Elway said. The governor’s lack of clear messaging and communication early on could be leading to some confusion for voters, the pollster pointed out, and relying on his reputation as attorney general may not be enough.
“For a large portion of Washington voters, he’s new,” Elway said. “He’s just being introduced to them. It’s sort of on the governor to introduce and communicate himself to the voters, too.”
