SPOKANE, Wash. — For the first time in 12 years, Washington will have a new governor.
The two men aiming for the seat are Democratic candidate Bob Ferguson and Republican candidate Dave Reichert.
In the primary elections, Ferguson earned over 44% of the votes while Reichert had just over 27% of the votes.
The last time Washington state elected a Republican governor was John Dennis Spellman in 1981. Spellman was in office until 1985.
All five of the governors since then were Democrats. One expert says there’s a reason for that trend.
“As more companies have been expanding since the 1980s, more jobs have been coming,” said Whitworth University political science professor Aaron Hitefield. “Those are on average higher income, higher education requirement jobs. Just based off voter demographic trends, that doesn’t lend itself toward a Republican advantage.”
According to Pew Research, voters in the lowest and highest income levels do tilt more Democratic than Republican.
“It’s a big uphill battle for Republicans to be able to find success in the gubernatorial race,” Hitefield said.
While Washington is a blue state, Spokane County tends to vote red.
The City of Spokane tends to vote blue though.
Looking back at the 2016 presidential race, Hilary Clinton received over 46,884 votes in the City of Spokane. Trump had 36,819 votes in the City of Spokane.. In 2020, Biden received 66,912 votes from the city and Trump had 47,144.
Hitefield said the reason the city votes different than the rest of the county is because of population growth and urbanization.
“The reality is that they’re often moving from areas like California and Oregon,” Hitefield said. “That doesn’t lend themselves to being overwhelmingly Republican voters.”
According to United States Census Bureau the population is growing in the City of Spokane.
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