It was disappointing to see the recent Seattle Times endorsement of left-wing Bob Ferguson over moderate Democratic state Sen. Mark Mullet for the governor’s race. We say that as two Republicans who crossed party lines to support Sen. Mullet this election cycle.
When Republicans are honest with themselves, they can appreciate that in our current political environment, it will be extremely difficult for a Republican to win on a statewide ticket this November.
Sen. Mullet has a 12-year track record of being fiscally conservative and socially liberal. As the only small-business owner in the Senate Democratic caucus, he has always been a champion when it comes to supporting the business community. He knows what it is like to sign the front side of a paycheck every two weeks.
When the business community was looking for a bipartisan leader to find common ground between Democrats and Republicans to make sure we had accountability for people using drugs in public, Sen. Mullet was that leader. While Attorney General Bob Ferguson was urging Washington to follow Oregon and decriminalize possession of dangerous drugs like fentanyl, Sen. Mullet was working with Republicans and Democrats to pass Senate Bill 5536. This bill made public drug use a gross misdemeanor and for the first time in several years, we are finally seeing a reduction in overdose deaths.
Sen. Mullet also had the political courage to speak out and vote against the long-term care payroll tax, called WA Cares, during the 2019 legislative session, and he supports the initiative that will be on the ballot this year to make that tax optional. It is rare to find an elected official on either side of the political aisle who is willing to buck the top special interest group that financially supports their political party. Ferguson brags on his campaign website about not taking money from corporate PACs, but he is quick to take money from SEIU and support their billion-dollar-a-year regressive tax increase.
We fully appreciate that as ballots arrive, the far left of the political spectrum — who support decriminalizing drug possession and the long-term payroll tax — will be voting for Ferguson. The good news is those voters don’t make up the majority of our state. We saw firsthand in Sen. Mullet’s 2020 Senate race how he took on the extreme wing of his own party and won by forming a bipartisan coalition of Democrats, Republicans and independents.
Sen. Mullet is the only candidate supported by both business and labor groups. It is rare to see a candidate who is endorsed by the Plumbers and Pipefitters — UA 32 and Public School Employees, but also endorsed by the Washington Realtors and the Washington Trucking Association. Sen. Mullet is also the only candidate endorsed by both the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs and Washington Association of Police and Sheriffs.
We find it very telling that AG Ferguson has been the “top cop” in Washington state for the past 12 years, but he is not being endorsed by one single police organization; they are all endorsing Sen. Mullet’s campaign.
Sen. Mullet is also the candidate best suited to find a balanced solution to the competing needs of a clean environment, reliable energy sources and affordable housing. We have witnessed during his time in the Legislature that he feels similarly about the importance of these three issues.
The most common refrain we hear from our friends and relatives is that they wish elected leaders could work in a bipartisan manner to solve the challenges facing our state and our country. Everybody is tired of the political bickering. Sen. Mullet has been the champion of finding bipartisan solutions to the challenges facing our state for the past decade. If this is the type of behavior that voters want to encourage, they should cast their vote for Mark Mullet.