OLYMPIA — Washington will get its first new governor in 12 years in 2025, and whoever it is will have to take on some of the state’s most persistent problems, including cost of living, crime and homelessness.
To gain insight into how Washington voters want the next governor to address these issues, The Seattle Times partnered with KING 5 and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public to survey people likely to vote in this year’s election.
In the WA Poll, respondents were asked to choose up to two policy prescriptions out of a list of possible remedies for each issue. No category received a majority, but some areas drew more agreement than others over the best course of action.
In this year’s race, Democrats Bob Ferguson and Mark Mullet are competing against Republicans Dave Reichert and Semi Bird for the state’s top job. The top-two vote-getters in the Aug. 6 primary will face off in the November general election. Ferguson and Reichert are widely considered front-runners.
Cost of living
Twenty-five percent of respondents identified cost of living as the issue most important to them.
When asked about how the next governor should address it, the single largest group of voters — 44% — said they should build more affordable housing.
One such voter is Mary Bears, 68, of Richland, who points to rising rent.
She said she’s “comfortable,” but her grocery bill has jumped in the past year, and she has friends who were forced to return to work after retiring.
“In talking with other seniors, we are all struggling with trying to afford to live in the economy that it is right now,” she said. “Rents have become out of sight.”
Bears supports Bird for governor. She said the former Richland School Board member wants to reunite Eastern and Western Washington, which she said have gotten “further and further apart.”
In recent years, state legislators dramatically boosted funding for the state’s Housing Trust Fund, from $35 million in 2018 to $337 million in 2023, partly buoyed by pandemic relief funds. That helped build 3,352 units of affordable housing in 2023, but it falls far short of the 700,000 affordable homes the state estimates need to be built over the next 20 years.
The next largest group — 40% — said the new governor should lower taxes.
In recent sessions, state legislators created a tax on capital gains and instituted a 0.58% payroll tax to fund the state’s long-term care insurance program.
Both of those taxes face challenges at the ballot box this November.
But legislators did fund, for the first time, the state’s Working Families Tax Credit, which gives up to $1,255 to low- and moderate-income Washington families.
Crime
Both front-runners for governor emphasize public safety, with Ferguson, the state’s longtime attorney general, saying in a new TV ad this week that it is his top priority and Reichert, a former congressman, touting his record as former King County sheriff.
Seven percent of likely general election voters said crime was their top issue when voting this year. Of the likely primary voters who said crime was their top issue, 50% said they back Reichert, and 28% said they back Ferguson.
Violent crime decreased in Washington in 2023, and local leaders created an initiative to fight gun violence earlier this month, after a spate of Seattle-area shootings. Car thefts have also increased steadily over the last several years, according to a recent report from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
There was no clear consensus on what should be done to address crime, but the area where there was most agreement among voters — 36% — was hiring more police officers, followed by 33% who said that more mental health care should be funded.
The state’s share of police officers per capita is the lowest in the country, a point that Ferguson highlighted in his new TV ad, promising to hire more police and first responders, create a “statewide response unit” to fight fentanyl and invest billions of opioid settlement dollars in treatment.
“Washingtonians must feel safe and be safe for our state to thrive,” he said in the ad.
The Seattle Police Department has fewer than 1,000 officers since the city’s pre-pandemic high of about 1,400, and city officials are trying to boost hiring. State legislators have also tried to entice recruits to join the Washington State Patrol.
Reichert, the Republican front-runner, said in a statement that voters “from across the political spectrum” are “fed up with the status quo and want a leader that will keep their communities safe while making Washington more affordable to live, work, and raise a family.”
“As governor, these issues will be my top priority and I will get to work on day one to deliver results for Washingtonians,” he said.
Homelessness
Six percent of voters said homelessness was most important to them when voting this year.
The state’s response to homelessness has been recent and limited, and primarily focused on youth and young adults. By creating a state agency dedicated to tackling youth homelessness and ramping up funding, Washington reduced youth and young adult homelessness by 40% since 2016 by some measures.
But adult homelessness has proved more difficult, and homelessness continues to grow overall. King County recorded a 23% increase between 2022 and 2024, and Pierce County saw the same percentage increase within a single year in 2023. Nearly every corner of the state is affected.
Forty-five percent of poll respondents said that to address homelessness, the next governor should fund more mental health care. Forty-one percent said the governor should expand drug and alcohol treatment.
About two-thirds of people who are homeless have some mental health disorder, according to one of the largest studies ever done on the subject.
That number includes substance use disorder, which was the most prevalent affliction, with 44% of people suffering from it.
However, experts say affordable and available housing remains the most desperate need for homeless people, whether they have a mental health disorder or not.
Lindsey Anderson, 25, who lives in Seattle, said the next governor should prioritize more housing and funding mental health treatment to fight homelessness. She’s supporting Ferguson.
“To me, it’s common sense that providing people with their basic needs will help keep them off the streets,” she said.
Voting opened Friday for the Aug. 6 primary. The general election will be held Nov. 5.
The poll included 708 likely voters and was conducted between July 10 and 13, 2024. More results will be released in the coming days.
Seattle Times staff reporter Greg Kim contributed reporting.
