Primary 2020–Culp To Take on Inslee Out of Field of 36(!)

A few takeaways from the ridiculously large field of candidates for Governor. Not counting write-ins, there were 36.

We will not dignify those who entered their names as a joke by mentioning them, or for egocentric purposes. In our view, you mock our election system, and it shows the lack of understanding or care you have for yourself, our state and fellow citizens.

That having been said, the GOP will face an uphill battle this November. Gov. Inslee got just over 51 percent of the vote, followed by these GOP contenders:

• Republic Police Chief Loren Culp  16.75%
• Former Bothell Mayor Joshua Freed 7.29%
• Initiative King Tim Eyman 7.05%
• Dr. Raul Garcia 5.04%
• State Senator Phil Fortunato  4.07%

Culp, who ran a very active rally and grassroots campaign, did NOT get nearly the financial support from the Washington State GOP, yet he clearly emerged as the leading candidate.  Sources told Newstalk870 some time ago that Freed was "the choice" of the West Side dominated state GOP Party, and locally we heard a ton of his ads.

Culp traveled all over the state, and perhaps has the 'best' grassroots citizen to citizen spreading campaign of any of the contenders.

Now, the key will be two areas:  Will the GOP rally behind Culp? If you add the numbers from Eyman, Freed, Fortunato and Garcia to Culp, he would be within 9-10 percentage points of Inslee.

The other?  Voter turnout was a paltry (as of August 5 so far) 27.44 percent. The GOP will need to get voters out in droves, probably at levels not seen in years. If the GOP rallies behind Culp, and works to energize their base, a lot can happen between now and Nov.

Inslee received over half his votes in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties.