How the WA governor campaign got so one-sided

Oct. 3—This weekend, during the Seahawks game airing on KIRO 7, a 30-second ad is scheduled to run that bashes the Republican candidate for governor, Dave Reichert.

Because so many local viewers tune in to the Seahawks, broadcasting this one short attack ad a single time costs $80,000, according to a KIRO contract agreement with a super PAC called Evergreen Values.

It’ll be the most expensive political ad of the local election season, records show. But what’s notable about it is that this one 30-second ad, paid for by Democrats, has more ad value than Republicans currently are scheduled to run in defense of Reichert on KIRO for the entire rest of the campaign.

It’s a stark example of how this is shaping up to be one of the most lopsided campaigns in memory, at least for one waged over an open seat for a major office like governor. Records filed by TV stations with federal regulators show the GOP campaigns are being massively outgunned in political ad spending by Democrats.

Take this one station, KIRO. Evergreen Values, an arm of the Democratic Governors Association, has booked more than $1.5 million worth of airtime at the station. That’s enough to buy about 1,100 30-second ad slots across September and October, leading up to the Nov. 5 election.

The group’s two ads released so far both assail Reichert for his anti-abortion voting record when he was in Congress.

The Democratic candidate for governor, Bob Ferguson, has separately booked nearly 800 ad slots on KIRO, costing roughly $900,000. Some of his ads promote his own plans should he win the office, while others attack Reichert. He also booked a 30-second spot during the Seahawks game this Sunday, at a cost of $50,000. (Candidates often get a lower rate than outside groups.)

That’s all pretty normal. Politics ain’t beanbag, as they say. What’s different is that, to an unusual degree, the Republicans aren’t responding.

The Reichert campaign has booked reservations for just 60 ad slots on KIRO, totaling $29,000. The first ads are scheduled to run during the CBS morning news, which airs at the eye-slit hour of 4 a.m. The audience is so small the ads cost just $125. There has been little outside PAC support on Reichert’s behalf to date.

All told the Democrats are currently outspending Reichert on KIRO’s airwaves by 85 to 1, records show. These figures will change as campaigns book more ad slots or cancel others. But with ballots due to be mailed to voters in two weeks, it’s as if there’s only one campaign happening — the Democratic one.

It’s a similar story at other stations like KING 5 and the entire Washington state media market. The data group AdImpact tallied that Democrats are outspending the GOP on ads in the governor’s race by an extraordinary $11.1 million to $225,000 — nearly 50 to 1.

You may be saying: So what? Big-media advertising isn’t everything in politics, especially as viewing habits have fractured. Candidates sometimes get wildly outspent and still win. Plus we’re a blue state, so of course Democrats are going to have an edge.

All true. But what’s happening still is not typical. The last time we had an open seat for governor, national GOP groups dropped $9.3 million trying to elect then-state Attorney General Rob McKenna. Unions and liberal groups countered with similar amounts for Democrat Jay Inslee. The point being: It was more of a fair fight. This time, one side isn’t even getting in the ring.

There are a few things to say about this. The first is that this is mostly self-inflicted by Republicans.

The Trumpification of the party has all but disintegrated it around here. A case study is how the party earlier this year endorsed a recalled school board member and MAGA zealot over the nine-times-elected Reichert. They did so after being warned from within that it would “burn down the house.”

As Reichert said then: “The party’s been taken hostage.”

That may have been unwise for him to say, but he was right. Donors and outside interests seemed to fade after that. Now, the GOP is broadcasting ads at 4 a.m. while the Democrats are on during the Seahawks — that’s what a hostage situation in politics looks like.

The other thing to say is that even though Republicans brought this on themselves, it’s still no way to run a democracy.

We talk all the time about the perils of inequality. Well 50 to 1 is off the charts inequitable.

The group paying for most of that $80,000 football game ad, the Democratic Governors Association, is a dark-money super PAC — meaning it can take donations of unlimited size, including from corporations, and isn’t regulated by the Federal Election Commission. Does anybody care about sunlight in politics anymore, or the potentially corrupting influence of big money?

There probably are ways, such as public financing schemes, to even up the playing field at least a bit. But after Citizens United and a few other sweeping U.S. Supreme Court decisions, few topics have gone out of fashion more than campaign finance reform.

Instead, we’ve gone free market with our democracy. You’ll see it if you watch football this weekend — the Democrats have also bought ad time during the UW Huskies broadcast.

But it’s created a contradiction. Campaigns are supposed to be conversations, battles of ideas.

Can they be, with only one side talking?