Ted S. Warren/Associated PressGov. Christine Gregoire of Washington and her husband, Mike Gregoire, take questions Monday after the governor announced that she would not seek a third term.SEATTLE – Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington, a two-term Democrat who has steered the state through a period of painful budget cuts, said Monday that she would not seek a third term.
Her decision was not unexpected, and it clears the way for what some political observers believe will be one of the closest gubernatorial races in the country in 2012. Rob McKenna, the state’s respected Republican attorney general, announced his long-anticipated candidacy last week. Representative Jay Inslee, a popular Democrat whose district includes parts of the politically crucial Seattle region, has signaled for months that he would run if Ms. Gregoire chose not to.
After her announcement on Monday, which she made at the governor’s mansion in Olympia, Ms. Gregoire said in response to a reporter’s question that she had called Mr. Inslee and told him that she “hoped that he would consider running for office.”
Republicans have not won a race for governor here since 1980, but Democrats have not always won by wide margins. Ms. Gregoire won her first term by fewer than 200 votes in 2004, defeating Dino Rossi after recounts and a lengthy court fight. She beat Mr. Rossi by a much more comfortable margin in 2008. But since then the state, like many others, has been forced to make brutal spending cuts, including to schools and social programs.
“I hate my budget,” Ms. Gregoire said last year.
The question is whether frustration with the state’s direction will be enough to overcome Democratic control.
“Your average Washington voter is like, ‘I don’t like Gregoire, I don’t like Olympia, the state is screwed up. But Republicans? Ew! Ick! What do I do?’ ” said Chris Vance, a public affairs consultant and a former chairman of the state Republican Party. “To win in Washington State, a Republican must differentiate himself from the national Republican image.”
In his announcement last week, Mr. McKenna said he wanted to increase education spending, and he did not rule out tax increases. But he angered many Democrats this year by joining Republican attorneys general who challenged President Obama’s health care law in court.
Ms. Gregoire, long rumored to be under consideration for a job in the Obama administration, praised the president on Monday and noted that she would travel to Washington shortly after her announcement.
“I will do everything I can to support him,” the governor said of the president. “But that doesn’t mean I’m looking for a job.”
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