AG candidate Larkin: Ferguson shouldn’t be suing a sitting president 69 times
Aug 11, 2020, 6:16 AM | Updated: 6:16 am
(AP file photo)
Attorney General Bob Ferguson will be facing Republican challenger Matt Larkin in the general election. Larkin garnered 23% of the vote in the Primary, with Ferguson getting just over 56% of the vote. Since Ferguson appears to be in a good position as an incumbent, what is Larkin’s plan as they match up?
“He’s a formidable opponent, he’s raised a lot of money. He’s at $3.5 million and we’ve got about 1/12 of that raised, so we do have our work cut out for us. But I think our message is going to resonate and I think that’s what carried me through the primaries, frankly,” he told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.
“We have real problems in this state, and it feels to a lot of folks that Bob Ferguson isn’t addressing them, especially lately when crime is through the roof, we’ve got a homelessness issue that continues to plague us, and drug abuse is out of control,” Larkin added. “As lawless rioters are taking over our cities, where is our AG? He’s not there.”
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Not only does Larkin face an uphill battle regarding campaign donations, but it’s difficult to traditionally campaign during a pandemic. How does he hope to offset this?
“March, April, May, we were booked solid with events and fundraisers, and they were just canceled, wiped clean. So we were starting from scratch, which is why we’re 1/12 of Bob Ferguson’s haul. Plus, we don’t have the name ID. Obviously, he’s a two-term incumbent. He’s been a career politician and I’m new to the game, which is an advantage — other than people don’t know me and they need to get to know me,” he said.
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“We don’t have the advantage a lot of Democratic candidates get, the union money, and Bob is certainly no exception to that. It’s going to be flowing into his coffers, but we get sources from other places. We get them from conservative PACs, we get them from small business owners, from big business owners, people who are actually putting food on the table for Washingtonians and creating jobs.”
Suing Trump 69 times not the way AG office was intended
It feels as though Ferguson has spent a great deal of his time suing President Trump. Has Larkin agreed with any of the lawsuits thus far?
“First of all, you should never be suing a sitting president 69 times. That’s just not the way the office was intended. We have real problems in this Washington. Frankly, I don’t care about that Washington. We have issues here that are pressing more now than ever. There’s a few in there that you could make a case for, but I just don’t think it’s the right time or place to be making lawsuits against the president. He claims that he’s evenhanded because he sued President Trump 69 times, and he sued Obama twice. That does not feel even handed to me,” Larkin said.
“So the litmus test I’d look at is, how many Washingtonians are affected? How much harm does the actions of the president bring to the state of Washington? But today, I’m elected to protect the people of the state of Washington … 69 times suing the president, he calls them Trump lawsuits, and then he’ll fundraise off them. That’s not how the office was intended to be used, period.”
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