Republican Yakima doctor announces candidacy for WA governor

Dr. Raul Garcia announced his candidacy for Washington governor Friday.

Garcia held a kickoff event in Seattle Friday to announce his campaign for the 2024 election. He previously ran for governor in 2020.

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Gov. Jay Inslee announced May 2 that he would not run again. Inslee has been the governor of Washington since 2013 and is the second elected official to serve three consecutive terms as the executive of the state’s government.

Garcia is a Yakima resident working as a trauma and Emergency Room doctor. He previously ran for governor in 2020, where he got fifth in the primary with 135,000 votes, or 5.4%.

The last time a Republican governor was elected in Washington state was in 1981.

Republicans Semi Bird, Laurel Khan, Martin Wheller, Kriss Schuler, and Jim Daniel have also declared their candidacy for governor.

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson also announced his run for governor with an exploratory campaign last week, and State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz announced May 10 that she would be running.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story stated that Dr. Raul Garcia was the first Republican candidate to announce his candidacy for governor. Garcia was not the first. We regret the error.