Former governor slams WA’s spending: ‘I left office with a budget of $33 billion, and the budget today is $80 billion’

While speaking at the Association of Washington Business 2026 Summit, former Washington Governor Christine Gregoire criticized the state’s handling of its finances, as the state budget has nearly tripled since she was last in office.

“Do you think our legislature understands the impact of the policy environment as it relates to the economy?” the summit’s moderator asked.

“No,” Gregoire replied quickly, with the audience laughing before continuing. “I really don’t, as evidenced by your mentioning of the estate tax. I argued with some folks about the estate tax. We were the highest in the country, tied with Hawaii at 20%. We went to 35%. We’re not just the highest. We’re beyond the highest.”

According to Gregoire, who was the state’s governor from 2005-2013, Washington doesn’t have an income problem; it has a spending problem.

“I left office with a budget of 33 billion, and the budget today is 80 billion. I think that’s a little bit too much growth,” Gregoire said. “And yet how we find ourselves at the end of every legislative session now is in the hole and projected to be in the hole.”

The full interview with Gregoire can be seen here.

Jake and Spike weigh in on former governor’s comments

“Whatever Washington has become 10, 12 years ago, whenever she was in power, the politics have shifted significantly,” KIRO host Jake Skorheim said.

“What used to be called the democratic point of view has become…” KIRO host Spike O’Neill said.

“Moderate to right?” Jake interjected.

“Well, yeah, what is today’s Democratic Party is such to the extreme far left,” Spike said.

“I think somebody like Christine Gregoire, if she walked into an office right now, and she’s having a sit-down with a guy like Ferguson or a guy like Jamie Pedersen, who’s pushing all these things, they would look at her like she’s crazy,” Jake added. “They would call her probably a conservative, and they would say, ‘Listen, we don’t like your politics here in Washington state.’ But what she’s saying makes a lot of sense.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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