WA lands Commissioner Hilary Franz announces run for governor, vying with AG Ferguson

State lands Commissioner Hilary Franz announced Wednesday that she’ll run for governor, vying with a fellow Democrat, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, in the 2024 race to succeed Gov. Jay Inslee.

Franz made her long-expected announcement in a two-minute video and a news release, saying she would bring to the governor’s race a “be bold, take risks, and make progress fast” credo she’d employed in her current job managing state trust lands.

“Washington is facing urgent issues — from a rapidly changing climate, to a housing crisis across the entire state, and soaring income inequality pushing families out of the middle class. There’s no shortage of challenges, but I know we can tackle them together. I’m running for Governor to make bold progress and solve these issues, and to do so quickly,” Franz said in her announcement.

Like Ferguson, Franz had long been open about her desire to run for governor. Both Democrats talked about their ambitions in 2020, but backed away after Inslee decided to seek a third term.

Ferguson, the three-term attorney general, has tried to impose a juggernaut aura with his candidacy, which he has termed “exploratory” although state law does not recognize exploratory committees.

Ferguson has announced raising $1.75 million in contributions as well as endorsements from a bevy of state legislators and five of the state’s members of Congress.

The 2024 gubernatorial field is still developing even after the entry of the two statewide elected officials.

State Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, a business owner who has clashed with Inslee and labor unions, is also considering a run, in which he would seek to carve out a moderate lane that could attract some independent and Republican support.

Among Republicans, Semi Bird, a Richland School Board member, has been actively campaigning and has raised $50,000 for his campaign. He also faces a recall campaign in his hometown for defying the state’s COVID-19 mask mandate.

Raul Garcia, a Yakima doctor who made a last-minute run in the 2020 gubernatorial primary, has also filed campaign paperwork to run again as a Republican. In an interview, he said he’ll launch his campaign with an event Friday at Kerry Park in Seattle.

Franz plans to officially kick off her campaign with a news conference Monday at Seattle’s Edgewater Hotel.

Franz, 52, is in her second term as state lands commissioner.

The job puts her in charge of the Department of Natural Resources, which manages 5.6 million acres of public lands, including forest, range and tidal lands that have generated $9 billion since 1970 for public schools, counties and universities.

In her announcement Wednesday, Franz touted accomplishments including securing $500 million from the state Legislature to fight and prevent forest fires. Her campaign video mingled images of her firefighter father with her talking with wildland fire crews in her current job.

Franz easily won reelection to a second term in 2020, taking nearly 57% of the vote against Republican challenger Sue Kuehl Pederson.

Prior to winning election as lands commissioner, Franz served one term on the Bainbridge Island City Council.

She previously worked as an environmental law attorney and led Futurewise, a nonprofit devoted to defending the state’s landmark Growth Management Act.

Her law license is now listed as suspended for “non payment of fees,” according to the state bar association’s online legal directory.

Franz graduated from Smith College and received her law degree from Northeastern University.

Franz was a competitive ice skater for years growing up. She talked in her first lands commissioner campaign about honing self-discipline by waking up at 3 a.m. to train before school.

The falls on the skating rink taught her resilience, she said in a 2016 Seattle Times profile. “Life is about you are going to fall down, and you are going to get back up again, and keep working at it until you get it right,” she said at the time.

Franz’s run for governor will leave the public lands job open, and King County Council Chair Dave Upthegrove announced Wednesday that he’s seriously considering a run for that job next year.