Serrano, Brown poised to advance in Washington attorney general race

By Laurel Demkovich / Washington State Standard

Democrat Nick Brown and Republican Pete Serrano are leading the primary race to become the state’s next attorney general.

As of Tuesday night, Serrano was in the lead with 41.9% of the vote, according to results posted by the secretary of state’s office around 8:30 p.m. The two Democrats in the race split the remainder of the vote with Brown at almost 36%, followed by Manka Dhingra with 22.2%.

Brown is the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington and before that served as general counsel to Gov. Jay Inslee from 2013 to 2017. He’s also an Army veteran.

Serrano is the mayor of Pasco and helped establish the Silent Majority Foundation, a group that has repeatedly and unsuccessfully sued to overturn state gun restrictions. He’s vying to become Washington’s first Republican attorney general in over a decade.

Dhingra is a state senator who has represented a district that includes Redmond since 2017.

The top two finishers in the primary will face off in November, and the winner will take over the position from Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Ferguson, a Democrat, announced last year that he would be running for governor, opening up the attorney general’s spot for the first time in 12 years.

All three candidates have highlighted public safety as a priority during the campaign. Although each views the topic differently.

Brown flagged gun violence and the rise in illicit fentanyl as problems he’d like to address, while emphasizing that he’d like to see more policies that alleviate the root causes of crime.

Serrano also wants to tackle the state’s fentanyl crisis. He has criticized the Legislature for recent drug legislation that he believes is too soft.

Dhingra said she wants to focus on addressing gender-based crimes, such as trafficking or domestic violence.

The possibility of Donald Trump getting reelected as president is casting a shadow over the race. Ferguson is known for suing the Trump administration nearly 100 times when the former president was last in office. Brown and Dhingra both signaled that they are prepared to take a similar posture if Trump reclaims the White House.

Serrano, meanwhile, argues that Ferguson has overstepped the constitutional authority of the office and has said he’d be less active in pressing the Legislature to pass new laws.

Brown has raised the most cash in the race – around $1.5 million, according to filings with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission. Dhingra has reported about $1.3 million in contributions, a total includes $250,000 of her own money she poured into her campaign late last month. Serrano has reported raising about $225,000.

During the race, Dhingra came under fire after claiming she was on a leave of absence from a job at the King County prosecuting attorney’s office, though the human resources department at the office said she was no longer employed there.

Each candidate has also highlighted consumer protections as an area that they would focus on if elected. Brown and Dhingra also stressed that they’d defend abortion rights. In Washington, the attorney general has limited authority to handle criminal cases and generally cannot investigate or prosecute crimes without a request from a county prosecutor or the governor.

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