The news that Washington state's top education official won't seek re-election in 2028 wasn't exactly shocking.
What caught the attention of political observers in the state — and Gov. Bob Ferguson — was the timing of Chris Reykdal's announcement on Monday, in which the superintendent of public instruction said he wouldn't run for a fourth term in 2028. The unusually early declaration came less than a week after Democrats scored a resounding victory in the midterm elections, and it suggested Reykdal may be positioning himself to unseat the governor, his fellow Democrat.
"In the coming months, I will ultimately decide whether to run for a different statewide office in 2028, seek federal office, or walk away from elective office altogether," Reykdal, whose current role is technically nonpartisan, said in the statement. With no obvious vacancy to fill in the U.S. House or Senate, speculation turned to the Governor's Mansion, where Ferguson will be wrapping up his first term in 2028.
Then, on Tuesday, Ferguson took to Facebook and weighed in. Clad in a Washington Huskies hoodie, the governor leaned close to his phone and said in a short video that he is "looking forward to a change" in Reykdal's office and the schools chief's decision not to seek re-election was "good news."
"Appreciate his service, public service, but it's time for a change there. Really past due for a change," Ferguson said, adding that "mediocre" test scores for the state's students have "just not been good enough, despite the best efforts of our educators all across the state."
Reykdal was first elected to the role in 2016 and oversaw Washington's public schools throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and critics have argued state leaders waited too long to resume in-person school. Test scores in English, math and science have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, according to data from Reykdal's office.
A spokesperson for Ferguson didn't immediately respond when asked Friday why the governor had commented on Reykdal's decision and whether he attributed the state's test scores to Reykdal's leadership. Katy Payne, chief strategy officer in Reykdal's office, responded to questions by pointing to the superintendent's original statement and to his interview with KIRO Newsradio's "Gee and Ursula Show" on Thursday.
When host Gee Scott asked Reykdal if he would run for governor, he replied that he wouldn't rule it out. The superintendent also indicated that he may run for Congress, without naming a specific incumbent he may challenge.
"I won't do it based on who's in the office," he said. "I'm not one of those who says, 'Oh, there's already a Democrat. Get out of the way.' "
Sen. Patty Murray is up for re-election in 2028, but the 76-year-old Democrat is already one of the most powerful members of the Senate and will once again lead the Senate Appropriations Committee in January, after her party retook the majority in the Nov. 3 elections. In office since 1993, Murray has not indicated that she intends to step down at the end of her term.
Reykdal could run for any of the state's 10 House districts, but he lives in a district represented by Rep. Marilyn Strickland and grew up in Snohomish County, an area split between districts represented by Reps. Suzan DelBene, Kim Schrier and Rick Larsen. None of those lawmakers, all Democrats, are expected to step aside.
In any of those races, Reykdal would be challenging a fellow Democrat. After Ferguson posted his video, the Washington State Republican Party responded in a gleeful post Wednesday on X, saying that Ferguson "is throwing shade" at Reykdal over test results despite the two men being aligned on the policies "that have helped produce those poor results and driven a mass exodus from public schools."
Republicans in the state, including Rep. Michael Baumgartner of Spokane, are pushing Ferguson to opt Washington into a federal tax credit program that could direct billions in federal dollars to scholarship-granting nonprofits. Critics of the program call it a thinly veiled voucher system designed to channel public money to private schools, but proponents point out the scholarships could be used for public and private schools.
"Anyone who opposes this free federal education funding is unfit to be either a leader of education in our state (Reykdal) or the Governor of our state (?)," Baumgartner wrote on X, responding to Ferguson's video on Tuesday. The funding is "free" to states but not to the federal government, which must either use taxpayer dollars or add to the nation's $40 trillion debt to pay for it.
Reykdal has publicly opposed the tax credit program, writing in an Oct. 9 letter to Ferguson that it "will add significant federal debt, and that means more cuts to public education and programs in future years." Ferguson has previously said he will decide by year's end whether to opt the state in, and his spokesperson didn't immediately reply when asked Friday if the governor had made that decision.
© 2026 The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.). Visit www.spokesman.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
