A former Woodway councilmember, gubernatorial candidate Bogen pledges to govern ‘from the middle for the middle’

You may never have heard of him – yet.

He’s one of 28 gubernatorial candidates on Aug. 6 primary ballot, which will narrow the field to the top two vote getters. But judging from the latest Washington Public Disclosure Commission fundraising numbers he’s leading the pack of independents, coming in fifth overall behind the party-endorsed candidates Bob Ferguson, Dave Reichert, Mark Mullet and Semi Bird.

Business owner, community booster and former Woodway Town Councilmember Brian Bogen has been tirelessly fundraising and traveling across the state building support for his non-partisan approach to the issues facing our state in the upcoming election.

But as an independent Bogen is doing it his way, and part of that is parsing what he sees as the difference between the labels “independent” and “non-partisan.”

“When you call yourself an independent, people start to ask what kind of independent you are,” he explained. “They ask are you a Bernie Sanders independent or a Kyrsten Sinema independent – and that leads to pigeonholing. I think of myself and my candidacy as non-partisan. I’m not representing or reflecting the views of any political party, movement or organization – and that’s how I would approach the job of governor.

“None of the top-tier candidates in this race are talking to the vast majority of Washington voters,” he continued. “As I look at the major party candidates in the race and how their message is evolving as we move closer to the primary – only two weeks away – the progressive left seems to be moving further left, and the conservative right moving further right. To me, this is appealing to the roughly 20 percent of voters on either end of the political spectrum. No one is speaking to the 60 percent in the middle, and that’s where a truly non-partisan message — like I’m offering — can resonate.”

Bogen has spent the past weeks crisscrossing the state talking with voters from Moses Lake to Anacortes, from Pullman to Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood. And everywhere he goes he hears the same things: Voters’ top issues are public safety (crime), fiscal policy (cost of living), education and the environment.

“Our shared values of safe communities, a responsible budget, a good education and a clean environment aren’t partisan,’ he explains. “These values unite us and are what we should expect our government to provide. Once we have agreed on values and priorities, your governor needs to be able to execute a plan to deliver them. And with my background and experience I feel I am well-positioned to do that.”

Read the entire article at MyEdmondsNews.com here: https://myedmondsnews.com/2024/07/a-former-woodway-councilmember-gubernatorial-candidate-bogen-pledges-to-govern-from-the-middle-for-the-middle/