Gov. Inslee, Challenger Bryant Duel Over Competing Polls

SEATTLE -- With just ten days until election day, it looks like the gubernatorial race is heating up, depending on which poll you believe.  A Washington Poll conducted earlier this month, but just released Thursday, shows a tightening race with a 51% to 45% lead for Inslee.  But a much more recent Elway Poll conducted and published last week, has Governor Jay Inslee ahead by 12 points at 51% to republican challenger Bill Bryant’s 39%.

Saturday morning, Q13 News met up with both candidates to get their take on how to convince voters to pick them on November 8th.

Don’t call this a victory lap just yet as Governor Jay Inslee high-fives supporters.  Inslee may have the support of these volunteers ready to canvass on his behalf, but on the other side of the aisle, the battle for the Governor’s mansion continues as republican challenger Bill Bryant argues, he still has a fighting chance, even though the latest polls have him behind by double-digits.

“The fact that our tv ads have been running and the second debate and that’s reflective of where the population is right now. You’ve got a population of the state who’s undecided and you’ve got this race tightening in the mid-40s,” said republican challenger Bill Bryant.

Bryant is citing the Washington Poll that was conducted earlier this month.  Inslee sees his gap as much wider like in the more recent Elway Poll with him ahead by 12 points.

“Our lead is widening it’s gone up to 12 points. A 12 point lead is a great lead to have, but we’re not leaving any stone unturned. We’re knocking on doors. We’re calling people. We urge everybody to vote,” said Inslee.

The candidates preach their top priorities ten days from Election Day.

“Our message on improving education and focusing on job creation. We are doing both. We’ve made record investments in job creation. We’ve got the number one economic engine and the biggest job creation in the state. We feel good we ought to keep the ball rolling,” said Inslee.

“There are three issues we’ve got to focus on. We’ve got to focus on traffic. We’ve got to focus on education and we’ve got to focus on taxes,” said Bryant.

And as we saw in their last gubernatorial debate, neither believes the other is right for the highest position in the state.

“My opponent is a lobbyist. A former lobbyist who’s against giving people a minimum wage increase,” said Inslee.

“We’ve got a governor who won’t say he’ll veto an income tax and is actually pushing to get a capital gains tax. We don’t need to be looking at more taxes, we need to be using the money we’ve got more wisely,” said Bryant.