Ryan Ryals

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Ryan Ryals

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Unaffiliated

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 4, 2020

Education

Associate

Green River College

Personal

Religion

Christ Follower

Profession

Business owner

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Twitter

Personal website

Personal LinkedIn

Ryan Ryals (unaffiliated) ran for election for Governor of Washington. He lost in the primary on August 4, 2020.

Ryals completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Ryan Ryals obtained an associate degree from Green River College. His professional experience includes starting two online retailers and owning BNR education, which specializes in driver training schools. He is a member of Mensa and director of the Chamber of Citizens.

Elections

2020

See also: Washington gubernatorial election, 2020

General election

General election for Governor of Washington

Incumbent Jay Inslee defeated Loren Culp in the general election for Governor of Washington on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jay Inslee (D)	56.6	2,294,243
		Loren Culp (R)	43.1	1,749,066
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	13,145

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,056,454
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Washington

The following candidates ran in the primary for Governor of Washington on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jay Inslee (D)	50.1	1,247,916
✔		Loren Culp (R)	17.4	433,238
		Joshua Freed (R)	8.9	222,553
		Tim Eyman (R)	6.4	159,495
		Raul Garcia (R)	5.4	135,045
		Phil Fortunato (R)	4.0	99,265
		Don Rivers (D)	1.0	25,601
		Leon Lawson (Trump Republican Party)	0.9	23,073
		Liz Hallock (G)	0.9	21,537
		Cairo D'Almeida (D)	0.6	14,657
		Anton Sakharov (Trump Republican Party)	0.6	13,935
		Nate Herzog (Pre-2016 Republican Party)	0.5	11,303
	Submit photo	Gene Hart (D)	0.4	10,605
	Submit photo	Omari Tahir-Garrett (D)	0.4	8,751
	Submit photo	Ryan Ryals (Unaffiliated)	0.3	6,264
		Henry Dennison (Socialist Workers Party)	0.2	5,970
		GoodSpaceGuy (Trump Republican Party)	0.2	5,646
		Richard Carpenter (R)	0.2	4,962
	Submit photo	Elaina Gonzalez (Independent)	0.2	4,772
	Submit photo	Matthew Murray (R)	0.2	4,489
		Thor Amundson (Independent)	0.1	3,638
		Bill Hirt (R)	0.1	2,854
	Submit photo	Martin Wheeler (R)	0.1	2,686
	Submit photo	Ian Gonzales (R)	0.1	2,537
		Joshua Wolf (New Liberty Party)	0.1	2,315
		Cregan Newhouse (Unaffiliated)	0.1	2,291
	Submit photo	Brian Weed (Unaffiliated)	0.1	2,178
		Alex Tsimerman (Standup-America Party)	0.1	1,721
	Submit photo	Tylor Grow (R)	0.1	1,509
		Dylan Nails (Independent)	0.1	1,470
	Submit photo	Craig Campbell (Unaffiliated)	0.0	1,178
	Submit photo	William Miller (American Patriot Party)	0.0	1,148
	Submit photo	Cameron Vessey (Unaffiliated)	0.0	718
	Submit photo	Winston Wilkes (Propertarianist Party)	0.0	702
		David Blomstrom (Fifth Republic Party)	0.0	519
	Submit photo	David Voltz (Cascadia Labour Party)	0.0	480
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,938

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,488,959
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mathew Mackenzie (R)
• Phillip Bailey (D)
• Asa Palagi (Independent)
• Lisa Thomas (Unaffiliated)
• Matthew Heines (Unaffiliated)

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Ryan Ryals completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ryals' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

It's difficult to get a true sense of a person in 200 words or less. We look for clues to see if that candidate is like us, if they believe in similar things, and to see if they are straight-up crazy. I highly recommend you watch the video voter's guide on TVW to learn about all of the candidates. We pick up so much more when watching a person speak than reading a highly edited blurb like this one.

My political leanings don't fit within a political party, and the closest I've come to defining my outlook is "bleeding heart libertarian". That term was created in 2011 as a movement of folks who favor social justice and limited government in economic matters. Read more at www.bleedingheartlibertarians.com

I am running for governor to be your servant; to be the manager you hire to work on its greatest financial challenge. I am running to reintroduce creativity, efficient design, transparency, and diplomacy to state government.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Now is the right time for an independent governor. For us to get through this pandemic, financial crisis, and civil unrest, we'll have to do it together. We'll have to do it without partisanship, and without choosing candidates just to stick it to the other side.

• This is also a time to return the governor's office to its original (and constitutional) intention; to govern the departments of the state to make sure they are working well for us. We can leave activism to the Lt. Governor and legislators, but we need a chief administrator to fix the inefficiencies and excessive rule-creation of the over 190 agencies, departments, and commissions.

• I'm running as unaffiliated because I have a one paragraph platform. Our state government needs to be a lot better with its core services, a lot more efficient, and a lot cheaper. We must provide the infrastructure and support for businesses and workers to thrive. Your government should be invisible when you don't need it, and readily available when you do.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am running because Washington is facing the biggest budget crisis in its history. Nine billion dollars that would have funded roads, schools, social services, and public safety won't be there. We'll have to make tough choices about what to cut and get creative about how to save money while still maintaining essential services.

This is not the time for partisan battles. This is not the time to vote for an angry ideologue because you want to stick it to the other side. To me, that is my biggest concern about this election. Instead of trying to fix the problems we have, both red and blue candidates are digging in and blaming each other.

I would encourage you to visit my website at RyanRyals.com for longer versions of my views on regulations, the budget, homelessness, police reform, and short takes on guns, education, LGBTQIA+, transportation, and ecology.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Another version of this question that I like is one where you assemble any three people from history for lunch. I usually pick George Carlin, John Adams, and Jesus. It seems like a weird combo, but the three of them had significant impacts on how I see the world. Carlin was a Catholic-turned-atheist, so it might be awkward with Jesus there. Jesus didn't speak English, but I have to believe that he could if he wanted to. We could also invite an Aramaic translator.

Carlin pointed out the ridiculousness of systems and customs that we take for granted. He questioned authority and didn't let hypocrisy go unchallenged. After reading David McCullough's excellent biography on John Adams, I was a big fan. It inspired me to take an active role in politics, both by writing about it and by helping others participate. Jesus changed my views on just about everything, especially equality. I consider myself a Christ follower, or a Red Letter Christian, and I recommend you Google those terms for more info.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

In July 2020, I was posting in a Facebook group about some political matter, and had a friendly back-and-forth with someone who didn't know I was running for governor. She posted an, "All politicians are liars" comment, and I replied, "Hey now! I haven't lied, but I have only been a candidate since March 13th ;)"

This is wishful thinking on my part, but I would love to have more politicians who are honest about their decision-making process. Most politicians are concerned with staying in their political office, and may be forced to repeat the party line, even if they don't personally believe it. If the idea is so wonderful, then why should you have to lie to make others believe in it?

I would also love for more politicians to be flexible in their thinking. Bertrand Russell's famous quote has always stuck with me, "The fundamental cause of trouble in the world is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt." One of the gubernatorial candidates says he is going to veto any tax increase, veto any law that isn't in the constitution, and remove two regulations for every one that is added.

To me, it's ridiculous to govern a state with such rigid thinking. Would you veto the chance to lower one tax while raising another, even if there was a net decrease in financial impact? Plus, there is a process for removing regulations that you can't do with your veto power. It involves committee hearings, public notices, financial impact statements, and isn't something the governor can just wave away with his magic wand. That is also part of the honesty that I'd like to see from more politicians.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am most bothered by injustice, inefficiency, poor systems design, and intolerance. Life is filled with difficulties and obstacles, and I believe it is everyone's duty to remove these barriers or lessen their impact. My highest priorities are to get the state running well, more efficiently, and a lot cheaper.

As a governor, I would be solely committed to a just society where equality comes first, government is simpler and easier to understand, is always there when you need it and invisible when you don't.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The first nationwide event that I can remember are the long lines at gas stations during the second oil embargo. This is waaaayyy back in the 1979, and I can remember the little blue Datsun my parents bought to conserve gas and avoid the lines. I would have been around 7.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was working in my mother's sandwich shop, which was located in an office building. I was 13 years old, and my best friend was staying with me for the summer. My mother didn't want to leave us at home all day, so she put us to work.

This was great for us; I ended up being the main sandwich maker, and my friend worked the register at the other end. The customers liked the food, but I think they were a little dismayed by having 13-year-olds handle all phases of their lunch transactions. It only lasted a couple of weeks, but the jobs I took for the rest of my teen years were all in the foodservice industry.

I'll spare you the whole value-of-hard-work speech that you have probably heard from countless politicians before me. I just like working.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

My wife made a 90s playlist this week, and we got stuck on "Work It" by Missy Elliott. The chorus starts with, "I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it", and then she literally reverses it and says, "Ti esrever dna ti pilf, nwod gniht ym tup" (she recorded the lyric in reverse). I could not get that out of my head for the past two days.

A governor is the top executive authority in his or her state. What does that mean do you?

According to the Washington constitution, two things. Faithfully execute the laws of the state, and manage the department heads. Unfortunately, most candidates and some governors put those two jobs on the back burner, and instead use the job for personal advocacy.

Not me. I am running for governor to primarily focus on those two jobs alone. I am not going to slash the budget of departments I don't like, and I'm not going to block good legislation just to get my way. I would love to see a return to responsible governance, and to make the departments work more simply, more efficiently, and a lot easier to access.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

I have always believed that government works best when the executive is from a different party than the majority of the legislators. This is not always the case, but it does mean that the minority party and its followers are not ignored.

Ideally, the governor needs to represent the branch that executes the laws that are passed, which means providing input on how the laws can be enforced, administrative issues that need to be fixed before passage, and conversations about its constitutionality. The governor should not be a dictator, but does need to represent his or her branch.

Personally, I think we have too many laws. I have worked in different industries that are heavily regulated, and it is difficult to comply with all of them. Many times these departments will spend months of labor hours working to define the administrative code rules for laws that were passed. The benefits from these laws many times do not justify the amount of time and money spent to implement them.

That doesn't mean we should never pass laws or regulations. Many of these regulations are in place because someone or some company is taking advantage of others, or causing some injustice. But we cannot simply pass laws of convenience and use the threat of force to make citizens comply. There must be a good justification for any law or regulation.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

In the next four years, we have a lot of budget challenges due to the pandemic. It is projected to be twice as bad as the last crisis. Since about half of the state budget goes to schools, we are looking at some extremely tough decisions over funding for them, plus the care we give to the most vulnerable persons in our state.

Our next biggest challenge is overcoming the rural vs. urban divide, which will prevent us from moving forward on most of our problems. We must solve this. Normally, a politician will tell you that only they can fix this divide by bridging the gap between the two worlds, and give an" I used to live over there too" speech.

I won't do that, but I will tell you that having the counties make many of their own laws would help a lot. Life in King County has some major differences with life in Benton County, and the same laws won't always work in both.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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