Former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert on Friday announced he’s running for Washington governor in 2024, becoming the most prominent Republican seeking to replace Gov. Jay Inslee in the first open governor’s race in more than a decade.

In a video released Friday morning, Reichert, 72, said he is running “to protect the vulnerable, to help small businesses and to keep people safe.”

In the brief clip, Reichert, speaking on a break from a hike near his home in Chelan, said he believes “government should be open and responsive, not pitting one region against another, one generation against another, one family against another.”

“So buckle up. We’re going to show America there is another way. Catch you down the road.”

The entry into the gubernatorial race by Reichert, the former swing-district congressman and King County sheriff, gives Republicans a formidable contender in the race for a position that has been held by Democrats for nearly four decades.

There are early signs that establishment Republicans might unite behind Reichert. Several state legislators and Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier have already endorsed his candidacy on social media as the best shot for the GOP next year.

One potential rival, Republican candidate Raul Garcia, announced Friday he’s ending his gubernatorial campaign and backing Reichert. In an interview, Garcia, a Yakima doctor, said he will instead challenge U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell in her bid for a fifth term in 2024.

“I decided to take action and do the thing I feel will unite the party and the state, and get behind the candidate who is a proven leader and will be a great governor,” said Garcia, who ran for governor in 2020, placing fifth in the primary.

Reichert served seven terms in Congress representing Washington’s 8th Congressional District, which spans the Cascade Mountains, covering King County suburbs as well as rural Kittitas and Chelan counties. He was first elected in 2004, winning the open seat after the retirement of longtime Rep. Jennifer Dunn.

The district was held by Republicans since its creation in 1983 up to Reichert’s retirement in 2019. The seat has been held by Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier ever since.

In an interview with The Seattle Times after his announcement, Reichert said the timing was right for him to run for governor, a prospect he’d floated but ultimately shied away from in previous election cycles.

“I think that the issues Washingtonians are facing today match up perfectly with my previous careers, law enforcement being the most obvious,” he said. “My whole life I’ve been dedicated to protecting the vulnerable, just protecting people.”

Under virtually unchecked Democratic control for years, government in the state “in general has become more of a dictatorial entity, rather than one that’s dedicated to serving,” Reichert said.

While a majority of voters have endorsed such Democratic dominance, shutting Republicans out of every statewide elective office, Reichert said he believes there are enough people ready for the pendulum to swing a bit the other way — in large part out of public safety concerns.

“Look, we’re tired of being victims of crime. We’re tired of our businesses being looted. We’re tired of our windows being broken. We’re tired of our streets being used as a public toilet. We’re tired of our streets being used as a place where you can buy, use and sell drugs. The cities in our state are beginning to decay. … People would agree we’re circling the drain,” he said.

In an interview with KING 5 earlier Friday, his first since filing campaign paperwork to run last week, Reichert addressed the state’s homelessness crisis, suggesting turning the former state prison on McNeil Island and decommissioned Navy ships in Bremerton into shelters.

“You’ve got to be innovative and thinking about, ‘OK, how do we do this and get things done and take action?’ Instead of just sitting around twiddling our thumbs,” Reichert said. “Seattle has become Gotham City. Where’s Batman?”

A moderate Republican, Reichert was critical of President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign and during the two years they were both in office. He declined to endorse Trump in 2016 and said that he cast a write-in vote for president that year for Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence.

He ultimately voted against the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, after voting for prior versions. He was a supporter of trade deals, including the Trans Pacific Partnership, which Trump scrapped after taking office.

He also voted mostly against abortion rights, an issue that has only gained prominence since he left office.

Before running for Congress, Reichert was King County sheriff for eight years. A longtime deputy, he was appointed sheriff in 1997 and ran unopposed for reelection in 2001.

Reichert has worked as a lobbyist since leaving Congress, and recently represented Thermo Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical and health products company. He said he resigned from the lobbying firm Gordon Thomas Honeywell when he filed his campaign paperwork.

He said that work involved rapid and portable DNA testing equipment, the size of a microwave, that could help law enforcement solve crimes quickly.

“You take it to the scene, you swab the bodily fluids and you have an investigative lead right away,” Reichert said, adding that if the machine had been available during the King County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation of the Green River Killer, “we would have solved the Green River Killer case within weeks.”

Democrats, who had mostly ignored other GOP candidates, swiftly raised alarms about Reichert’s entry into the race, criticizing his stance on abortion as out of step with the state.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the Democrat who leads all candidates with $3 million in early fundraising, cited Reichert’s past statements that “life begins at conception” and his votes in Congress for abortion restrictions.

“Dave Reichert represents a profound threat to reproductive freedom,” Ferguson said in a statement calling the Republican’s record “deeply concerning in the face of attacks from anti-choice extremists seeking to eliminate access to abortion in every state, including Washington.”

Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, who is also running for governor as a Democrat, cited Reichert’s record of voting with Donald Trump 92.5% of the time in Congress and called his abortion-rights record extremist.

“As the only woman running for governor of either party, I am the only candidate who intimately and personally understands this issue,” Franz said in a statement.

In his interviews with The Times and with KING 5, Reichert downplayed his abortion stance, saying he has no plans to change Washington’s existing abortion laws. In the unlikely event that Republicans captured a majority in the state Legislature and sought to restrict abortion, he said, he’d push to leave such decisions to voters.

Reichert’s entry into the race could complicate prospects for state Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, who announced a bid as a moderate Democrat hoping to peel off some independent voters and even Republicans to get past next year’s primary.

Mullet said in an interview Friday that Reichert’s declaration “doesn’t change anything” and highlighted his own record of supporting abortion rights. “I don’t think you’re electable in a statewide race in Washington unless you’re pro-choice,” he said.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee cleared the way for a competitive 2024 race with his announcement that he would not seek a fourth term.

Among Republicans, the leading fundraiser so far has been Semi Bird, a military veteran and Richland School Board member, who has raised about $115,000.

In a news release after Reichert’s announcement, Bird showed no signs of backing out of the race and boasted about his endorsement by five county Republican Party organizations, including those of Benton, Yakima, Lewis, Cowlitz and Skamania counties.

“Running as a political outsider, Semi Bird refuses to accept funding or support from establishment figures within the state,” Bird’s campaign said in the release.

There is plenty of time for the race to take shape as the official filing deadline to get on the 2024 ballot is not until next May.

A Republican has not held the state’s governorship since 1985, when John Spellman left office.

Seattle Times staff reporters Claire Withycombe and David Gutman contributed to this report.