Ken Jennings, the longtime Jeopardy! host and record-setting champion, has backed the NO on 645 coalition in Washington State.
The coalition opposes Initiative 645, which seeks to repeal the state’s 9.9% “millionaires tax” (or million-dollar earners tax) on annual individual income over $1 million. Enacted in 2026, the tax applies to roughly 25,000 of the wealthiest residents. Travel expert Rick Steves has also supported the coalition alongside Jennings.
In a 30-second ad, Jennings tells the audience that the Initiative 645 would lead to cuts in funds to public schools and other services.
“Did you know Initiative 645 would give millionaires and billionaires a thirteen billion dollar tax break, making Washington’s unfair tax system, where working families pay two times more than the wealthiest, even worse?” Jennings says in the ad.
“Or that 645 would mean huge cuts to public schools?” he continues. “Or that teachers, nurses and small businesses all oppose 645? It doesn’t take a quiz show host to know that 645 is wrong for Washington.”
“Vote NO,” he concludes.
According to NW Progressive, Jennings “lives in Seattle and was born in Snohomish County, which is Washington’s bellwether swing county.”
“Snohomish voters will play a crucial role in deciding whether Heywood’s 645 is defeated or not,” it said. “If Snohomish sides with its neighbor King County, which is expected to vote down 645, the measure will likely fail.”
“The county, home to the third largest bloc of voters in the state, usually votes for Democratic candidates for statewide and federal office, but sometimes votes for right wing ballot measure positions and Republicans at the local level. It’s therefore an important county to both sides,” it added.