Ken Jennings has spent years asking contestants the right questions on Jeopardy! Now he’s the one delivering an answer β to Washington State voters weighing Initiative 645.
The longtime quiz show host and record-setting champion has thrown his weight behind the NO on 645 coalition, according to Breitbart News. The group opposes the ballot measure, which would repeal Washington’s 9.9% tax on annual individual income above $1 million β a levy enacted in 2026 that applies to roughly 25,000 of the state’s wealthiest residents.
Jennings isn’t the only recognizable name on the coalition’s roster. Travel writer and public television staple Rick Steves has also backed the effort, lending the campaign a pair of Washington-linked celebrities as it makes its closing argument to voters.
A 30-second pitch with three questions
The centerpiece of Jennings’ involvement is a 30-second advertisement in which he walks viewers through the coalition’s case against the initiative, framing the repeal as a windfall for the rich at the expense of public services.
In the ad, Jennings tells the audience that Initiative 645 would lead to cuts in funding for public schools and other services. He opens with a question about the size of the tax break at stake β describing it as a thirteen billion dollar benefit for millionaires and billionaires β and argues that it would make Washington’s tax system, which he characterizes as unfair to working families, even worse.
From there, he ticks through the coalition’s other talking points: that the measure would mean huge cuts to public schools, and that teachers, nurses and small businesses all oppose it.
He closes with a line that leans on his day job. “It doesn’t take a quiz show host to know that 645 is wrong for Washington,” Jennings says in the ad.
Why a Seattle host matters in Snohomish County
Jennings’ home turf may be as relevant to the coalition as his fame. According to NW Progressive, Jennings lives in Seattle and was born in Snohomish County β which the outlet describes as Washington’s bellwether swing county.
That geographic detail carries real electoral weight. NW Progressive notes that Snohomish voters will play a crucial role in deciding whether the initiative is defeated. The outlet’s analysis suggests that if Snohomish sides with its neighbor King County, which is expected to vote down the measure, the initiative will likely fail.
The county is home to the third largest bloc of voters in the state and has a reputation for splitting its ticket. It usually votes for Democratic candidates for statewide and federal office, but sometimes backs right-wing ballot measure positions and Republicans at the local level β a pattern that makes it a target for both sides of the 645 fight.
For the NO on 645 campaign, putting a Snohomish County native with a national television profile in front of voters is a straightforward play for exactly the kind of swing electorate that could decide the measure’s fate.
A tax, a repeal, and a well-known lineup of opponents
At issue is the state’s million-dollar earners tax, a 9.9% levy on annual individual income over $1 million. Enacted in 2026, it touches about 25,000 of Washington’s wealthiest residents β a small slice of the population, but the group whose tax burden the initiative would erase.
The coalition fighting the repeal has assembled a roster that goes beyond game show hosts and guidebook authors. Jennings’ ad cites teachers, nurses and small businesses as opponents of the measure, folding those groups into a single closing argument that the initiative is, in his words, wrong for Washington.
The dispute ultimately turns on how voters read the trade-offs: a tax break for high earners on one side, and the coalition’s warnings about school funding and other services on the other. Both sides now have a matter of weeks to make that case.
Whether Jennings’ familiar face moves Snohomish County β and with it, the statewide result β is the question the campaign is betting on.
Source: www.breitbart.com β https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/10/15/jeopardy-host-ken-jennings-backs-millionaires-tax-in-washington/