STATE OF WASHINGTON – Despite trailing in the polls, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert told KOMO News he is confident and expects he will win the race. If that happens, there will be a Republican in the Washington governor's mansion for the first time since the 1980s.

KOMO News' Michelle Esteban sat down with Reichert for a one-on-one interview on Wednesday.

The former seven-term U.S. congressman and two-time King County sheriff who helped catch the infamous “Green River Killer” feels an “undercurrent of support” not from polls but from months of conversations with voters.

“I’m running for all the families here in Washington state,” Reichert told KOMO News from his campaign office in Bellevue. “I’m running because I know the criminal justice system is absolutely broken. I'm running because we're not helping the homeless. In fact, things have gotten worse. Yes, we can point to some successes, but we have wasted a lot of money on the homeless. I’m running because the economy is so out of control that our young people can’t even think about buying a condo or their first home, and I’m running because our education system needs to be retooled.”

If Reichert is successful in his election, it would not be the first time that he has come from behind to win. Reichert said he has fallen short of victories in six of seven of his congressional races, but it would be the first time in four decades.

“I knew I had to do it and I didn’t. That was not my goal as governor. People encouraged me to do it. I feel forced. I feel motivated to do this because I have five great-grandchildren and one great-grandchild on the way,” Reichert said. “I want to change the direction that we're taking here in Washington state, obviously not just for my own family, but for all families in Washington state, just to provide some kind of reality check.”

In a recent KOMO News/Strategies 360 poll of 600 registered voters in Washington, respondents were asked who they would vote for governor today if they voted, and 51% said they would vote for challenger Bob Ferguson, Washington's current governor Attorney General in third term, 41% would vote for Reichert, 8% of respondents said they were undecided. The survey had a margin of error of +/-4%.

“Shortly before an election campaign, I once fell behind by 10 points. I've lost numbers before in my seven congressional campaigns, not as sheriff. So I don’t really look at the numbers,” Reichert said. “I listen to people and think there is an undercurrent of this movement across the state that cannot be measured by polls, and that is why I enter the last six days with a very positive view of our chances. We will win. I believe that.”