Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs edged nonpartisan challenger and Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson by about 3 percentage points in Tuesday night’s primary.
Published the results showed Hobbs with 50% and Anderson with 47%.
Hobbs was appointed to the post in 2021 by Gov. Jay Inslee after former Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman left to work in the Biden administration on election security. Wyman was first elected to the position in 2013.
If Hobbs ultimately wins the race, it will be the first time in 56 years that a Democrat has been elected to the office overseeing state elections.
In a news release Tuesday night, Anderson said she knew the results would be close.
“Millions of votes were cast in this election and, as usual with our postal voting, ballots are still being counted,” she said. “This process has many steps and takes time.”
Hobbs and other state Democrats previously accused Anderson of being a secret Republicanalthough her voting record shows she leans toward more progressive policies, such as restoring voting rights to non-incarcerated felons in Washington state, and at-large voting.
Hobbes, on the other hand, was the only Democratic senator to vote against restoring voting rights to felons in 2021 before he was appointed Secretary of State. Furthermore, Hobbes does not support ranked voting because he said that “it disenfranchises the community and leaves us vulnerable to misinformation.”
Both candidates faced six other candidates in the state’s August primary election. Hobbs won 40% of the vote, while Anderson narrowly beat Republicans Keith Wagoner and Bob Haglund. Anderson received 12.8% of the primary vote, Wagoner received 12.1% of the vote, and Hagglund received 12%.
Anderson was elected as the non-partisan Pierce County Auditor in 2009. Some of her priorities include legislation that would make the office completely nonpartisan, as she doesn’t believe a party secretary of state is “compatible with the duties of the office, as well as oversight of election fairness.”
Hobbs served in the Washington State Senate from 2007 to 2021 and chaired the Transportation Committee. As part of his focus, Hobbs said on his website that he wants to protect voting rights by increasing “resources to reach eligible voters in Washington and focusing on those eligible voters who young, in tribal and underprivileged communities, have limited opportunities, non-English speaking and new residents of the state.”
Both candidates used their platforms to discuss the growing need for cybersecurity and election transparency, as well as the office’s need to fight misinformation and disinformation.
Ballot counting will continue until the results are officially certified by each precinct on November 29. They will be certified by the Secretary of State on December 8.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 10:05 p.m.
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