Democrat Hobbs leads nonpartisan Anderson for Secretary of State after first counts

Democratic Secretary of State incumbent Steve Hobbs was leading nonpartisan challenger and Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson by about 3 percentage points in Tuesday night’s first election tallies.

The results posted showed Hobbs with 50% and Anderson with 47%.

Hobbs was appointed to the position in 2021 by Gov. Jay Inslee after former Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman left to work for the Biden Administration in election security. Wyman was first elected to the office 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 position that oversees elections for the state.

In a press release Tuesday night, Anderson said she knew the results would be close.

“Millions of votes have been cast in this election and, as is common in our all-mail voting, ballots are still being counted,” she said. “This process has many steps, and it takes time.”

Hobbs and other state Democrats have previously accused Anderson of being a secret Republican, although her voting record shows that she leans into more progressive policies such as restoring voter eligibility for those with felonies who are not under total confinement in Washington state as well as ranked choice voting for local areas.

Hobbs, on the other hand, was the only Democratic Senator who voted against the restoration of the right to vote for those with felonies in 2021, before he was appointed as the Secretary of State. Additionally, Hobbs does not support ranked choice voting because he said that “it disenfranchises communities and leaves us vulnerable to misinformation.”

Both candidates faced off against six other candidates in the state’s August primary election. Hobbs came away with 40% of the overall vote while Anderson barely eked out a win over Republicans Keith Wagoner and Bob Hagglund. Anderson ended with 12.8% in the primary, Wagoner had 12.1% of the vote and Hagglund came in at 12%.

Anderson was elected as a nonpartisan Pierce County Auditor in 2009. Some of her focus areas include legislation to make the office completely nonpartisan as she does not believe a partisan Secretary of State is “compatible with the duties of the office, nor with oversight of fair elections.”

Hobbs served in the Washington State Senate from 2007 until 2021, and chaired the Transportation Committee. As one of his focus areas, Hobbs noted on his website that he wants to protect voting rights by increasing “resources with the purpose of engaging eligible voters in Washington, and concentrate outreach to those eligible voters who are young, in tribal and underserved communities, have disabilities, are non-English-speakers, and new state residents.”

Both candidates have used their platforms to discuss an increasing need for cybersecurity and transparency in elections, as well as the need for the office to combat disinformation and misinformation.

Ballots will continue to be counted until results are officially certified by each county on Nov. 29. They will be certified by the Secretary of State on Dec. 8.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 10:05 PM.