2024 Washington Secretary of State election

2024 Washington Secretary of State election
	Hobbs: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; Whitaker: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; Tie: 40–50% 50% No votes
Secretary of State before election; Steve Hobbs; Democratic	Elected Secretary of State ; Steve Hobbs; Democratic

The 2024 Washington Secretary of State election was held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, to elect the Washington Secretary of State, concurrently with the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the U.S. Senate and various state and local elections, including for U.S. House and governor of Washington. Washington is one of two states that holds a top-two primary, meaning that all candidates are listed on the same ballot regardless of party affiliation, and the top two move on to the general election.

Incumbent Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs was appointed to the position in 2021 after the resignation of Kim Wyman. He won a 2022 special election to serve out the remaining two years of Wyman's term and ran for re-election to a full term in 2024. Hobbs won the election decisively against Republican candidate Dale Whitaker.^[1]

Candidates

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

Steve Hobbs, incumbent secretary of state (2021–present)^[2]

Eliminated in primary

Marquez Tiggs, graduate student and candidate for secretary of state in 2022^[2]

Republican Party

Advanced to general

Dale Whitaker, tax preparer^[3]

Withdrawn

Phil Fortunato, state senator for the 31st district (2017–present) and candidate for governor in 2020 (ran for state insurance commissioner)^[4]
Bob Hagglund, IT professional and candidate for secretary of state in 2022 (ran for lieutenant governor)^[4]

Declined

Kim Wyman, senior election security advisor for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (2021–present) and former Washington Secretary of State (2013–2021)^[5]

No Labels

Eliminated in primary

Damon Townsend, election operations consultant^[2]

Primary election

Endorsements

Steve Hobbs (D)

Newspapers

The Stranger^[6]

Dale Whitaker (R)

Political parties

Washington State Republican Party^[3]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Steve Hobbs (D)	Marquez Tiggs (D)	Damon Townsend (NL)	Dale Whitaker (R)	Undecided
Public Policy Polling (D)^[7]^[A]	July 24–25, 2024	581 (LV)	± 4.0%	23%	7%	5%	30%	35%

Results

Blanket primary election results^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Steve Hobbs (incumbent)	930,533	48.38%
	Republican	Dale Whitaker	709,046	36.87%
	Democratic	Marquez Tiggs	185,628	9.65%
	No Labels	Damon Townsend	96,586	5.02%
	Write-in		1,534	0.08%
Total votes			1,923,327	100.0%

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[9]	Safe D	January 31, 2024

Debate

2024 Washington Secretary of State debate
No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Republican
Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn
					Steve Hobbs	Dale Whitaker
1	Oct. 1, 2024	League of Women Voters	Mary Coltrane	TVW	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Steve Hobbs (D)	Dale Whitaker (R)	Undecided
ActiVote^[10]	October 3–29, 2024	400 (LV)	± 4.9%	64%	36%	–
Public Policy Polling (D)^[11]^[A]	October 16–17, 2024	571 (LV)	± 4.1%	47%	34%	19%

Results

2024 Washington Secretary of State election^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Steve Hobbs (incumbent)	2,234,420	59.20%	+9.43%
	Republican	Dale Whitaker	1,535,977	40.70%	N/A
	Write-in		3,958	0.10%	–4.30%
Total votes			3,774,355	100.00%	N/A
	Democratic hold

By county

County results
County^[13]	Steve Hobbs Democratic		Dale Whitaker Republican		Write-in Various		Margin		Total votes
County^[13]	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes
Adams	1,419	27.46%	3,740	72.38%	8	0.15%	-2,321	-44.92%	5,167
Asotin	4,044	36.67%	6,965	63.16%	19	0.17%	-2,921	-26.49%	11,028
Benton	37,963	39.04%	59,194	60.87%	83	0.09%	-21,231	-21.83%	97,240
Chelan	18,163	44.88%	22,264	55.01%	47	0.12%	-4,101	-10.13%	40,474
Clallam	25,356	54.00%	21,564	45.92%	39	0.08%	3,792	8.08%	46,959
Clark	142,976	54.16%	120,647	45.70%	359	0.14%	22,329	8.46%	263,982
Columbia	658	27.58%	1,723	72.21%	5	0.21%	-1,065	-44.64%	2,386
Cowlitz	23,201	40.47%	34,068	59.43%	59	0.10%	-10,867	-18.96%	57,328
Douglas	7,512	36.73%	12,914	63.15%	25	0.12%	-5,402	-26.41%	20,451
Ferry	1,288	32.19%	2,712	67.78%	1	0.02%	-1,424	-35.59%	4,001
Franklin	12,290	39.68%	18,661	60.25%	23	0.07%	-6,371	-20.57%	30,974
Garfield	326	24.68%	994	75.25%	1	0.08%	-668	-50.57%	1,321
Grant	10,747	30.73%	24,202	69.21%	18	0.05%	-13,455	-38.48%	34,967
Grays Harbor	17,302	47.46%	19,113	52.43%	38	0.10%	-1,811	-4.97%	36,453
Island	29,108	57.31%	21,620	42.56%	66	0.13%	7,488	14.74%	50,794
Jefferson	17,585	72.71%	6,583	27.22%	17	0.07%	11,002	45.49%	24,185
King	823,265	75.83%	261,343	24.07%	1,135	0.10%	561,922	51.75%	1,085,743
Kitsap	91,406	60.29%	60,045	39.61%	157	0.10%	31,361	20.69%	151,608
Kittitas	10,598	41.69%	14,805	58.23%	20	0.08%	-4,207	-16.55%	25,423
Klickitat	5,914	45.13%	7,181	54.80%	10	0.08%	-1,267	-9.67%	13,105
Lewis	14,533	33.21%	29,189	66.70%	40	0.09%	-14,656	-33.49%	43,762
Lincoln	1,625	23.35%	5,322	76.49%	11	0.16%	-3,697	-53.13%	6,958
Mason	17,067	48.16%	18,311	51.67%	57	0.16%	-1,244	-3.51%	35,435
Okanogan	8,529	42.51%	11,518	57.41%	15	0.07%	-2,989	-14.90%	20,062
Pacific	6,813	49.51%	6,934	50.39%	14	0.10%	-121	-0.88%	13,761
Pend Oreille	2,533	30.53%	5,754	69.34%	11	0.13%	-3,221	-38.82%	8,298
Pierce	234,819	55.49%	187,905	44.41%	425	0.10%	46,914	11.09%	423,149
San Juan	9,362	75.43%	3,035	24.45%	15	0.12%	6,327	50.97%	12,412
Skagit	36,595	54.30%	30,743	45.62%	57	0.08%	5,852	8.68%	67,395
Skamania	3,187	45.17%	3,860	54.71%	8	0.11%	-673	-9.54%	7,055
Snohomish	238,675	59.86%	159,690	40.05%	385	0.10%	78,985	19.81%	398,750
Spokane	129,933	46.99%	146,283	52.90%	297	0.11%	-16,350	-5.91%	276,513
Stevens	7,519	27.27%	20,022	72.62%	29	0.11%	-12,503	-45.35%	27,570
Thurston	97,125	61.01%	61,904	38.89%	166	0.10%	35,221	22.12%	159,195
Wahkiakum	1,195	40.66%	1,742	59.27%	2	0.07%	-547	-18.61%	2,939
Walla Walla	12,999	45.31%	15,682	54.66%	10	0.03%	-2,683	-9.35%	28,691
Whatcom	83,082	62.34%	50,090	37.59%	99	0.07%	32,992	24.76%	133,271
Whitman	10,302	53.25%	9,028	46.66%	18	0.09%	1,274	6.58%	19,348
Yakima	37,406	43.39%	48,627	56.41%	169	0.20%	-11,221	-13.02%	86,202
Totals	2,234,420	59.20%	1,535,977	40.70%	3,958	0.10%	698,443	18.50%	3,774,355

By congressional district

Hobbs won seven of ten congressional districts, with the remaining three going to Whitaker, including one that elected a Democrat.^[14]

District	Hobbs	Whitaker	Representative
1st	64%	36%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	62%	38%	Rick Larsen
3rd	49%	51%	Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
4th	40%	60%	Dan Newhouse
5th	44%	56%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers (118th Congress)
5th	44%	56%	Michael Baumgartner (119th Congress)
6th	60%	40%	Derek Kilmer (118th Congress)
6th	60%	40%	Emily Randall (119th Congress)
7th	88%	12%	Pramila Jayapal
8th	52%	48%	Kim Schrier
9th	71%	29%	Adam Smith
10th	59%	40%	Marilyn Strickland