2024 Washington Secretary of State election

See also: 2024 United States secretary of state elections

2024 Washington Secretary of State election

November 5, 2024

Nominee Steve Hobbs Dale Whitaker Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,234,420 1,535,977 Percentage 59.20% 40.70%

County results Congressional district results Hobbs:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Whitaker:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

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Withdrawn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 results by county

  Hobbs

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Whitaker

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

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 congressional district

Hobbs won seven of 10 congressional districts, with the remaining three going to Whitaker, including one that elected a Democrat.^[13]

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)
			Michael Baumgartner (119th Congress)
6th	60%	40%	Derek Kilmer (118th Congress)
			Emily Randall (119th Congress)
7th	88%	12%	Pramila Jayapal
8th	52%	48%	Kim Schrier
9th	71%	29%	Adam Smith
10th	59%	40%	Marilyn Strickland

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear

Partisan clients

1. Poll sponsored by the Northwest Progressive Institute

References

1. Fortin, Daniel (November 5, 2024). "Steve Hobbs wins Washington U.S. Secretary of State race with 59.6% of the vote, NBC reports". NonStop Local Tri-Cities/Yakima. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
2. "PRIMARY 2024 Candidate List". voter.votewa.gov. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
3. Dennis, Ellen (April 23, 2024). "Washington state Republican Party endorses 6 candidates as races for statewide offices heat up". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
4. Villenueve, Andrew (May 6, 2024). "WA Entry Week 2024: A look at entries in key races from Monday evening". The Cascadia Advocate. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
5. Kaczaraba, Bill (March 13, 2024). "Is ex-Secretary of State Kim Wyman running for that office again?". MyNorthwest.com. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
6. "The Stranger's Endorsements for the August, 6, 2024 Primary Election". July 31, 2024.
7. Public Policy Polling (D)
8. "Certification of Results" (PDF). Washington Secretary of State.
9. Jacobson, Louis (January 31, 2024). "This Year's Key Attorney General and Secretary of State Races". University of Virginia Center for Politics.
10. ActiVote
11. Public Policy Polling (D)
12. "Official Canvass of the Returns" (PDF). Secretary of State of Washington. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
13. Results (PDF). sos.wa.gov (Report).