| Election Name: | 2022 Washington Secretary of State special election |
| Country: | Washington |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2020 Washington Secretary of State election |
| Previous Year: | 2020 |
| Next Election: | 2024 Washington Secretary of State election |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
| Election Date: | November 8, 2022 |
| Image1: | Steve Hobbs (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Steve Hobbs |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,468,521 |
| Percentage1: | 49.8% |
| Nominee2: | Julie Anderson |
| Party2: | Nonpartisan politician |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,351,926 |
| Percentage2: | 45.8% |
| Map Size: | 275px |
| Secretary of State | |
| Before Election: | Steve Hobbs |
| Before Party: | Washington State Democratic Party |
| After Election: | Steve Hobbs |
| After Party: | Washington State Democratic Party |
The 2022 Washington Secretary of State special election was held on November 8, 2022. Incumbent Kim Wyman, a Republican, resigned from the office on November 19, 2021, to become the senior election security lead for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the Biden administration's Department of Homeland Security.[1] Washington governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, announced he would appoint state senator Steve Hobbs as her replacement, the first Democrat to hold the office in more than fifty years.[2]
In the primary election, Hobbs easily took first place. The race for the second spot in the general election was a close three-way battle between state senator Keith Wagoner and technician Bob Hagglund, both Republicans, and Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson, an Independent. After a week of tabulation, Anderson was declared the winner, with the three candidates separated by just over 14,000 votes—less than 1% of the total.[3] Brad Klippert, a Republican state representative, ran a write-in campaign in the general election.
Hobbs narrowly won the general election with 49.8% of the vote, over 7% less than the vote share won by Patty Murray in the concurrent Senate race. This marked the first time since 1960 that a Democrat was elected Washington Secretary of State.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Julie Anderson (NP) | Tamborine Borrelli (R) | Kurtis Engle (I) | Bob Hagglund (R) | Steve Hobbs (D) | Mark Miloscia (R) | Marquez Tiggs (D) | Keith Wagoner (R) | Undecided | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling (D) | June 1–2, 2022 | 1,039 (LV) | ± 3.0% | 5% | 5% | 1% | 5% | 17% | 2% | 3% | 6% | 56% | |||
| Public Policy Polling (D) | February 17–18, 2022 | 700 (LV) | ± 3.7% | 11% | – | – | – | 33% | – | – | 30% | 25% |
| Source | Ranking | As of | |
|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | Sabato's Crystal Ball[15] | November 3, 2022 | |
| Elections Daily[16] | November 7, 2022 |
A debate was scheduled for October 18 at the University of Puget Sound,[18] but it was canceled.[19]
| Date | Host | Moderator | Link | Democratic | Nonpartisan | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key: Participant Absent Not invited Invited Withdrawn | |||||||
| Steve Hobbs | Julie Anderson | ||||||
| 1 | Aug. 17, 2022 | Association of Washington Business | Melissa Santos | AWB | |||
| 2 | Oct. 23, 2022 | KSPS League of Women Voters of Washington The Spokesman-Review Washington Debate Coalition | Laurel Demkovitch | YouTube | |||
Endorsements in bold were made after the primary election.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Steve Hobbs (D) | Julie Anderson (NP) | Undecided | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SurveyUSA | October 14–19, 2022 | 589 (LV) | ± 5.0% | 40% | 29% | 30% | |||
| Strategies 360 | September 22–25, 2022 | 500 (RV) | ± 4.4% | 35% | 36% | 29% | |||
| 370 (LV) | ± 5.1% | 38% | 38% | 24% | |||||
| The Trafalgar Group (R) | September 21–24, 2022 | 1,091 (LV) | ± 2.9% | 40% | 37% | 23% | |||
| Elway Research | September 12–15, 2022 | 403 (LV) | ± 3.0% | 31% | 29% | 40% |
Despite losing the state, Anderson won 6 of 10 congressional districts, including four that elected Democrats.[20]
| District | Anderson | Hobbs | Representative | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41% | 55% | Suzan DelBene | ||||
| 43% | 51% | Rick Larsen | ||||
| 53% | 42% | Jaime Herrera Beutler (117th Congress) | ||||
| Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (118th Congress) | ||||||
| 59% | 32% | Dan Newhouse | ||||
| 55% | 38% | Cathy McMorris Rodgers | ||||
| 49% | 47% | Derek Kilmer | ||||
| 24% | 75% | Pramila Jayapal | ||||
| 51% | 44% | Kim Schrier | ||||
| 35% | 62% | Adam Smith | ||||
| 50% | 46% | Marilyn Strickland |