King County Superior Court Judge Jaime Michelle Hawk held a commanding lead over Mason County Superior Court Judge David Stevens statewide in early returns Tuesday night in the race for Position 3 on the Washington Supreme Court.
Statewide, Hawk had 657,003 votes, or 59.8%, to Stevens’ 437,123, or 39.8%, according to the Washington Secretary of State.
Kitsap County voters also favored Hawk, 57.4% to 42.2%, or 48,085 votes to 35,366, according to unofficial results posted by the Kitsap County Auditor’s Office at 8:13 p.m. Tuesday.
Countywide, 92,136 ballots had been counted, a turnout of 45.1% of Kitsap County’s 204,242 registered voters.
The Kitsap County Auditor’s Office will keep counting ballots in the coming days, including mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day, and results can change. The county is scheduled to certify the election Nov. 24.
The winner will serve a six-year term.
The seat is open because Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis did not seek a second six-year term.
Stevens, a Mason County Superior Court judge, is a Navy veteran and former public defender and prosecutor. He is endorsed by the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs and supported by the state Republican Party. Hawk, a King County Superior Court judge, is the former legal strategy director for the ACLU of Washington and is endorsed by Gov. Bob Ferguson and most of the state’s Democratic leadership.
In the three-way August primary, Stevens led statewide with about 35% to Hawk’s 33%, with Court of Appeals Judge Mike Diaz third at 31%. In Kitsap County, Stevens received about 36%, Hawk 32% and Diaz 31%. Washington Supreme Court races are nonpartisan.
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