2012 Washington Secretary of State election

2012 Washington Secretary of State election

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Nominee Kim Wyman Kathleen Drew Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,464,741 1,442,868 Percentage 50.38% 49.62%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results Wyman:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Drew:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Tie:     50%     No votes

Secretary of State before election Sam Reed Republican Elected Secretary of State Kim Wyman Republican

The Washington Secretary of State election, 2012, took place on November 6, 2012. Republican Kim Wyman was narrowly elected Secretary of State to succeed incumbent Republican Sam Reed, who did not seek re-election.

Primary election

Blanket primary results by county

  Wyman

•   20–30%
•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Drew

•   30–40%

The primary election took place in August. Under Washington's top-two primary system, introduced in the early 2000s, the primary was designed to narrow the field of candidates to two, rather than select specific party nominees, and candidates could designate themselves as affiliated with any political party, whether it existed or not.

Seven candidates contested the primary:

• Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman ran under the Republican Party designation.
• Karen Murray ran under the Constitution Party designation.
• Sam Wright ran under the Human Rights Party designation.
• David J. Anderson ran as an independent candidate.
• Former Seattle mayor Greg Nickels, state senator Jim Kastama, and former state legislator Kathleen Drew, all ran under the Democratic Party designation.

Wyman and Drew scored the most votes in the primary contest, thereby becoming the two candidates to advance to the general election. Wyman received 39.75-percent of the vote and Drew 21.73-percent.

2012 Washington Secretary of State blanket primary election

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kim Wyman	528,754	39.76
	Democratic	Kathleen Drew	289,052	21.73
	Democratic	Gregory J. Nickels	210,832	15.85
	Democratic	Jim Kastama	185,425	13.94
	Constitution	Karen Murray	50,888	3.83
	Independent	David J. Anderson	44,276	3.33
	Human Rights	Sam Wright	20,809	1.57
Total votes			1,330,036	100.00

General election

Republican Kim Wyman won the general election in a close-fought contest, and was the only Republican elected to statewide office in Washington. She was endorsed in the election by the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin , ^[1] The Wenatchee World , ^[2] the Tri-City Herald , ^[3] and The Seattle Times . ^[4] She was also endorsed by the Washington Education Association, ^[5] which typically endorsed Democrats. ^[3]

With Wyman's victory, Republicans extended their control of the office of Secretary of State of Washington to 48 consecutive years, having won each of the preceding 12 elections.

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Kim Wyman (R)	Kathleen Drew (D)	Undecided
Elway Research [6]	October 18–21, 2012	451 (RV)	± 4.5%	34%	34%	32%
Elway Research [7]	September 9–12, 2012	405 (RV)	± 5.0%	32%	40%	28%

Results

2012 Washington Secretary of State election ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kim Wyman	1,464,741	50.38%
	Democratic	Kathleen Drew	1,442,868	49.62%
Total votes			2,907,609	100.00%

By county

County results

County [9]	Kim Wyman Republican		Kathleen Drew Democratic		Margin		Total votes
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	3,235	71.94%	1,262	28.06%	1,973	43.87%	4,497
Asotin	5,560	60.00%	3,706	40.00%	1,854	20.01%	9,266
Benton	50,318	68.00%	23,684	32.00%	26,634	35.99%	74,002
Chelan	19,282	64.35%	10,681	35.65%	8,601	28.71%	29,963
Clallam	19,699	55.09%	16,058	44.91%	3,641	10.18%	35,757
Clark	98,251	55.06%	80,180	44.94%	18,071	10.13%	178,431
Columbia	1,536	73.28%	560	26.72%	976	46.56%	2,096
Cowlitz	21,886	52.21%	20,036	47.79%	1,850	4.41%	41,922
Douglas	9,655	68.66%	4,407	31.34%	5,248	37.32%	14,062
Ferry	2,023	62.63%	1,207	37.37%	816	25.26%	3,230
Franklin	14,275	65.88%	7,394	34.12%	6,881	31.76%	21,669
Garfield	866	73.14%	318	26.86%	548	46.28%	1,184
Grant	18,064	69.33%	7,990	30.67%	10,074	38.67%	26,054
Grays Harbor	13,665	50.09%	13,615	49.91%	50	0.18%	27,280
Island	21,376	54.26%	18,020	45.74%	3,356	8.52%	39,396
Jefferson	7,507	40.18%	11,175	59.82%	-3,668	-19.63%	18,682
King	345,268	39.05%	538,986	60.95%	-193,718	-21.91%	884,254
Kitsap	59,488	51.17%	56,774	48.83%	2,714	2.33%	116,262
Kittitas	10,183	61.08%	6,488	38.92%	3,695	22.16%	16,671
Klickitat	5,477	56.66%	4,189	43.34%	1,288	13.33%	9,666
Lewis	21,520	67.04%	10,578	32.96%	10,942	34.09%	32,098
Lincoln	4,054	73.43%	1,467	26.57%	2,587	46.86%	5,521
Mason	14,623	54.56%	12,181	45.44%	2,442	9.11%	26,804
Okanogan	9,611	60.25%	6,342	39.75%	3,269	20.49%	15,953
Pacific	4,734	48.16%	5,096	51.84%	-362	-3.68%	9,830
Pend Oreille	4,050	64.40%	2,239	35.60%	1,811	28.80%	6,289
Pierce	168,773	52.69%	151,556	47.31%	17,217	5.37%	320,329
San Juan	3,689	37.03%	6,274	62.97%	-2,585	-25.95%	9,963
Skagit	27,815	53.76%	23,920	46.24%	3,895	7.53%	51,735
Skamania	2,731	53.66%	2,358	46.34%	373	7.33%	5,089
Snohomish	153,513	49.75%	155,030	50.25%	-1,517	-0.49%	308,543
Spokane	121,352	58.10%	87,499	41.90%	33,853	16.21%	208,851
Stevens	14,200	67.55%	6,822	32.45%	7,378	35.10%	21,022
Thurston	70,374	58.40%	50,133	41.60%	20,241	16.80%	120,507
Wahkiakum	1,185	55.74%	941	44.26%	244	11.48%	2,126
Walla Walla	15,092	64.61%	8,268	35.39%	6,824	29.21%	23,360
Whatcom	46,491	48.32%	49,722	51.68%	-3,231	-3.36%	96,213
Whitman	9,122	57.66%	6,699	42.34%	2,423	15.32%	15,821
Yakima	44,198	60.37%	29,013	39.63%	15,185	20.74%	73,211
Totals	1,464,741	50.38%	1,442,868	49.62%	21,873	0.75%	2,907,609

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Jefferson (largest city: Port Townsend)
• King (largest city: Seattle)
• Pacific (largest city: Raymond)
• Snohomish (largest city: Everett)
• Whatcom (largest city: Bellingham)

Swing by county

Legend

•   Democratic — +>15%
•   Democratic — +12.5-15%
•   Democratic — +10-12.5%
•   Democratic — +7.5-10%
•   Democratic — +5-7.5%
•   Democratic — +2.5-5%
•   Democratic — +0-2.5%
•   Republican — +0-2.5%

Trend relative to the state by county

Legend

•   Democratic — +7.5–10%
•   Democratic — +5–7.5%
•   Democratic — +2.5–5%
•   Democratic — +0–2.5%
•   Republican — +0–2.5%
•   Republican — +2.5–5%
•   Republican — +5–7.5%
•   Republican — +7.5–10%
    Republican — +10-12.5%
•   Republican — +12.5-15%
•   Republican — +>15%

County flips

Legend

• Democratic   Hold   Gain from Republican

  Republican   Hold

By congressional district

Wyman won six of ten congressional districts, including two that elected Democrats. ^[10]

District	Wyman	Podlodowski	Representative
1st	53%	47%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	47%	53%	Rick Larsen
3rd	56%	44%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	65%	35%	Doc Hastings
5th	60%	40%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	49.9%	50.1%	Derek Kilmer
7th	28%	72%	Jim McDermott
8th	57%	43%	Dave Reichert
9th	40%	60%	Adam Smith
10th	55%	45%	Denny Heck

References

1. "Kim Wyman clear choice for Washington's secretary of state". Walla Walla Union-Bulletin . 12 October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
2. "Kim Wyman for secretary of state". The Wenatchee World . October 20, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
3. "Kim Wyman best choice for secretary of state". Tri-City Herald . October 3, 2012. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
4. "Editorial: The Times recommends Kim Wyman for Washington's secretary of state". The Seattle Times . October 7, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
5. "WEA-PAC recommends Kim Wyman for election as Secretary of State". Washington Education Association. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
6. Elway Research
7. Elway Research
8. https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20121106/secretary-of-state.html
9. Reed, Sam (November 6, 2012). "Secretary of State - County Results". Secretary of State of Washington . Archived from the original on March 25, 2025. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
10. "2012 General Data". sos.wa.gov. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024.