2016 Washington State Auditor election

2016 Washington State Auditor election

←  2012 November 8, 2016 2020  →

Nominee Pat McCarthy Mark Miloscia Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,597,011 1,455,771 Percentage 52.31% 47.69%

County results Congressional district results McCarthy:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Miloscia:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

State Auditor before election Troy Kelley Democratic Elected State Auditor Pat McCarthy Democratic

The 2016 Washington state auditor election was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the Washington state auditor, concurrently with the 2016 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 state auditor Troy Kelley retired. ^[1] Democratic Pierce County executive Pat McCarthy narrowly defeated Republican state senator Mark Miloscia to succeed Kelley. ^[2]

The top-two primary was held on August 2.

Background

Kelley was elected in 2012 against Republican James Watkins, winning 53% of the vote to succeed conservative Democrat Brian Sonntag. ^[3] He was indicted over federal charges of felony theft and money laundering. Several attempts to remove him from office, including a threat of impeachment by the legislature, proved unsuccessful. ^[4] Kelley did not file to run for a second term. ^[1]

Primary election

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

• Pat McCarthy, Pierce County executive (2009–2017) ^[5]

Eliminated in primary

• Jeff Sprung, attorney ^[6]

Declined

• Troy Kelley, incumbent state auditor (2013–2017) ^[1]

Republican Party

Advanced to general

• Mark Miloscia, state senator (2015–2019) ^[7]

Third-party and independent candidates

Eliminated in primary

• David Golden (Independent), engineer ^[8]
• Mark Wilson (Independent), forensic accountant ^[8]

Endorsements

Jeff Sprung (D)

Newspapers

• The Seattle Times ^[9]

Results

Two Democratic, one Republican and two independent candidates competed in the primary. Mark Miloscia (R) and Pat McCarthy (D) finished as the top two and advanced to the general election.

Blanket primary results by county

  Miloscia

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

  McCarthy

•   30–40%

  Sprung

•   30–40%

Blanket primary results ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Miloscia	481,910	36.71
	Democratic	Pat McCarthy	381,828	29.09
	Democratic	Jeff Sprung	314,290	23.94
	Independent	Mark Wilson	96,972	7.39
	Independent	David Golden	37,727	2.87
Total votes			1,312,727	100.00

General election

Post-primary endorsements

Mark Milscia (R)

Newspapers

• The Seattle Times ^[11]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Pat McCarthy (D)	Mark Miloscia (R)	Undecided
Elway Poll [12]	October 20–22, 2016	502 (RV)	± 4.5%	39%	29%	32%
Elway Poll [13]	August 9–13, 2016	500 (RV)	± 4.5%	37%	29%	34%

Results

2016 Washington State Auditor election ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Pat McCarthy	1,597,011	52.31	–0.64
	Republican	Mark Miloscia	1,455,771	47.69	+0.64
Total votes			3,052,782	100.00	N/A
	Democratic hold

By county

County results

County [15]	Pat McCarthy Democratic		Mark Miloscia Republican		Margin		Total votes
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	1,449	32.42%	3,020	67.58%	-1,571	-35.15%	4,469
Asotin	3,604	38.77%	5,693	61.23%	-2,089	-22.47%	9,297
Benton	27,675	35.65%	49,957	64.35%	-22,282	-28.70%	77,632
Chelan	12,285	39.13%	19,109	60.87%	-6,824	-21.74%	31,394
Clallam	17,493	46.68%	19,980	53.32%	-2,487	-6.64%	37,473
Clark	89,618	46.78%	101,962	53.22%	-12,344	-6.44%	191,580
Columbia	616	29.98%	1,439	70.02%	-823	-40.05%	2,055
Cowlitz	19,799	45.70%	23,522	54.30%	-3,723	-8.59%	43,321
Douglas	4,980	33.65%	9,821	66.35%	-4,841	-32.71%	14,801
Ferry	1,242	36.38%	2,172	63.62%	-930	-27.24%	3,414
Franklin	9,011	38.95%	14,125	61.05%	-5,114	-22.10%	23,136
Garfield	328	27.99%	844	72.01%	-516	-44.03%	1,172
Grant	8,557	31.52%	18,590	68.48%	-10,033	-36.96%	27,147
Grays Harbor	13,455	49.62%	13,660	50.38%	-205	-0.76%	27,115
Island	19,666	46.89%	21,395	52.11%	-1,729	-4.21%	41,061
Jefferson	12,420	63.88%	7,023	36.12%	5,397	27.76%	19,443
King	591,708	63.66%	337,754	36.34%	253,954	27.32%	929,462
Kitsap	60,572	50.56%	59,223	49.44%	1,349	1.13%	119,795
Kittitas	7,139	39.98%	10,717	60.02%	-3,578	-20.04%	17,856
Klickitat	4,354	42.40%	5,914	57.60%	-1,560	-15.19%	10,268
Lewis	10,813	33.06%	21,896	66.94%	-11,083	-33.88%	32,709
Lincoln	1,422	25.99%	4,050	74.01%	-2,628	-48.03%	5,472
Mason	12,661	46.99%	14,284	53.01%	-1,623	-6.02%	26,945
Okanogan	6,761	41.48%	9,540	58.52%	-2,779	-17.05%	16,301
Pacific	4,904	48.79%	5,147	51.21%	-243	-2.42%	10,051
Pend Oreille	2,295	35.17%	4,230	64.83%	-1,935	-29.66%	6,525
Pierce	171,823	51.02%	164,971	48.98%	6,852	2.03%	336,794
San Juan	6,821	66.81%	3,388	33.19%	3,433	33.63%	10,209
Skagit	25,433	47.49%	28,119	52.51%	-2,686	-5.02%	53,552
Skamania	2,343	44.17%	2,962	55.83%	-619	-11.67%	5,305
Snohomish	167,967	50.94%	161,752	49.06%	6,215	1.88%	329,719
Spokane	95,689	43.70%	123,279	56.30%	-27,590	-12.60%	218,968
Stevens	6,617	30.28%	15,236	69.72%	-8,619	-39.44%	21,853
Thurston	66,931	54.04%	56,918	45.96%	10,013	8.08%	123,849
Wahkiakum	897	41.82%	1,248	58.18%	-351	-16.36%	2,145
Walla Walla	9,868	40.84%	14,292	59.16%	-4,424	-18.31%	24,160
Whatcom	57,669	54.88%	47,409	45.12%	10,260	9.76%	105,078
Whitman	7,779	47.07%	8,748	52.93%	-969	-5.86%	16,527
Yakima	32,347	43.29%	42,382	56.71%	-10,035	-13.43%	74,729
Totals	1,597,011	52.31%	1,455,771	47.69%	141,240	4.63%	3,052,782

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Cowlitz (largest city: Longview)
• Grays Harbor (largest city: Aberdeen)
• Pacific (largest city: Raymond)

Swing 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%

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%

County flips

Legend

• Democratic   Hold

  Republican   Hold   Gain from Democratic

By congressional district

McCarthy won five of ten congressional districts, with the remaining five going to Miloscia, including one that elected a Democrat. ^[14]

District	McCarthy	Miloscia	Representative
1st	48%	52%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	55%	45%	Rick Larsen
3rd	45%	55%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	38%	62%	Dan Newhouse
5th	42%	58%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	53%	47%	Derek Kilmer
7th	74%	26%	Jim McDermott
			Pramila Jayapal
8th	44%	56%	Dave Reichert
9th	63%	37%	Adam Smith
10th	53%	47%	Denny Heck

References

1. Santos, Melissa (May 20, 2016). "After Troy Kelley trial, a battle for who will take over State Auditor's Office". Tacoma News-Tribune . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
2. Young, Bob (November 8, 2016). "Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy appears headed to a win in state auditor's contest". The Seattle Times . Archived from the original on December 22, 2024. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
3. https://www.heraldnet.com/news/watkins-concedes-in-state-auditor-race/
4. Connelly, Joel (February 23, 2016). "Indicted State Auditor Troy Kelley won't be impeached by the Legislature". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
5. https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/article60745171.html
6. https://www.kuow.org/stories/seattle-attorney-joins-race-washington-state-auditor/
7. Brunner, Jim (October 8, 2015). "State Sen. Mark Miloscia to run for state auditor". The Seattle Times . Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
8. https://komonews.com/news/local/candidates-for-state-auditor-vow-to-restore-offices-credibility
9. Editorial Board, The Seattle Times (July 10, 2016). "The Times recommends: Jeff Sprung for state auditor". The Seattle Times . Archived from the original on August 11, 2024. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
10. Wyman, Kim (August 2, 2016). "State Auditor". Secretary of State of Washington . Archived from the original on July 15, 2025. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
11. Editorial Board, The Seattle Times (October 13, 2016). "The Times recommends: Mark Miloscia for state auditor". The Seattle Times . Archived from the original on February 28, 2024. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
12. Elway Poll
13. Elway Poll
14. "2016 General Data". sos.wa.gov. Archived from the original on March 15, 2025.
15. Wyman, Kim (November 8, 2016). "State Auditor - County Results". Secretary of State of Washington . Archived from the original on June 27, 2025. Retrieved October 25, 2025.