2020 Washington Insurance Commissioner election

For related races, see 2020 Washington elections.

2020 Washington Insurance Commissioner election

←  2016 November 3, 2020 2024  →

Candidate Mike Kreidler Chirayu Avinash Patel Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,506,693 1,308,292 Percentage 65.39% 34.13%

County results Congressional district results Kreidler:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Patel:      50–60%     60–70%

Insurance Commissioner before election Mike Kreidler Democratic Elected Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler Democratic

The 2020 Washington Insurance Commissioner election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the next insurance commissioner of Washington, concurrently with the 2020 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. Incumbent Democratic Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler was re-elected to a sixth term by a significant margin. ^[1]

Background

Incumbent Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, first elected in 2000 and re-elected four times, most recently in 2016, ran for re-election to a sixth term in office. ^[2]

Primary election

Washington is one of two states that holds a top-two primary, meaning all candidates are listed on the same ballot regardless of party affiliation, and the top two advance to the general election.

Democratic candidates

Advanced to general

• Mike Kreidler, incumbent Insurance Commissioner (2001–2025) ^[2]

Republican candidates

Advanced to general

• Chirayu Avinash Patel, insurance agent ^[2]

Libertarian candidates

Eliminated in primary

• Anthony Welti, insurance agent ^[2]

Results

Blanket primary results by county

  Kreidler

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

  Patel

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

Blanket primary election results ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mike Kreidler (incumbent)	1,402,650	59.03
	Republican	Chirayu Avinash Patel	644,446	27.12
	Libertarian	Anthony Welti	324,921	13.67
	Write-in		4,220	0.18
Total votes			2,376,237	100.00

General election

Endorsements

Mike Kreidler (D)

Labor unions

• Washington State Labor Council ^[4]
• Pierce County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO ^[5]
• Washington State Council of Fire Fighters ^[6]
• SEIU 775 ^[7]

Organizations

• Reproductive Freedom for All ^[8]
• Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii ^[8]

Newspapers

• The Seattle Times ^[9]
• The Columbian ^[10]
• The News Tribune ^[11]
• Union-Bulletin ^[12]
• The Stranger ^[13]
• Northwest Asian Weekly ^[14]
• The Yakima Herald ^[15]
• Tri-City Herald ^[16]
• The Olympian ^[17]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [a]	Margin of error	Mike Kreidler (D)	Chirayu Avinash Patel (R)	Undecided
Public Policy Polling (D) [18] [A]	October 14–15, 2020	610 (LV)	± 4%	52%	30%	18%

2020 Washington Insurance Commissioner election debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Republican
Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Mike Kreidler	Chirayu Avinash Patel
1	Oct. 14, 2020	The Columbian		YouTube	P	N

Results

2020 Washington Insurance Commissioner election ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mike Kreidler (incumbent)	2,506,693	65.39
	Republican	Chirayu Avinash Patel	1,308,292	34.13
	Write-in		18,576	0.48
Total votes			3,833,561	100.00
	Democratic hold

By county

County results

County [20]	Mike Kreidler Democratic		Chirayu Avinash Patel Republican		Write-in Various		Margin		Total votes
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	2,187	39.75%	3,293	59.85%	22	0.40%	-1,106	-20.10%	5,502
Asotin	5,191	46.97%	5,802	52.50%	59	0.53%	-611	-5.53%	11,052
Benton	46,327	48.09%	49,374	51.26%	627	0.65%	-3,047	-3.16%	96,328
Chelan	21,376	53.29%	18,552	46.25%	184	0.46%	2,824	7.04%	40,112
Clallam	27,415	59.54%	18,051	39.21%	576	1.25%	9,364	20.34%	46,042
Clark	149,006	58.90%	102,649	40.58%	1,320	0.52%	46,357	18.32%	252,975
Columbia	862	37.91%	1,400	61.57%	12	0.53%	-538	-23.66%	2,274
Cowlitz	27,851	49.35%	28,334	50.21%	250	0.44%	-483	-0.86%	56,435
Douglas	9,259	46.51%	10,502	52.75%	148	0.74%	-1,243	-6.24%	19,909
Ferry	1,823	45.01%	2,200	54.32%	27	0.67%	-377	-9.31%	4,050
Franklin	15,602	50.73%	14,968	48.67%	183	0.60%	634	2.06%	30,753
Garfield	532	39.97%	789	59.28%	10	0.75%	-257	-19.31%	1,331
Grant	14,594	41.54%	20,354	57.94%	182	0.52%	-5,760	-16.40%	35,130
Grays Harbor	20,473	56.64%	15,536	42.98%	140	0.39%	4,937	13.66%	36,149
Island	31,167	61.95%	18,846	37.46%	294	0.58%	12,321	24.49%	50,307
Jefferson	17,629	74.46%	5,974	25.23%	73	0.31%	11,655	49.23%	23,676
King	904,005	79.40%	230,714	20.26%	3,801	0.33%	673,291	59.14%	1,138,520
Kitsap	96,674	65.03%	51,120	34.39%	873	0.59%	45,554	30.64%	148,667
Kittitas	12,940	53.24%	11,231	46.20%	136	0.56%	1,709	7.03%	24,307
Klickitat	6,454	51.59%	5,992	47.89%	65	0.52%	462	3.69%	12,511
Lewis	18,281	43.05%	23,950	56.40%	237	0.56%	-5,669	-13.35%	42,468
Lincoln	2,221	34.04%	4,262	65.33%	41	0.63%	-2,041	-31.28%	6,524
Mason	19,862	56.63%	15,042	42.88%	172	0.49%	4,820	13.74%	35,076
Okanogan	10,144	51.44%	9,469	48.02%	107	0.54%	675	3.42%	19,720
Pacific	7,555	57.23%	5,581	42.28%	65	0.49%	1,974	14.95%	13,201
Pend Oreille	3,286	40.91%	4,686	58.34%	60	0.75%	-1,400	-17.43%	8,032
Pierce	272,277	62.27%	162,697	37.21%	2,287	0.52%	109,580	25.06%	437,261
San Juan	9,620	77.97%	2,683	21.75%	35	0.28%	6,937	56.22%	12,338
Skagit	41,116	60.98%	25,961	38.50%	348	0.52%	15,155	22.48%	67,425
Skamania	3,494	51.25%	3,284	48.17%	39	0.57%	210	3.08%	6,817
Snohomish	273,000	65.85%	139,411	33.63%	2,149	0.52%	133,589	32.22%	414,560
Spokane	150,062	54.37%	124,029	44.94%	1,903	0.69%	26,033	9.43%	275,994
Stevens	10,390	39.04%	16,039	60.27%	184	0.69%	-5,649	-21.23%	26,613
Thurston	107,718	67.36%	51,429	32.16%	768	0.48%	56,289	35.20%	159,915
Wahkiakum	1,325	48.16%	1,418	51.54%	8	0.29%	-93	-3.38%	2,751
Walla Walla	15,464	52.50%	13,897	47.18%	95	0.32%	1,567	5.32%	29,456
Whatcom	88,999	69.10%	39,188	30.43%	614	0.48%	49,811	38.67%	128,801
Whitman	11,960	60.72%	7,630	38.74%	106	0.54%	4,330	21.98%	19,696
Yakima	48,552	53.42%	41,955	46.16%	376	0.41%	6,597	7.26%	90,883
Totals	2,506,693	65.39%	1,308,292	34.13%	18,576	0.48%	1,198,401	31.26%	3,833,561

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Chelan (largest city: Wenatchee)
• Franklin (largest city: Pasco)
• Kittitas (largest city: Ellensburg)
• Klickitat (largest city: Goldendale)
• Okanogan (largest city: Omak)
• Skamania (largest city: Stevenson)
• Spokane (largest city: Spokane)
• Walla Walla (largest city: Walla Walla)
• Yakima (largest city: Yakima)

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%

Trend relative to the state by county

Legend

•   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%

County flips

Legend

• Democratic   Hold   Gain from Republican

  Republican   Hold

By congressional district

Kreidler won nine of ten congressional districts, including two that elected Republicans. ^[21]

District	Kreidler	Avinash Patel	Representative
1st	66%	33%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	69%	31%	Rick Larsen
3rd	55%	44%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	49%	50%	Dan Newhouse
5th	53%	47%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	65%	34%	Derek Kilmer
7th	88%	12%	Pramila Jayapal
8th	60%	39%	Kim Schrier
9th	78%	22%	Adam Smith
10th	65%	35%	Denny Heck (116th Congress)
			Marilyn Strickland (117th Congress)

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. "Captive Insurance Times Service Providers".
2. https://www.opb.org/news/article/washington-august-2020-election-candidate-guide/
3. Wyman, Kim (August 21, 2020). "Canvass of the Returns of the Primary Held on August 4, 2020" (PDF). Secretary of State of Washington . Archived (PDF) from the original on March 15, 2025. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
4. "2020 Endorsements" (PDF). WSLC. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
5. "2020 Endorsements" (PDF). Pierce County Local 120. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
6. "2020 Endorsements" (PDF). WSCFF. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
7. "2020 Washington Election Endorsements". SEIU 775. May 21, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
8. "Progressive Voters Guide 2020 Endorsements (Archived)". Progressive Voters Guide (Archived). Retrieved October 19, 2025.
9. "Seattle Times editorial board endorsements: Election 2020". The Seattle Times. September 24, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
10. "In Our View: Kreidler best choice for insurance commissioner". The Columbian. October 18, 2025. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
11. "News Tribune endorsement roundup - Our picks for Nov. 3, 2020 general election". The News Tribune. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
12. "Kreidler should be re-elected insurance commisioner". Union-Bulletin. October 5, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
13. "The Stranger's Endorsements for the November 2020 General Election". The Stranger. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
14. "Endorsements". Northwest Asian Weekly. October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
15. "Opinion: Our endorsements for 2020 general election". Yakima Herald-Republic. October 25, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
16. "Check out Tri-City Herald's candidate recommendations, videos for 2020 races". Tri-City Herald. Retrieved October 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: Text "Editorial" ignored (help)
17. "The Olympian". The Endorsement Project. May 7, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
18. Public Policy Polling (D)
19. Wyman, Kim (December 1, 2020). "Canvass of the Returns of the General Election Held on November 3, 2020" (PDF). Secretary of State of Washington . Archived (PDF) from the original on June 29, 2025. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
20. Wyman, Kim (November 3, 2020). "Insurance Commissioner - County Results". Secretary of State of Washington . Archived from the original on February 28, 2025. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
21. "2020Gen Results by Congressional District" (PDF). sos.wa.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 22, 2024.