2020 Washington Public Lands Commissioner election

2020 Washington Public Lands Commissioner election

←  2016 November 3, 2020 2024  →

Candidate Hilary Franz Sue Kuehl Pederson Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,212,158 1,686,320 Percentage 56.69% 43.21%

County results Congressional district results Franz:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Pederson:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

Public Lands Commissioner before election Hilary Franz Democratic Elected Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz Democratic

The 2020 Washington Public Lands Commissioner election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Washington Public Lands Commissioner, 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 Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz was re-elected to a second term in office. ^[1]

Background

Franz was first elected in 2016 against Republican Steve McLaughlin, winning 53% of the vote to succeed fellow Democrat Peter J. Goldmark. ^[2]

Candidates

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.

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

• Hilary Franz, incumbent public lands commissioner (2017–2025) ^[3]

Eliminated in primary

• Frank Wallbrown, precinct committee officer ^[4]

Republican Party

Advanced to general

• Sue Kuehl Pederson, retired utility manager ^[4]

Eliminated in primary

• Maryam Abasbarzy ^[4]
• Steve Sharon, businessman ^[4]
• Cameron Whitney, planning commissioner of Grand Coulee ^[4]

Libertarian Party

Eliminated in primary

• Kelsey Reyes ^[4]

Primary election

Results

Blanket primary results by county

  Franz

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

  Pederson

•   20–30%
•   30–40%

Blanket primary election results ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Hilary Franz (incumbent)	1,211,310	51.13
	Republican	Sue Kuehl Pederson	554,147	23.39
	Republican	Cameron Whitney	197,610	8.34
	Republican	Steve Sharon	179,714	7.59
	Democratic	Frank Wallbrown	122,136	5.16
	Libertarian	Kelsey Reyes	77,407	3.27
	Republican	Maryam Abasbarzy	24,189	1.02
	Write-in		2,504	0.11
Total votes			2,369,017	100.00

General election

2020 Washington Public Lands Commissioner election debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Republican
Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Hilary Franz	Sue Kuehl Pederson
1	Oct. 2, 2020	The Columbian		YouTube	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [a]	Margin of error	Hilary Franz (D)	Sue Kuehl Pederson (R)	Undecided
Public Policy Polling (D) [6] [A]	October 14–15, 2020	610 (LV)	± 4%	49%	36%	15%

Results

2020 Washington Public Lands Commissioner election ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Hilary Franz (incumbent)	2,212,158	56.69%
	Republican	Sue Kuehl Pederson	1,686,320	43.21%
	Write-in		3,799	0.10%
Total votes			3,902,277	100.00%
	Democratic hold

By county

County results

County [7]	Hilary Franz Democratic		Sue Kuehl Pederson Republican		Write-in Various		Margin		Total votes
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	1,791	31.81%	3,829	68.00%	11	0.20%	-2,038	-36.19%	5,631
Asotin	4,013	35.32%	7,326	64.48%	22	0.19%	-3,313	-29.16%	11,361
Benton	35,757	36.32%	62,602	63.58%	102	0.10%	-26,845	-27.26%	98,461
Chelan	18,436	44.42%	23,037	55.51%	30	0.07%	-4,601	-11.09%	41,503
Clallam	23,586	49.78%	23,758	50.15%	34	0.07%	-172	-0.36%	47,378
Clark	129,409	49.87%	129,767	50.01%	319	0.12%	-358	-0.14%	259,495
Columbia	652	27.44%	1,720	72.39%	4	0.17%	-1,068	-44.95%	2,376
Cowlitz	22,668	39.38%	34,835	60.52%	52	0.09%	-12,167	-21.14%	57,555
Douglas	7,525	36.75%	12,934	63.16%	19	0.09%	-5,409	-26.41%	20,478
Ferry	1,443	34.30%	2,758	65.56%	6	0.14%	-1,315	-31.26%	4,207
Franklin	12,755	40.69%	18,576	59.25%	19	0.06%	-5,821	-18.57%	31,350
Garfield	359	25.77%	1,032	74.08%	2	0.14%	-673	-48.31%	1,393
Grant	11,288	31.28%	24,766	68.63%	34	0.09%	-13,478	-37.35%	36,088
Grays Harbor	16,612	45.05%	20,232	54.87%	31	0.08%	-3,620	-9.82%	36,875
Island	27,501	53.31%	24,028	46.58%	56	0.11%	3,473	6.73%	51,585
Jefferson	16,608	69.03%	7,437	30.91%	15	0.06%	9,171	38.12%	24,060
King	839,769	72.93%	310,927	27.00%	793	0.07%	528,842	45.93%	1,151,489
Kitsap	84,685	55.64%	67,347	44.25%	175	0.11%	17,338	11.39%	152,207
Kittitas	10,755	42.63%	14,453	57.29%	19	0.08%	-3,698	-14.66%	25,227
Klickitat	5,586	42.97%	7,394	56.88%	19	0.15%	-1,808	-13.91%	12,999
Lewis	13,809	31.64%	29,781	68.24%	53	0.12%	-15,972	-36.60%	43,643
Lincoln	1,606	23.56%	5,203	76.31%	9	0.13%	-3,597	-52.76%	6,818
Mason	16,546	46.36%	19,084	53.47%	59	0.17%	-2,538	-7.11%	35,689
Okanogan	9,312	45.39%	11,179	54.49%	26	0.13%	-1,867	-9.10%	20,517
Pacific	6,474	47.84%	7,033	51.97%	27	0.20%	-559	-4.13%	13,534
Pend Oreille	2,588	31.67%	5,571	68.16%	14	0.17%	-2,983	-36.50%	8,173
Pierce	234,895	52.92%	208,500	46.97%	500	0.11%	26,395	5.95%	443,895
San Juan	9,212	73.12%	3,379	26.82%	8	0.06%	5,833	46.30%	12,599
Skagit	34,832	50.30%	34,317	49.56%	96	0.14%	515	0.74%	69,245
Skamania	2,979	42.27%	4,056	57.56%	12	0.17%	-1,077	-15.28%	7,047
Snohomish	237,530	56.51%	182,461	43.41%	371	0.09%	55,069	13.10%	420,362
Spokane	128,371	45.54%	153,101	54.32%	388	0.14%	-24,730	-8.77%	281,860
Stevens	7,743	28.23%	19,648	71.63%	37	0.13%	-11,905	-43.40%	27,428
Thurston	91,181	56.78%	69,143	43.06%	250	0.16%	22,038	13.72%	160,574
Wahkiakum	1,087	38.25%	1,751	61.61%	4	0.14%	-664	-23.36%	2,842
Walla Walla	12,867	42.77%	17,193	57.15%	25	0.08%	-4,326	-14.38%	30,085
Whatcom	78,948	59.00%	54,775	40.94%	79	0.06%	24,173	18.07%	133,802
Whitman	10,258	50.85%	9,892	49.03%	25	0.12%	366	1.81%	20,175
Yakima	40,722	44.13%	51,495	55.81%	54	0.06%	-10,773	-11.68%	92,271
Totals	2,212,158	56.69%	1,686,320	43.21%	3,799	0.10%	525,838	13.48%	3,902,277

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Island (largest city: Oak Harbor)
• Pierce (largest city: Tacoma)
• Skagit (largest city: Mount Vernon)
• Whitman (largest city: Pullman)

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 — +2.5–5%

Trend relative to the state by county

Legend

•   Democratic — +10–12.5%
•   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 — +10–12.5%

County flips

Legend

• Democratic   Hold   Gain from Republican

  Republican   Hold

By congressional district

Franz won seven of ten congressional districts. ^[8]

District	Franz	Kuehl Pederson	Representative
1st	56%	44%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	60%	40%	Rick Larsen
3rd	46%	54%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	39%	61%	Dan Newhouse
5th	43%	57%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	56%	44%	Derek Kilmer
7th	83%	17%	Pramila Jayapal
8th	50.0%	49.9%	Kim Schrier
9th	71%	28%	Adam Smith
10th	55%	45%	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. 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 12, 2025.
2. "Hilary Franz well ahead of Steve McLaughlin for state lands commissioner". The Seattle Times. November 8, 2016.
3. Cornfield, Jerry (October 9, 2019). "A boring election for state seats in 2020? Try nine of them". The Everett Herald . Retrieved September 29, 2025.
4. "Incumbent Hilary Franz enjoys big money advantage over relative newcomers in Washington lands commissioner race". The Seattle Times. July 25, 2020.
5. 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 12, 2025.
6. Villeneuve, Andrew (October 22, 2020). "Hilary Franz comfortably ahead in 2020 contest for Commissioner of Public Lands".
7. Wyman, Kim (November 3, 2020). "Commissioner of Public Lands - County Results". Secretary of State of Washington . Archived from the original on May 1, 2025. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
8. "2020Gen Results by Congressional District" (PDF). sos.wa.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 22, 2024.