2020 Washington State Auditor election

2020 Washington State Auditor election

←  2016 November 3, 2020 2024  →

Nominee Pat McCarthy Chris Leyba Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,260,830 1,633,956 Percentage 58.00% 41.92%

County results Congressional district results McCarthy:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Leyba:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

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

The 2020 Washington State Auditor election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Washington State Auditor, 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. 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 Pat McCarthy was re-elected to a second term. ^[1]

he top-two primary was held on August 4. ^[2]

Primary election

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

• Pat McCarthy, incumbent state auditor (2017–present) ^[3]

Eliminated in primary

• Joshua Casey, CPA ^[4]

Republican Party

Advanced to general

• Chris Leyba, King County Sheriff's Office detective ^[5]

Results

Blanket primary results by county

  McCarthy

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Leyba

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

Blanket primary results ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pat McCarthy (incumbent)	1,134,077	47.41%
	Republican	Chris Leyba	982,411	41.07%
	Democratic	Joshua Casey	273,198	11.42%
	Write-in		2,278	0.10%
Total votes			2,391,964	100.00%

General election

2020 Washington State Auditor election debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Republican
Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Pat McCarthy	Chris Leyba
1	Sep. 23, 2020	The Columbian		YouTube	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [a]	Margin of error	Pat McCarthy (D)	Chris Leyba (R)	Undecided
Public Policy Polling (D) [7] [A]	October 14–15, 2020	610 (LV)	± 4.0%	52%	34%	14%

Results

2020 Washington State Auditor election ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Pat McCarthy (incumbent)	2,260,830	58.00%	+5.69%
	Republican	Chris Leyba	1,633,956	41.92%	–5.77%
	Write-in		3,316	0.09%	N/A
Total votes			3,898,102	100.00%	N/A
	Democratic hold

By county

County results

County [8]	Pat McCarthy Democratic		Chris Leyba Republican		Write-in Various		Margin		Total votes
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	1,828	32.41%	3,804	67.43%	9	0.16%	-1,976	-35.03%	5,641
Asotin	4,305	37.77%	7,070	62.02%	24	0.21%	-2,765	-24.26%	11,399
Benton	38,421	39.03%	59,943	60.89%	87	0.09%	-21,522	-21.86%	98,451
Chelan	18,142	43.90%	23,166	56.06%	18	0.04%	-5,024	-12.16%	41,326
Clallam	24,344	51.41%	22,977	48.52%	34	0.07%	1,367	2.89%	47,355
Clark	134,462	51.72%	125,238	48.17%	269	0.10%	9,224	3.55%	259,969
Columbia	682	28.76%	1,687	71.15%	2	0.08%	-1,005	-42.39%	2,371
Cowlitz	23,938	41.58%	33,598	58.36%	34	0.06%	-9,660	-16.78%	57,570
Douglas	7,385	36.18%	13,007	63.72%	21	0.10%	-5,622	-27.54%	20,413
Ferry	1,488	35.57%	2,689	64.28%	6	0.14%	-1,201	-28.71%	4,183
Franklin	13,273	42.22%	18,143	57.71%	22	0.07%	-4,870	-15.49%	31,438
Garfield	395	28.38%	993	71.34%	4	0.29%	-598	-42.96%	1,392
Grant	11,770	32.59%	24,297	67.27%	50	0.14%	-12,527	-34.68%	36,117
Grays Harbor	17,541	47.40%	19,419	52.47%	47	0.13%	-1,878	-5.07%	37,007
Island	27,725	53.87%	23,710	46.06%	36	0.07%	4,015	7.80%	51,471
Jefferson	16,675	69.52%	7,300	30.44%	10	0.04%	9,375	39.09%	23,985
King	847,813	73.75%	301,024	26.19%	721	0.06%	546,789	47.57%	1,149,558
Kitsap	86,608	57.08%	64,956	42.81%	154	0.10%	21,652	14.27%	151,718
Kittitas	10,773	42.93%	14,309	57.02%	12	0.05%	-3,536	-14.09%	25,094
Klickitat	5,779	44.51%	7,190	55.38%	14	0.11%	-1,411	-10.87%	12,983
Lewis	14,292	32.86%	29,164	67.04%	44	0.10%	-14,872	-34.19%	43,500
Lincoln	1,685	24.76%	5,114	75.16%	5	0.07%	-3,429	-50.40%	6,804
Mason	16,955	47.47%	18,695	52.35%	64	0.18%	-1,740	-4.87%	35,714
Okanogan	8,771	42.99%	11,606	56.88%	27	0.13%	-2,835	-13.89%	20,404
Pacific	6,718	49.83%	6,735	49.96%	28	0.21%	-17	-0.13%	13,481
Pend Oreille	2,681	32.74%	5,502	67.18%	7	0.09%	-2,821	-34.44%	8,190
Pierce	243,910	54.87%	200,150	45.03%	428	0.10%	43,760	9.85%	444,488
San Juan	9,235	73.45%	3,333	26.51%	6	0.05%	5,902	46.94%	12,574
Skagit	35,996	52.10%	33,004	47.77%	86	0.12%	2,992	4.33%	69,086
Skamania	3,177	45.33%	3,823	54.54%	9	0.13%	-646	-9.22%	7,009
Snohomish	241,228	57.54%	177,711	42.39%	330	0.08%	63,517	15.15%	419,269
Spokane	132,756	47.21%	148,081	52.66%	359	0.13%	-15,325	-5.45%	281,196
Stevens	8,021	29.37%	19,252	70.49%	38	0.14%	-11,231	-41.12%	27,311
Thurston	93,931	58.36%	66,884	41.55%	140	0.09%	27,047	16.80%	160,955
Wahkiakum	1,158	40.99%	1,664	58.90%	3	0.11%	-506	-17.91%	2,825
Walla Walla	13,515	45.07%	16,453	54.87%	19	0.06%	-2,938	-9.80%	29,987
Whatcom	80,874	60.51%	52,729	39.45%	61	0.05%	28,145	21.06%	133,664
Whitman	10,706	53.22%	9,390	46.68%	21	0.10%	1,316	6.54%	20,117
Yakima	41,874	45.47%	50,146	54.46%	67	0.07%	-8,272	-8.98%	92,087
Totals	2,260,830	58.00%	1,633,956	41.92%	3,316	0.09%	626,874	16.08%	3,898,102

By congressional district

McCarthy won seven of ten congressional districts. ^[9]

District	McCarthy	Leyba	Representative
1st	57%	43%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	61%	39%	Rick Larsen
3rd	48%	52%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	40%	59%	Dan Newhouse
5th	45%	55%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	58%	42%	Derek Kilmer
7th	84%	16%	Pramila Jayapal
8th	51%	49%	Kim Schrier
9th	72%	27%	Adam Smith
10th	57%	43%	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 September 28, 2025.
2. "2020 State Primary Election Dates". www.ncsl.org. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
3. Cornfield, Jerry (October 9, 2019). "A boring election for state seats in 2020? Try nine of them". The Everett Herald . Retrieved September 28, 2025.
4. https://westseattleblog.com/2020/05/election-2020-west-seattleite-joshua-casey-running-for-state-auditor/
5. "PRIMARY 2020 Candidate List". voter.votewa.gov. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
6. 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 September 20, 2025.
7. Public Policy Polling (D)
8. Wyman, Kim (November 3, 2020). "State Auditor - County Results". Secretary of State of Washington . Archived from the original on April 14, 2025. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
9. "2020Gen Results by Congressional District" (PDF). sos.wa.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 22, 2024.