SPOKANE — Cybersecurity and election fraud are top of mind in this year’s race for Washington’s secretary of state.
On the November general election ballot, Democratic incumbent Steve Hobbs will face off against Republican challenger and political newcomer Dale Whitaker. Hobbs took first place in the Aug. 6 primary race for his current post, garnering 48 percent of the statewide vote. Whitaker followed behind and picked up 37 percent of the vote.
The two contenders differ on their perceptions of threats to local, regional and statewide elections in Washington.
Whitaker wants to prevent “migrants” from voting, saying he’d take steps to re-establish the state’s 30-day residence requirement for voter registration.
If re-elected, Hobbs wants to work to prevent election meddling by foreign actors.
“With the overseas threat with the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, then our own uncertainty within our own population, I feel like this democracy is under threat,” he said.
Hobbs, 54, of Lake Stevens, was appointed secretary of state in 2021 by Gov. Jay Inslee, making him the first Democrat to hold that office since 1965. He previously served as a state senator from 2007 to 2021. Hobbs has experience as a military intelligence specialist and serves in the Washington National Guard as a lieutenant colonel and public information officer.
Whitaker, 35, of Spokane, has not held elected office before. He is the previous executive director of We Believe, We Vote, a Spokane-based conservative organization that surveys political candidates about their opinions on social issues such as gay marriage, abortion and religion. He owns and operates his own accounting firm called Mass Tax. The Spokane resident is a British immigrant who moved to the United States in 2008 and became a citizen in 2015.
The two candidates differ over a contract created by Hobbs last year to hire a tech firm to track and refute election misinformation on social media websites such as X and Facebook.
In May 2023, Hobbs’ office authorized a no-bid contract for nearly $273,000 with British artificial intelligence company Logically that is scheduled to run through the end of this year.
Whitaker said he would discontinue that contract if elected, arguing that it displays a “lack of trust” that voters are able to judge information on their own.
