Washington voters see 4 statewide court races, 8 county-level judicial races in the counties we track on the November 3, 2026 ballot in the races The Ballot Brief tracks. Retention questions are a yes-or-no vote on keeping a sitting judge; elected seats work like any other race.
Statewide court races
These seats are elected by every voter in Washington. Open a race for the full page.
Voted statewide: on every Washington ballot. 2 candidates.
Colleen MelodyIncumbent
Colleen Melody is the sitting justice for Washington Supreme Court Position 1, appointed by Gov. Bob Ferguson in January 2026, per the Washington Courts website. Before joining the court she spent 11 years as chief of the Civil Rights Division in the Washington Attorney General's Office and worked as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, per the same source. She is a University of Washington School of Law graduate who clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, per her official court biography.
Priorities: Keeping the court free from the influence of special interests and political bias, per her campaign site (melodyforjustice.com) · Running a grassroots campaign funded by individual donors rather than special interests, per her campaign site (melodyforjustice.com)
Scott Edwards is an attorney who has practiced constitutional, appellate, and state tax law in Washington for about three decades, per his campaign website. He has worked at Bogle & Gates, Perkins Coie, Ballard Spahr, and, since 2025, Lane Powell, and holds an economics degree from Princeton University and a law degree from the University of Washington, per the same source. This is his first run for elected office, per his campaign website.
Priorities: Deciding cases based on the law and the record rather than politics or outside pressure, per his campaign site (votescottedwards.com) · Applying clear, principled legal reasoning to strengthen public confidence in the courts, per his campaign site (votescottedwards.com) · Bringing decades of complex litigation experience to the court, per his campaign site (votescottedwards.com)
Voted statewide: on every Washington ballot. 2 candidates.
David Stevens
David Stevens is a Mason County Superior Court judge, first elected in 2023 and reelected in 2024, per his campaign website. He has worked for more than two decades as a prosecutor and defense attorney in state, federal, tribal, and international courts, including as a Spokane County deputy prosecutor and a U.S. State Department rule-of-law adviser in Afghanistan, per the same source. He holds a law degree from the University of Washington School of Law and served in the U.S. Navy from 1983 to 1989, per his campaign website.
Priorities: Applying the law consistently and treating court processes, including jury selection, equally for all parties, per his campaign site (judgestevensforwa.com) · Keeping the Supreme Court to its constitutional role of interpreting law rather than making policy, per his campaign site (judgestevensforwa.com) · Requiring that constitutional changes go through formal amendment rather than judicial reinterpretation, per his campaign site (judgestevensforwa.com)
Jaime Michelle Hawk is a King County Superior Court judge, appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2022, per her campaign website. Her earlier legal career included work as a juvenile public defender in Grant County, a federal public defender for Eastern Washington and Idaho, and legal strategy director for the ACLU of Washington, per the same source. She earned her law degree from Gonzaga University in 2004 and has since taught as an adjunct professor there, per her campaign website.
Priorities: Protecting rights and freedoms and applying the rule of law fairly, per her campaign site (judgehawk.com) · Serving on a Washington Supreme Court commission working to reduce bias in the courts and improve access for working families, per her campaign site (judgehawk.com) · Bringing more than 20 years of experience as a public defender, civil rights attorney, and trial judge to the court, per her campaign site (judgehawk.com)
Voted statewide: on every Washington ballot. 2 candidates.
Theo AngelisIncumbent
Theo Angelis is the sitting justice for Washington Supreme Court Position 5, appointed by Gov. Bob Ferguson in March 2026, per the Washington Courts website. He spent 26 years as a partner at K&L Gates, where he led the firm's appellate practice and later its intellectual property practice, per his official court biography. He holds degrees from Claremont McKenna College, Oxford University, the London School of Economics, and Yale Law School, per the same source.
Priorities: Faithfully interpreting and applying Washington's constitution and laws, per his campaign site (justiceangelis.com) · Maintaining judicial independence and impartiality to strengthen public trust in the courts, per his campaign site (justiceangelis.com) · Expanding equal access to the legal system, drawing on his pro bono work for asylum seekers and children, per his campaign site (justiceangelis.com)
Dave Larson is a retired judge who served on the Federal Way Municipal Court from 2008 to 2026, including as presiding judge starting in 2009, per his campaign website. He worked as a civil trial lawyer for 23 years before joining the bench and has previously run for the Washington Supreme Court in 2016, 2020, and 2024 without winning a seat, per the same source. He holds a public administration degree from the University of Puget Sound and a law degree from Seattle University School of Law, per his campaign website.
Priorities: Holding to the guiding principle that 'it is more important to do right than it is to be right', per his campaign site (larsonforjustice.com) · Valuing the freedoms of others as much as one's own, per his campaign site (larsonforjustice.com) · Supporting public legal education and youth civic engagement programs, per his campaign site (larsonforjustice.com)
Voted statewide: on every Washington ballot. 2 candidates.
Debra L. StephensIncumbent
Debra L. Stephens is the sitting Chief Justice of the Washington Supreme Court, a seat she has held since 2008, per the Washington Courts website. She previously served as a Court of Appeals, Division Three judge and as an adjunct professor at Gonzaga University School of Law, and she is the first woman from Eastern Washington to reach the state's highest court, per her official court biography. A Spokane native, she also spent more than a decade as a local school board director, per the same source.
Priorities: Serving as 'a fierce advocate for an independent judiciary', per her campaign site (justicestephens.com) · Keeping courts open and accessible to everyone, per her campaign site (justicestephens.com) · Basing judicial decisions on law rather than politics, per her campaign site (justicestephens.com)
Todd A. Bloom is an attorney, certified public accountant, and financial planner who has spent more than two decades providing legal and tax services to private and public companies, per his campaign website. He served as an active-duty U.S. Navy officer from 2002 to 2013 after earlier service in the Naval Reserve, and he has worked as a FINRA arbitrator, per the same source. He holds a law degree and MBA from Tulane University and a tax law master's degree from the University of Washington, per his campaign website.
Priorities: Applying the law as written rather than as judges might prefer it to read, per his campaign site (electtoddbloom.com) · Upholding the state and federal constitutions, per his campaign site (electtoddbloom.com) · Ensuring every person who appears in court receives a fair and impartial hearing, per his campaign site (electtoddbloom.com)
