Five of the nine seats on the Washington state Supreme Court are up for election this November. It’s a crucial time on the state’s highest court in the lead-up to a number of key legal disputes.
Democrats have discussed protecting the court’s progressive majority, as Republicans also discussed the importance of the justices in deciding the outcome of highly consequential issues such as the state’s new tax on millionaires.
Other crucial decisions involve criminal matters, constitutionality, civil rights, voting rights and worker rights. The court is also in charge of adopting court rules and ensuring equal access to justice in addition to its other administrative responsibilities.
Supreme Court justice Positions 1, 3, 5 and 7 will go before voters in the Aug. 4 primary. Just two candidates are vying for Position 4, so that race is headed straight to the Nov. 3 general election.
These positions are nonpartisan and the elected Justices will serve six-year terms. The Code of Judicial Conduct restricts what candidates can promise or commit to when it comes to specific issues. But endorsements and campaign contributions can help shed light on which way these candidates may lean.
Position 1 candidates
Colleen Melody was appointed as the 100th Justice of the Washington Supreme Court on Jan. 1 by Gov. Bob Ferguson.
Prior to her term, Melody worked for 11 years as Chief of the Civil Rights Division in the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, where she helped spearhead challenges to the federal government’s Muslim travel ban, transgender military service ban and attempt to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Raised in Spokane, Melody worked as a law clerk to the Honorable Ronald M. Gould of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“As a Supreme Court Justice, Colleen is already making an impact — working to ensure that courts are safe and accessible to all, and advocating for the use of technology to improve court access, particularly in Eastern Washington,” her website states.
Some of her endorsements include Ferguson, Lt. Gov. Denny Heck, former Gov. Jay Inslee and Position 5 incumbent Justice Theodore J. Angelis. See a complete list of endorsements here.
As of July 17, her campaign raised $209,522.90. See a list of campaign contributions here.
Snohomish County Court Commissioner pro tem and family law attorney Laura Christensen Colberg is a native of Wenatchee. She was admitted to the Washington State Bar in 1996. For the past decade she’s also been a court-appointed arbitrator. If elected, she says she would be the first Supreme Court justice since Justice Faith Ireland (1999-2005) who has any family law practice in her background.
“Family Law is the area the average Washington citizen is most likely to brush up against the court system,” Colberg’s website reads. “It’s relatable, accessible, and for Justices who have not practiced it as an attorney, …these are perspectives I can bring that might not otherwise be part of the discussion.”
She has raised $39,849 for her campaign as of July 17. Colberg has been recommended by the Washington State Republican Party, but has no listed endorsements on her website.
Longtime tax and constitutional law attorney Scott Edwards has worked with the Ballard Spahr law firm in Seattle for about 30 years, mostly focusing on state tax and constitutional law. He’s also been an adjunct professor at the University of Washington School of Law since 2002. His campaign slogan is “Take politics out of the courtroom.”
“An independent court protects constitutional rights, ensures equal justice, and serves as a final and balanced check within our system of government,” reads Edwards’ statement in the voters’ guide. “The role of the Supreme Court is to apply the constitution and laws as written, not rewrite them.”
Like Colberg, Edwards has also received the support of the Washington State Republican Party. He is endorsed by National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and Gil Brewer, Former Senior Assistant Director of Tax Policy, Washington State Department of Revenue.
Edwards has raised $62,534. A few of his contributors include former state Sen. Dino Rossi and non-profit Full Court Press, a conservative advocacy group that works to recruit and train judicial candidates, of which Congressman Michael Baumgartner is a board member.
Position 3 candidates
Washington state Court of Appeals Judge J. Michael Diaz immigrated from Peru to Seattle as an infant. Diaz spent a decade as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington where he founded the office’s civil rights program. Diaz served as a King County Superior Court Judge from January 2018 until his appointment to the Court of Appeals in 2022.
“Throughout his career, Judge Diaz has worked to expand access to justice — particularly for communities that have historically faced barriers — and continues to serve in leadership roles that promote fairness, accountability, and public trust,” Diaz’s website states.
Some of Diaz’s endorsements include former Govs. Gary Locke, Christine Gregoire and Jay Inslee and Washington Supreme Court Justices Raquel Montoya-Lewis and Sheryl Gordon McCloud. See the full list of endorsements here.
Diaz has raised $246,037 for his campaign. His contributors include the WA Federation of State Employees and WA Education Association PAC.
King County Superior Court Judge Jaime Hawk’s legal career started with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. Currently a Federal Way resident, she worked in trial litigation as a juvenile public defender in Grant County, and in Spokane as a federal public defender for Eastern Washington and Idaho. She also worked at the ACLU of Washington as Legal Strategy Director for its Smart Justice campaign in 2015 and clerked in Yakima for a federal judge before being appointed to superior court by Inslee.
“Judge Hawk believes individual rights and equal protection are not abstract concepts,” her website states. “They are what courts exist to defend. … Washington needs a justice who has spent her career protecting them.”
Hawk was chosen by the American Bar Association to observe military commission proceedings at Guantánamo Bay and later assist families separated at the Texas border under Trump-era federal immigration policies.
Endorsements include Gov. Ferguson, Justice Helen Whitener and Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown. See the full list of endorsements here.
Her campaign has raised $191,917 Some donors include SEIU 775 Quality Care Committee and Thorp Law Group, PS of Spokane.
Judge David Stevens has worked in trial, federal and international courts for about 25 years. A U.S. Navy veteran, Stevens served as a Spokane County deputy prosecutor working property and fraud cases as the office’s repeat-offender prosecutor from 2001-2010. In 2010, he ran unsuccessfully for Spokane County prosecutor, but was elected to the Mason County Superior Court in November 2023. Stevens also worked as a European Union prosecutor in Kosovo, a U.S. State Department justice adviser in Afghanistan and was a public defense director for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.
Stevens said judgments focused on the outcomes put justices in a role the constitution does not allow for.
“My philosophy is you follow the state constitution, and you don’t take into consideration the practical consequences,” Stevens said in an interview on Seattle Red 770 AM.
Stevens has been recommended by the Washington State Republican Party, but he has no endorsements listed on his page. His campaign funds totaled $31,926 as of July 17. Contributors include the Washington Council of Police & Sheriffs.
Position 5 candidates
Gov. Ferguson appointed Theo Angelis in March to replace retiring state Supreme Court Justice Barbara Madsen. With more than 25 years of legal experience, Angelis said he has worked to support vulnerable communities including by representing asylum seekers and children.
“I sued the federal government when they forced children — as young as 4 years old — to appear without lawyers in immigration court. The federal government eventually agreed to pay for lawyers, and the ACLU gave me the Humanitarian Award,” he said in a statement.
Before his appointment, Angelis litigated appellate and intellectual property cases at the K&L Gates Seattle office. He also served as co-chair of the Law Enforcement Committee of the state Attorney General's Youth Internet Safety Task Force that helped make it easier to prosecute online crimes against children in Washington.
He has secured several endorsements, including from Ferguson, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown, the Washington State Labor Council, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates and the Spokane County Democrats.
As of July 17, his campaign had raised $309,191.
Sharonda Amamilo, a U.S. Army veteran, was elected to the Thurston County Superior Court in 2020 and has since presided over both criminal and civil cases. She said she has also worked as a public defender and in a private practice on behalf of workers, small businesses, families and children in foster care.
“Throughout my career, I have worked closely with families and individuals facing some of life’s most difficult challenges. Those experiences taught me that court decisions can change the course of a person’s life and shaped my commitment to applying the law thoughtfully, carefully, and fairly,” she wrote in a statement.
She has also served on the Washington Court of Appeals as a judge pro tempore. Before being elected to court, she spent 12 years as a public defense attorney in Thurston County. On her campaign site, she listed two priorities: bolstering access across Washington’s courts and protecting children and families in the foster care system.
Her endorsements include the Spokane Regional Labor Council, the Washington State Labor Council, the Washington Education Association PAC, the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington and FairVote Washington.
Her campaign had raised $54,322 as of July 17.
Attorney Greg Miller has 40 years of experience practicing law and arguing appeals in Washington’s courts including the Supreme Court. He said he has also helped improve healthcare access in Washington jails through satellite healthcare systems.
“Appeals safeguard the fundamental fairness of our courts. They are usually the only way to correct a court’s error,” he wrote in a statement. “I’ve helped courts get decisions right for clients of all backgrounds. … I’ve won unpaid wages, defended protection orders, and ensured fairness in family disputes, health care, business deals, and trial procedures.”
His experience, according to his website, includes having worked as a clerk for the Washington Court of Appeals, as staff counsel for the Washington Health Committee during the 1990 legislative session, and as a Seattle Municipal Court judge pro tempore.
He describes himself as an independent candidate and has no listed endorsements.
Miller’s campaign had raised $24,490 as of July 17.
Dave Larson has 41 years of legal experience as a trial lawyer, and as presiding judge of Federal Way Municipal Court. Larson wrote on his website he is running with a goal to “restore the standard that comes from a justice with no ideological score to settle — only a commitment to constitutional principles applied consistently.”
Larson has appeared on The Jason Rantz Show, a conservative talk show, where he expressed concerns over a proposal that would make it difficult to issue an arrest warrant for someone who does not appear in court and his philosophy of focusing attention to help people escape a cycle of crime or conflict.
“I run a repair shop, not a junkyard,” Larson said on the show. “The idea is to make sure people’s lives are better when they leave and so you don’t make courts this ominous thing that you’re afraid to come to, or you don’t want to come to. You make it something that, hey, I did, I made a mistake, and I have an opportunity to fix it.”
He’s been recommended by the Washington State Republican Party and endorsed by the Washington Farm Bureau PAC and the Small Business PAC.
As of July 17, his campaign had raised $268,091. Former Washington Senator Mike Padden is among his contributors.
Position 7 candidates
Justice Debra Stephens, who was born in Spokane, has served in the state’s Supreme Court since 2008. Her 2026 re-election campaign highlights her efforts to advocate for access to justice, commitment to fairness and an independent judiciary.
“In an era of growing attempts to politicize the judiciary, I work every day to maintain the integrity and independence of our courts and safeguard access to justice for every person,” she said in a statement. “I have a proven record of expanding access to justice, improving efficiency and transparency, addressing the evolving challenges facing our legal system, and protecting individual rights.”
She previously practiced law in Spokane, starting out as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. She also worked as an appellate attorney, a Gonzaga University constitutional law professor and school board director, according to her website.
Stephen’s endorsements include the Washington State Labor Council, the Spokane Regional Labor Council, the Spokane County Democrats, the Washington Education Association PAC and the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington.
As of July 17, her campaign had raised $109,401.
Todd Bloom, who served in the Navy from 2002 to 2013, has over two decades of experience in providing legal services to companies and families in Washington. He also worked as an arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for about two decades.
“This year's election is a choice — whether to retain the current justices or to give someone new your vote. I believe I represent meaningful new perspective, experience, and common sense which will bring balance to the court,” he wrote in a statement.
Bloom is recommended by the Washington State Republican Party. As of July 17, his campaign had raised $5,553.
Attorney Karim Merchant spent 15 years as a public defender in King County before opening his own legal practice in 2023, K. Merchant Law. In a statement, Merchant noted that he has never represented corporations or the government.
He was born in Ohio to an immigrant working class family and was raised in Washington after they moved in 1987 according to his website.
“I have represented working families, small business owners, veterans, parents, and individuals facing the full weight of government power. Those experiences have reinforced a simple truth: constitutional rights matter most when they are tested,” Merchant wrote on his website.
Merchant has no listed endorsements. As of July 17, his campaign had raised $17,198.
David Shelvey, a U.S. Army veteran, owns his own law practice in Sumner where he works as an attorney. He has 11 years of experience with civil litigation, family law, personal injury and other legal areas, according to his campaign website.
In a statement, Shelvey expressed his opposition to having a state income tax and being “soft” on crime. He also highlighted his intention to look for economic ways to address heavy caseloads burdening prosecutors and public defenders.
“I’m not promising a tariff stimulus rebate check (I’ll watch for a meteorite to hit Mt. Rainier first), but I will promise to stand with American small business and workers,” he wrote.
Shelvey has no listed endorsements. Unlike the rest of the candidates, he opted to be exempt from filing contribution and expenditure reports to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission. This option is available to candidates that agree to raise, spend and receive money under certain thresholds.
