Newhouse Crushes White, Klippert Write-in Campaign Sputtered

During the run-up to the election, even the primary, some political pundits believed Doug White might have a chance to challenge Dan Newhouse for his Congressional seat. However, it did not turn out that way.

  Newhouse wins by a margin of just over 67 percent

For the first time in years, the Democrats believed they had a candidate who could possibly challenge Newhouse. After a contentious primary that saw multiple GOP challengers try their hand, Newhouse came out virtually neck-and-neck with White.

But that was also due to Loren Culp, Jared Sessler, and Brad Klippert all receiving at least ten percent of the split GOP vote.

   Newhouse returns for another term.

 The margin of victory in the entire 4th Congressional District was 82,445 to 37,859, or just over 67 to 30 percent. The remaining percentages came from write-in votes. This does, however, represent one of the better showings for a Democrat in recent election years.

 Klippert's Secretary of State write-in campaign fails to gain traction.

It was a long shot at best, but a noble effort. After losing the Congressional primary, former 8th District State House Rep Brad Klippert was urged to run for Secretary of State.  Steve Hobbs, a former legislator, was named to the position after Kim Wyman left for D.C., Inslee did this to eliminate an official who sometimes clashed with his policies. Hobbs ran against independent Julie Anderson, neither of them was considered ideal by most GOP voters or officials.

He was officially endorsed by the Washington State Republican Party,  Klippert officially filed to run as a write-in on September 2nd, 2022.

However, he faced an uphill battle, especially trying to spread the word across the state with little to no campaign funding.  Traditionally, write-in candidates have not done well in state elections. No such candidate has ever won a state office, although a handful has made it onto the ballot for state house or senate positions.

Because of percentage thresholds, the Secretary of State does NOT list specifically who received write-in votes for offices, but according to the election results, "write-in" votes made up just over 3 percent of the total in this race.

Hobbs won with 834,206 or 49.97 percent to Anderson's 783,268 or 46.92 percent. The write-in vote, presumably mostly Klippert, was 51,821, or 3.1 percent.