(The Center Square) – Several challengers entered the race for a position on the Washington Supreme Court this week, setting the stage for what could be among the most consequential elections in years.
Five of the nine positions on the high court are up for grabs this fall, as a constitutional challenge to a new state income tax makes its way to the bench.
The lawsuit is currently in Klickitat County Superior Court, with future appeals expected to eventually reach the Washington Supreme Court for a decision.
The state Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit earlier this week that would’ve allowed Washingtonians to vote on the potentially unconstitutional tax. The political advocacy group Let’s Go Washington responded on Friday with an initiative effort that would still allow voters to decide if LGW collects enough signatures.
Last month, The Center Square published a deep dive into the 12 candidates who had registered with the state’s campaign finance commission ahead of the official filing period, which ran from May 4 to 8.
This article highlights the six candidates who joined the race this week before the filing deadline on Friday.
Two candidates join the race for Position No. 1
Family law attorney Laura Christensen Colberg filed candidacy on Wednesday for a seat currently held by incumbent Justice Collen Melody.
Melody joined the bench in January after being appointed by Gov. Bob Ferguson to serve the rest of former Justice Mary Yu’s term after Yu retired at the end of last year.
“Neither of these candidates had any judicial experience,” Christensen Colberg told The Center Square, referring to Seattle-based tax attorney Scott Edwards, who’s also running against Melody this election.
Christensen Colberg has served as a pro tem commissioner on the Snohomish County Superior Court for 18 years.
In a Friday interview, she told The Center Square that she wants to keep the judiciary as nonpartisan as possible, while also bringing a different perspective to the generally liberal high court.
The candidate declined to comment directly on the income tax issue, given rules on what she can say in a nonpartisan race, but noted that Melody worked under Ferguson in the Attorney General’s Office.
“It may be hard to go against a former employer. It may be some area where she may need to recuse herself because of that conflict, having worked closely with the governor who signed legislation that’s now under question. I don’t know if she would,” Christensen Colberg told The Center Square on Friday.
Notably, Melody was endorsed by AGO staff, who, in emails obtained by The Center Square, told Democrats how to force the court to reconsider a 1933 ruling that outlawed progressive income taxes.
Melody has not responded to The Center Square’s inquiries about whether she would recuse herself.
Seattle-based attorney Anna Bremner, who has worked as a legal analyst for FOX, CNN, MSNBC, and CBS, also joined the race on Friday afternoon, setting up what could be a crowded primary in August.
Bremner specializes in prosecuting sex crimes and has been recognized as one of the top lawyers in Seattle several times, according to her website. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment before publishing.
Candidate joins race for Position No. 5
Greg Miller, an appellate attorney at Carney Badley Spellman, filed candidacy on Thursday for a seat currently held by incumbent Justice Theodore Angelis.
Ferguson appointed Angelis to fill a position left by former Justice Barbara Madsen last month, having previously worked with Angelis at K&L Gates.
The Center Square was unable to reach Miller for an interview or comment before publishing on Friday.
Miller has more than 40 years of experience in health law, constitutional issues, family law and more and has won several top lawyer awards, according to his website profile.
He joins the race against Angelis with Dave Larson, a former Federal Way Municipal Court judge, who nearly beat Justice Sal Mungia in 2024, and Thurston County Superior Court Judge Sharonda Amamilo.
Three candidates join the race for Position No. 7
Several people filed to run against incumbent Chief Justice Debra Stephens on Friday, including Todd Bloom, who came in third for the 2024 primary that saw Larson and Mungia advance; Karim Merchant, a criminal defense attorney of nearly two decades; and Sumner-based attorney David Shelvey, who initially filed to run for Position No. 4 and came in fourth in 2024 behind Larson, Mungia and Bloom.
Stephens joined the court in 2008 and wrote the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in 2023 upholding the state’s capital gains tax, which opponents like Edwards have argued was essentially an income tax.
Bloom brings decades of experience and serves as a member of the Washington State Bar Association’s Board of Governors.
Merchant says on his practice’s website that he’s committed to fighting against government overreach.
Shelvey wrote on his 2024 campaign website that he ran because, had he not, he would never have known whether he could win, and stressed the importance of running as a nonpartisan as intended.
The Center Square was unable to reach any of these three candidates before publishing on Friday.
Tim Kovis, executive director of Full Court Press, a nonprofit training candidates in order to balance the courts, told The Center Square that nearly every Supreme Court race now has a crowded primary.
He said each candidate will need to work hard to get their message across to voters if they hope to win.
He said the question voters will have to answer is whether they want to maintain the current status quo or elect a “more diverse judicial philosophy,” noting that residents now have several options.
“Doesn’t matter what your message is if you can’t get it to voters, so that’s going to be a big linchpin for all these candidates,” Kovis told The Center Square on Friday. “Each race is equally important.”
Any candidate who filed immediately before the Friday deadline may not appear in this article.
