Dave Larson
Dave Larson is a judge of the Federal Way Municipal Court in Washington.
Larson ran for election for the Position 2 judge of the Washington Supreme Court. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Larson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Dave Larson was born in Tacoma, Washington. He earned a high school diploma from Federal Way High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in public administration from the University of Puget Sound in 1980, and a law degree from the Seattle University School of Law in 1984. His career experience includes working as a judge. Larson has been affiliated with the following organizations: District and Municipal Court Judges Association, Kiwanis Club, Federal Way School District Air Force JROTC Advisory Board, and Civil Air Patrol Squadron at McChord AFB.[1][2][3]
Elections
2024
See also: Washington Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Washington State Supreme Court Position 2
Sal Mungia defeated Dave Larson in the general election for Washington State Supreme Court Position 2 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Sal Mungia (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 50.1 | 1,644,253 |
![]() | Dave Larson (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 49.4 | 1,624,309 | |
Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 16,654 |
Total votes: 3,285,216 | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Washington State Supreme Court Position 2
Sal Mungia and Dave Larson defeated Todd Bloom and David Shelvey in the primary for Washington State Supreme Court Position 2 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Sal Mungia (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 43.4 | 762,797 |
✔ | ![]() | Dave Larson (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 36.4 | 640,116 |
![]() | Todd Bloom (Nonpartisan) | 16.3 | 286,298 | |
![]() | David Shelvey (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 3.4 | 59,676 | |
Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 7,347 |
Total votes: 1,756,234 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Michelle Adams (Nonpartisan)
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Larson in this election.
2020
See also: Washington Supreme Court elections, 2020
General election
General election for Washington State Supreme Court Position 3
Incumbent Raquel Montoya-Lewis defeated Dave Larson in the general election for Washington State Supreme Court Position 3 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Raquel Montoya-Lewis (Nonpartisan) | 58.2 | 2,057,623 |
![]() | Dave Larson (Nonpartisan) | 41.4 | 1,462,764 | |
Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 13,661 |
Total votes: 3,534,048 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Raquel Montoya-Lewis and Dave Larson advanced from the primary for Washington State Supreme Court Position 3.
2016
Larson ran against incumbent Justice Charlie Wiggins for his seat on the Washington Supreme Court.[2] The two faced each other on November 8.
Election results
November 8 general election
Washington Supreme Court, Position 6, 2016 | ||
---|---|---|
Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
![]() |
57.49% | 1,535,554 |
Dave Larson | 42.51% | 1,135,285 |
Total Votes (100% reporting) | 2,670,839 | |
Source: Washington Secretary of State Official Results |
Race background
The 2016 election was the first since the 1990s in which all three state supreme court justices up for re-election faced opponents.[4] At least one justice in every election typically runs unopposed, but this year all three incumbents drew challengers. Republican state Representative Matt Manweller said he and other lawmakers actively recruited candidates to run against the justices.[4] This was partly because of the court's decisions in the long-running school funding case McCleary v. Washington, over which the court drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for holding the state in contempt of court, and in a separate case about the state funding of charter schools.
Those in favor of replacing the justices said the court has overstepped its boundaries into legislation and policymaking and failed to respect the autonomy of the state legislature.[4] In the McCleary school funding case, the court both found the state government in contempt and fined the state $100,000 per day until the state complied with the court's orders.[5][6]
In a separate case, the court ruled unconstitutional the state funding of charter schools right before those schools were set to open in 2015.
Satellite spending
The political action committee arm of the group Stand for Children spent $116,000 promoting the campaign of Greg Zempel, who challenged Chief Justice Barbara Madsen for her seat on the court.[7] Madsen authored the court's 2015 decision declaring Washington's charter schools, in their form at that time, unconstitutional. The legislature passed a new bill in 2016 that allowed charter schools to continue; opponents threatened to sue over this law as well.[7] Stand for Children's spending on Zempel's campaign was funded by several of the backers of charter schools who were opposed to the court's 2015 decision. The primary donors include Connie Ballmer, wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer; Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix; and Vulcan Inc., owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Vulcan and Ballmer were also among the primary backers of the ballot initiative that paved the way for the charter schools.[7]
Endorsements
Campaign finance
Dave Larson Campaign Finance, 2016 | ||
Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on Hand |
---|---|---|
$91,677 | $49,764 | $41,913 |
Source: | Washington Public Disclosure Commission |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Dave Larson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Larson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Collapse all
|His leadership has been recognized statewide and nationwide because he develops solutions, solves problems, and has improved our courts. As a lawyer, his peers rated him as “AV Preeminent” through Martindale-Hubbell. This means that lawyers and judges felt that he deserved the highest possible rating which, "is a testament to the fact that a lawyer's peers rank him...at the highest level of professional excellence."
Judge Larson is involved and highly respected in youth and adult civics education. He was a 2014 recipient of the Washington Judge’s Foundation Judge William Nevins Award, an award given to judges with a long-term commitment to youth education and public understanding of both the law and the role of the judiciary in American society. In addition, he was recognized as a “Hero” of Federal Way Public Schools in 2018 and again in 2022, and the readers of the local newspaper selected him as “Best Community Leader” in 2022. He is the recipient of numerous other awards and recognitions as well.- The people of this state need Judge Larson. Crime is out of hand and the Supreme Court has been silent, and, in some cases, has made matters worse. As the only candidate who has actually been in the "trenches," Judge Larson's innovative and effective approaches have been recognized statewide and nationwide. Many of his ideas have been adopted by the legislature. His common-sense strategy has earned support from judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, police chiefs, sheriffs, mayors, legislators, and the very people who work directly with those suffering from addiction and untreated mental illness. His intellect, courage, and desire to stand up for what is right for our courts and communities are exactly what we need.
- Judge Larson has proven throughout his entire career that he will uphold our state and federal constitutions and the individual rights they protect. A vote for him will be a vote for the confidence we desperately need in our courts. Our state and nation are divided, and our Supreme Court has become too political. Judge Larson wants to make our Court the trusted institution it is supposed to be by bringing us together with trust and confidence. He has tried to unite us by reaching out to Democrats and Republicans, Labor and Business, and to citizens in Eastern and Western Washington because everyone deserves to have trust and confidence in our Supreme Court regardless of their political beliefs, economic status, or geographic location.
- Judge Larson has and will continue to follow our state and federal constitutions as written. He will not legislate from the bench. Our State Constitution is the best in the nation with strong protections for your rights that are worthy of being upheld as written. He has a proven record of standing up for your individual rights, even when not popular to do so, and we desperately need that leadership on our Court. Judge Larson will be a fair and impartial Justice. We need our courts to be a politically neutral forum that people can trust to be fair and impartial, and that requires someone to stand up and be willing to uphold the principles that build trust and confidence in our courts. Judge Larson is that someone, and he is that Justice.
The "Blake" case decided in 2021 is a prime example of what it means to be a part of the problem - the majority of justices made arguments in their decision that the lawyers did not make in their arguments, and subsequently declared our drug laws unconstitutional. Those same drug laws had been upheld by the Supreme Court on two previous occasions. The Blake decision put our state on its head because it essentially legalized drugs in Washington for two years. Much of the increased crime rates we’re seeing can be tied back to Blake, and it will take time before we completely recover from that decision.
I have worked successfully with the legislature on common sense strategies that will reduce crime with compassion without sacrificing personal accountability, all of which are supported by judges, lawyers, legislators, mayors, police chiefs and sheriffs, those who advocate for people suffering from addiction and untreated mental illness, other leaders across our state, and the citizens who elect them. I want to bring that much needed leadership to our Supreme Court to work with the legislature and local government on solutions for the crime we are witnessing in our communities.We also need to provide therapeutic alternatives to family law cases. Although there is cause for hope, too many children and families are adversely affected by the current approach to divorce and family law.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Larson’s campaign website stated the following:
“ |
Meet Judge Dave Larson Judge Larson has served as the presiding judge for Federal Way Municipal Court for 14 years. In his 16 total years on the bench, he has earned a strong reputation as a fair and accomplished judge. Before becoming a judge, he was a highly rated trial lawyer for 23 years, trying cases in both state and federal courts. Judge Larson has worked closely with legislators and others across the state and nation to coordinate and develop real strategies for not only our state’s criminal justice system, but for the communities they serve. He intends to bring that desperately needed leadership to our state’s highest court so that we can work together with other branches of government to tackle the troublesome issues facing our communities and state as a whole. Judge Larson brings a balance that we need in our courts now more than ever – he believes in upholding the constitution and uses common sense solutions to address problems. One of the problems he is the most passionate about fixing is rising crime rates. Judge Larson’s approach to this uses both compassion and accountability as effective tools with those accused of crime. He has long devoted himself to the improvement of the justice system and judicial independence, earning him the President’s Award from the District and Municipal Court Judges Association in 2018 in addition to several other awards. His values, legal knowledge, and balanced approach to justice set him apart and has earned him the past and current support of Democrats and Republicans, Business and Labor groups, Judges and attorneys from across the state, and people just like you. Judge Larson respects and follows our state constitution, and unwaveringly believes in upholding the rights of the people. He’s the Justice we need – now more than ever. [8] |
” |
—Dave Larson’s campaign website (2024)[9] |
2020
Dave Larson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Candidate Washington State Supreme Court Position 2 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ City of Federal Way, "Judge David A. Larson," accessed May 3, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid
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tag; no text was provided for refs namedAnnounce
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 8, 2024
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The News Tribune, "Controversial school-funding rulings prompt crowded Supreme Court races," June 3, 2016
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "Contempt ruling ups ante in fight to fund public schools," September 12, 2014
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "School funding back on table as court fines state $100,000 a day," August 13, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The News Tribune, "Charter-school backers spending $116,000 to try to unseat state Supreme Court justice," July 28, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Dave Larson - For Justice. For All., “Home,” accessed July 22, 2024
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