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Steven Gonzalez
2012 - Present
2031
13
Steven Gonzalez is a judge for Position 8 of the Washington Supreme Court. He assumed office on January 1, 2012. His current term ends on January 13, 2031.
Gonzalez ran for re-election for the Position 8 judge of the Washington Supreme Court. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Gonzalez was the Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court from 2021 to 2025.[1]
Gonzalez first became a member of the Washington Supreme Court when he was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) in November 2011.[2] To read more about judicial selection in Washington, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Gonzalez received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Justice Gonzalez received a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Pitzer College. During the course of his degree, he studied in Japan and China. He earned his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. He also has an honorary doctorate of law from Gonzaga Law School.[2] Before serving on the supreme court, Gonzalez was a judge on the King County Superior Court from 2002 to 2011. Previously, he served as the assistant U.S. attorney for the Washington Western District from 1997 to 2002. From 1996 to 1997, he worked in the City of Seattle Attorney's Office. He previously worked as an attorney at Hillis, Clark, Martin and Peterson from 1991 to 1996.[2]
In 2011, Gonzalez received the Outstanding Judge of the Year Award from the Washington State Bar Association and the Judge of the Year Award from the Washington Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. While serving as an assistant U.S. attorney, he was awarded the Director's Award for Superior Performance by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney General's award for Distinguished Service.[5]
Elections
2024
See also: Washington Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Washington State Supreme Court Position 8
Incumbent Steven Gonzalez won election in the general election for Washington State Supreme Court Position 8 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Steven Gonzalez (Nonpartisan) | 97.6 | 2,564,372 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.4 | 61,866 | ||
| Total votes: 2,626,238 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Steven Gonzalez advanced from the primary for Washington State Supreme Court Position 8.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Gonzalez received the following endorsements.
2018
See also: Washington Supreme Court elections, 2018
General election
General election for Washington State Supreme Court Position 8
Incumbent Steven Gonzalez defeated Nathan Choi in the general election for Washington State Supreme Court Position 8 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Steven Gonzalez (Nonpartisan) | 67.6 | 1,687,073 |
 | Nathan Choi (Nonpartisan) | 32.4 | 809,176 | |
| Total votes: 2,496,249 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Steven Gonzalez and Nathan Choi advanced from the primary for Washington State Supreme Court Position 8.
Selection method
- See also: Nonpartisan election of judges
The nine justices of the supreme court are selected through contested elections without reference to party affiliation and must run for re-election when their terms expire. Justices serve for six years.[6] In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement. The appointee serves until the next general election, at which point he or she may run to serve for the remainder of the predecessor's term.[6] If the resignation and subsequent appointment take place after the filing period for that year's elections opens, the appointee must stand in the next general election in order to remain on the bench.
Qualifications
To serve on the supreme court, a justice must be:
- a resident and qualified voter of the state;
- admitted to practice law in the courts of record in Washington; and
- under the age of 75.
Selection of the chief justice
The chief justice of the court is selected by peer vote for a term of four years.
2012
- See also: Washington judicial elections, 2012
Justice Gonzalez was elected to his seat on the Washington Supreme Court, position 8. He defeated Bruce O. Danielson in the primary election on August 7, winning 56.9% of the vote. He received 100% of the vote in the November 6th general election.[7][8][9]
2011
Gonzalez first became a member of the Washington Supreme Court when he was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) in November 2011.[2]
Ratings
- Rated as Well Qualified by the Justice for Washington Foundation[10]
- Rated as Exceptionally Well Qualified by the King County Bar Association.[11]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Steven Gonzalez did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
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.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[12]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[13]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Steven
Gonzalez
Washington
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
- Endorsed by Democratic-affiliated individuals or organizations
- State was a Democratic trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Gonzalez was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) to fill a vacancy in 2011. At the time of his appointment, the state was a Democratic trifecta. He was endorsed by the Cowlitz County Democrats, the Franklin County Democrats, the Grays Harbor County Democrats, the Jefferson County Democrats, and the King County Democrats when he ran for retention election.
State supreme court judicial selection in Washington
- See also: Judicial selection in Washington
The nine justices of the supreme court are selected through contested nonpartisan elections and must run for re-election when their terms expire. Supreme court judges serve for six years.[14]
Qualifications
To serve on the supreme court, a judge must be:
- admitted to practice law in Washington; and
- under the age of 75.[15]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected through a peer vote and has a set term of four years.[16]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement. The appointee serves until the next general election, at which point he or she may run to serve for the remainder of the predecessor's term.[17] If the resignation and subsequent appointment takes place after the filing period opens for that year's elections, the appointee must stand in the next year's election to remain on the bench.[18]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
|
Candidate Washington State Supreme Court Position 8 |
Officeholder Washington State Supreme Court Position 8 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Washington Courts, "Chief Justice Steven C. González," accessed March 24, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Governor Chris Gregoire, "Gov. Gregoire appoints Supreme Court Justice," November 15, 2011
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Retain Justice Steve Gonzalez, "Meet Steve," archived February 7, 2012
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Washington," archived October 3, 2014
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Results by County," August 28, 2012
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "2012 Candidates Who Have Filed," archived June 5, 2012
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "November 08, 2011 General Election Results," December 2, 2011
- ↑ Justice for Washington Foundation, "Justice for Washington Rates Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Candidates," archived July 28, 2012
- ↑ King County Bar Association, "2012 Judicial Elections," accessed July 26, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, Methods of Judicial Selection: Washington," accessed April 16, 2025
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, Methods of Judicial Selection: Washington," accessed April 16, 2025
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, Methods of Judicial Selection: Washington," accessed April 16, 2025
- ↑ Washington State Legislature, "Washington State Constitution," accessed April 16, 2025 (Scroll to Article IV, Section 3)
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, Methods of Judicial Selection: Washington," accessed April 16, 2025
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Washington State Supreme Court Position 8 2012-Present |
Succeeded by - |
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Washington, Western District of Washington • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Washington, Western District of Washington
State courts:
Washington Supreme Court • Washington Court of Appeals • Washington Superior Court • Washington District Courts • Washington Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Washington • Washington judicial elections • Judicial selection in Washington
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