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Endorses Bloom
The race
Washington Supreme Court Position 7 is a regular election on November 3, 2026, and it carries the court's leadership with it: the incumbent is Chief Justice Debra L. Stephens, on the court since 2008. The August 4 top-two primary narrowed a four-candidate field to two: Stephens finished first with 938,584 votes (54.37%), tax attorney Todd Bloom advanced second with 468,347 votes (27.13%), and criminal defense attorney Karim Merchant (12.03%) and family-law attorney David Shelvey (6.24%) were eliminated. Only Stephens and Bloom are on your November ballot. The race is officially nonpartisan; alignment below is derived from appointing authority, career record, and endorsers, disclosed as such.
Debra L. Stephens — Incumbent chief justice. Stephens was appointed to the court in 2008 by Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire and has been elected and re-elected since; her colleagues elevated her to chief justice, the role she holds in this election. Eighteen years on the state's highest court is the deepest service record in any of this year's five Washington races. Her endorsers in this race include The Seattle Times, The Stranger, and Third Act. The court she leads is the court whose recent rulemaking and criminal-justice direction other candidates on this ballot (Positions 3 and 4) are campaigning against; she is, in effect, running on that court's record as its chief.
Todd Bloom — Challenger. Bloom is a Tacoma tax attorney. He ran for this court in 2024, and before that was the Republican candidate for Washington's 6th congressional district in 2022 and 2016. The Washington State Republican Party recommended him for this seat. He has never served as a judge, so his judicial record is unproven by definition — recorded as unproven, never as a demerit.
Pros and cons
Stephens: Credits: Eighteen years of supreme court service and the chief justiceship — institutional knowledge no challenger can match, and a primary majority (54.37%) that shows durable statewide support; endorsed by both the Seattle Times and The Stranger, a breadth few incumbents achieve. Dirt and debits: She reached the court as a Democratic governor's appointee and now leads a court whose activist direction — on criminal-justice rulemaking and the coming tax litigation — is the central complaint of this cycle; as chief justice she owns that record in a way an associate justice would not; no sourced instance of her breaking with the court's progressive majority on a major question was retrieved in this pass.
Bloom: Credits: A tax-law practice aimed at the subject matter — the state's high-earner taxes — most likely to define this court's next term; the state Republican Party's recommendation; two prior statewide-caliber campaigns (Congress, this court) that vet him as a known quantity to voters. Dirt and debits: Never a judge — the steepest experience gap on this ballot against the court's longest-serving member; his 2024 supreme court run and his congressional runs all lost, a documented electoral record; no judicial philosophy statement or bar rating was retrieved in this pass, so his file is thinner than a challenger for chief justice should be.
Record gaps
- No individual Stephens opinion was retrieved and graded in this pass, and Bloom's campaign materials beyond roster, party recommendation, and career were thin. Search record: the certified August 4 primary canvass and the 2026 Washington Supreme Court election compilation (Stephens's incumbency and chief-justice status; Bloom identified as tax attorney, 2024 judicial candidate, and Republican congressional candidate in 2016 and 2022; endorsement lists); Transparency USA finance filings for the race; Kitsap Sun polling coverage (Stephens 43%, Bloom 29%). The documented search is printed here because Bloom's thin file is part of the verdict below — the digging was done; the record is what it is.
OUR CALL
Our call: endorse Todd Bloom. Disclosed basis: appointing authority and endorsers, applied to a chief-justice race where the incumbent owns the court's direction. Stephens is the most experienced candidate on Washington's ballot this year, and we credit eighteen years plainly. But she was appointed by a Democratic governor, leads the court whose rulings this cycle's challengers are running against, and offers no retrieved instance of restraint against her own court's majority. Bloom is unproven as a judge — stated, not hidden — and carries the state Republican Party's recommendation and a tax practice matched to the court's coming docket. Our doctrine does not require a challenger to out-résumé an incumbent; it asks which record points toward constitutional restraint. On the evidence retrieved, that is the challenger.
Vote Todd Bloom.
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Sources
- 2026 Washington Supreme Court election — Position 7: Stephens incumbent chief justice running for re-election; primary results (Stephens 54.37%, Bloom 27.13%, Merchant 12.03% and Shelvey 6.24% eliminated); Bloom identified as tax attorney, 2024 judicial candidate, and Republican candidate for WA-06 in 2022 and 2016; endorsements (Seattle Times, Stranger, Third Act for Stephens; Washington State Republican Party recommendation for Bloom) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Washington_Supreme_Court_election
- Transparency USA — Washington State Supreme Court Position 7 — two active general-election candidates (Stephens, Bloom) and campaign finance figures — https://www.transparencyusa.org/wa/race/washington-state-supreme-court-position-7-76937
- Kitsap Sun — polling on Washington's 2026 general election — Position 7 Emerson/NPI polling (Stephens 43%, Bloom 29%) — https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/10/20/what-do-the-polls-say-about-washingtons-2026-general-election/92235674007/
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.