Jay Inslee recall, Governor of Washington (2021)

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  • 2021 mid-year analysis
  • 2020 year-end analysis
  • 2020 mid-year analysis
  • 2019 year-end analysis
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  • 2018 mid-year analysis
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  • 2017 mid-year analysis
  • 2016 year-end analysis
  • 2016 mid-year analysis

Jay Inslee recall: Governor of Washington
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
Table of contents
Recall supporters Election history Path to the ballot
See also
External links Footnotes

An effort to recall Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) was launched on May 17, 2021. The grounds for recall had to first be approved by the Washington Superior Court before it could move forward. State officials announced on June 16 that a judge had dismissed the recall petition. According to the state attorney general’s office, the "judge ruled that the five charges alleged in the petition were 'legally and factually insufficient.'" If the reasons for the recall had been approved, supporters would have needed to collect 1,014,114 million signatures within 270 days to require a recall election.

On April 28, 2022, the Washington Supreme Court upheld the Thurston County Superior Court's decision that the recall effort did not provide factually or legally sufficient grounds.

Recall supporters criticized Inslee over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Inslee was elected as Washington's governor in 2012 with 51.4% of the vote. He was re-elected in 2020 with 57% of the vote.

To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.

Recall supporters

The Recall Inslee group filed a recall petition against the governor on May 17, 2021. The group's website listed the following reasons for recall:

"

Charge One, on or about March 23, 2020, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation 20-25, “Stay Home – Stay Healthy.” The Stay Home – Stay Healthy order prohibited all people in Washington State from participating in social, spiritual and recreational gatherings of any kind regardless of the number of participants. Violations of Proclamation 20-25 were punishable as crimes pursuant to RCW 43.06.220(5). Proclamation 20-25 violated Article I, Section 11 of the Washington State Constitution, “Religious Freedom.” Charge Two, on or about March 18, 2020, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation 20-19, “Evictions.” The Evictions order prohibited residential landlords from initiating judicial action seeking a writ of restitution involving a dwelling unit if the alleged basis for the writ is the failure of the tenant or tenants to timely pay rent. Violations of Proclamation 20-19 were punishable as crimes pursuant to RCW 43.06.220(5). Proclamation 20-19 violated Article IV, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution, “Judicial Power, Where Vested.” Charge Three, Governor Inslee exceeded statutory authority granted in RCW 43.06.220(2)(g) by suspending the Open Public Meetings Act, infringing on the People of Washington’s right to petition the government for redress and infringing on the People’s rights to peaceably assemble under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, thereby violating RCW 43.06.220(2)(g). Such a violation of RCW 43.06.220(2)(g) constitutes misfeasance, a violation of the Governor’s oath of office, or both; either result subjects the Governor to recall. Charge Four, Governor Inslee exceeded statutory authority granted in RCW 43.06.220(2)(g) by suspending people’s rights to peaceably assemble by limiting the number of people allowed to attend a single gathering under Proclamations 20-05, 20-06, 20-07, 20-11, and subsequent Proclamations. Such a violation results in a valid claim for misfeasance, a violation of the Governor’s oath of office, or both; either result subjects the Governor to recall. Charge Five, on February 29th, 2020 and beyond, the Governor issued all of the Covid-19 pandemic Proclamations without just cause as he failed to make a finding that a public disorder, disaster, energy emergency, or riot existed in the State of Washington due to Covid-19. Such a finding is a condition precedent to declaring a state of emergency and is required by RCW 43.06.010(12). The Governor’s illegal Covid-19 Proclamations result in a valid claim for misfeasance, a violation of the Governor’s oath of office, or both; either result subjects the Governor to recall.

”

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Washington

Grounds for recall

Article I, §33 of the Washington Constitution states that a recall can only occur if the targeted public official has "committed some act or acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office, or who has violated his oath of office."

Signature requirement

A petition for recall must include a specified number of valid signatures from registered voters determined as a percentage of total votes cast for all candidates who ran for the office in the most recent election contest. This amounts to:

"

(1) In the case of a state officer, an officer of a city of the first class, a member of a school board in a city of the first class, or a county officer of a county with a population of forty thousand or more—signatures of legal voters equal to twenty-five percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for the office to which the officer whose recall is demanded was elected at the preceding election. (2) In the case of an officer of any political subdivision, city, town, township, precinct, or school district other than those mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, and in the case of a state senator or representative—signatures of legal voters equal to thirty-five percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for the office to which the officer whose recall is demanded was elected at the preceding election.

”

Supporters trying to recall a statewide elected official must turn in signatures within 270 days. The recall campaigns for non-statewide officials have 180 days to turn in signatures.

Recalls related to the coronavirus

See also: Recalls related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and government responses to the pandemic

Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.

The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Election history

2020

See also: Washington gubernatorial election, 2020

General election

General election for Governor of Washington

Incumbent Jay Inslee defeated Loren Culp in the general election for Governor of Washington on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jay Inslee (D)	56.6	2,294,243
		Loren Culp (R)	43.1	1,749,066
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	13,145

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,056,454
= 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.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Washington

The following candidates ran in the primary for Governor of Washington on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jay Inslee (D)	50.1	1,247,916
✔		Loren Culp (R)	17.4	433,238
		Joshua Freed (R)	8.9	222,553
		Tim Eyman (R)	6.4	159,495
		Raul Garcia (R)	5.4	135,045
		Phil Fortunato (R)	4.0	99,265
		Don Rivers (D)	1.0	25,601
		Leon Lawson (Trump Republican Party)	0.9	23,073
		Liz Hallock (G)	0.9	21,537
		Cairo D'Almeida (D)	0.6	14,657
		Anton Sakharov (Trump Republican Party)	0.6	13,935
		Nate Herzog (Pre-2016 Republican Party)	0.5	11,303
		Gene Hart (D)	0.4	10,605
		Omari Tahir-Garrett (D)	0.4	8,751
		Ryan Ryals (Unaffiliated)	0.3	6,264
		Henry Dennison (Socialist Workers Party)	0.2	5,970
		GoodSpaceGuy (Trump Republican Party)	0.2	5,646
		Richard Carpenter (R)	0.2	4,962
		Elaina Gonzalez (Independent)	0.2	4,772
		Matthew Murray (R)	0.2	4,489
		Thor Amundson (Independent)	0.1	3,638
		Bill Hirt (R)	0.1	2,854
		Martin Wheeler (R)	0.1	2,686
		Ian Gonzales (R)	0.1	2,537
		Joshua Wolf (New Liberty Party)	0.1	2,315
		Cregan Newhouse (Unaffiliated)	0.1	2,291
		Brian Weed (Unaffiliated)	0.1	2,178
		Alex Tsimerman (Standup-America Party)	0.1	1,721
		Tylor Grow (R)	0.1	1,509
		Dylan Nails (Independent)	0.1	1,470
		Craig Campbell (Unaffiliated)	0.0	1,178
		William Miller (American Patriot Party)	0.0	1,148
		Cameron Vessey (Unaffiliated)	0.0	718
		Winston Wilkes (Propertarianist Party)	0.0	702
		David Blomstrom (Fifth Republic Party)	0.0	519
		David Voltz (Cascadia Labour Party)	0.0	480
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,938

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,488,959
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mathew Mackenzie (R)
• Phillip Bailey (D)
• Asa Palagi (Independent)
• Lisa Thomas (Unaffiliated)
• Matthew Heines (Unaffiliated)

2016

See also: Washington gubernatorial election, 2016

Inslee ran for re-election as governor of Washington. He competed with three other Democrats, three Republicans, and four third party candidates in the August 2 top-two primary election. Inslee placed first in the primary election and faced Seattle Port Commissioner Bill Bryant (R), who placed second, in the November 8 general election.

Results

General election

Incumbent Jay Inslee defeated Bill Bryant in the Washington governor election.

Washington Governor, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jay Inslee Incumbent	54.24%	1,760,520
	Republican	Bill Bryant	45.49%	1,476,346
		Write-in votes	0.26%	8,416
Total Votes				3,245,282
Source: Washington Secretary of State

Primary election

The following candidates ran in the Washington primary for governor.

Washington primary for governor, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jay Inslee Incumbent	49.30%	687,412
	Republican	Bill Bryant	38.33%	534,519
	Republican	Bill Hirt	3.47%	48,382
	Democratic	Patrick O'Rourke	2.91%	40,572
	Independent	Steve Rubenstein	1.62%	22,582
	Democratic	James Robert Deal	1.05%	14,623
	Democratic	Johnathan Dodds	1.01%	14,152
	Republican	Goodspaceguy	0.95%	13,191
	Socialist Workers Party	Mary Martin	0.74%	10,374
	Fifth Republic Party	David Blomstrom	0.32%	4,512
	Holistic Party	Christian Joubert	0.29%	4,103
Total Votes				1,394,422
Source: Washington Secretary of State

2012

See also: Washington gubernatorial election, 2012

Inslee was elected Governor of Washington in the 2012 election. He finished first in the August 7th blanket primary and defeated Republican attorney general Rob McKenna in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.

Governor of Washington General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jay Inslee	51.4%	1,582,802
	Republican	Rob McKenna	48.3%	1,488,245
	Other	Write-in votes	0.3%	8,592
Total Votes				3,079,639
Election results via Washington Secretary of State

Primäre

Governor of Washington, Primary, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jay Inslee	47.1%	664,534
	Republican	Rob McKenna	42.9%	604,872
	Republican	Shahram Hadian	3.3%	46,169
	Democratic	Rob Hill	3.2%	45,453
	Independent	James White	1%	13,764
	No Party Preference	Christian Joubert	0.7%	10,457
	Independent	L. Dale Sorgen	0.7%	9,734
	Republican	Max Sampson	0.6%	8,753
	Republican	Javier O. Lopez	0.4%	6,131
Total Votes				1,409,867
Election results via Washington Secretary of State

Historical gubernatorial recalls

From 2003 to 2020, Ballotpedia tracked 78 gubernatorial recall efforts against 21 different governors. During that time, two recalls made the ballot and one governor was successfully recalled. Former California Gov. Gray Davis (D) was recalled by voters in 2003. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was chosen as Davis' replacement. The only other governor to ever be successfully recalled was former North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier (R) in 1921. In 2012, Wisconsin voted to retain former Gov. Scott Walker (R) in the recall election. He received 53.1% of the vote.

See also

• Recall campaigns in Washington
• Political recall efforts, 2021
• Gubernatorial recalls

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of Gov. Inslee
• Recall Jay Inslee website