Current conditions unavailable
Within a week of Washington's campaign regulators scrapping a prohibition on big-dollar donations close to the elections, at least $350,000 of donations arrived in two big lumps, including one that has gone toward a heated state Supreme Court race.
Meanwhile, state Senate Republicans have put out an appeal seeking more cash.
The state Public Disclosure Commission last Friday announced they would not enforce caps on large donations to election campaigns, citing concerns over whether they were constitutionally enforceable.
Those limits had prohibited campaigns from taking contributions within 21 days of the general election from any one person or entity that exceeded $75,000 for statewide campaigns, and $7,500 for local campaigns.
With the late-campaign limits suspended, the money appeared to be focusing on the race between King County Superior Court Judge Sean Patrick O’Donnell and state Court of Appeals Judge Ian Birk.
The two are competing in perhaps the fiercest of five Supreme Court races that could shape Washington's highest court for years to come.
Birk's campaign is endorsed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, former Gov. Jay Inslee, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and a host of other Democrats.
O'Donnell's campaign has drawn bipartisan support, with former Democratic Govs. Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke supporting him, along with Democratic Reps. Adam Smith and Marilyn Strickland.
He's also endorsed by the Washington State Republican Party, though that doesn't appear on his website. And conservative money has gone into political committees making independent expenditures in support of him.
On Tuesday, PDC reports showed a $250,000 donation by the SEIU 775 Quality Care Committee to a group called Beware the Attack on our Courts. That money appeared to go out the door almost immediately in mailers and online ads boosting Birk and attacking O'Donnell.
In an email, Adam Glickman, secretary-treasurer of SEIU 775, defended the spending.
“I’m frankly not crazy about the PDC decision that was made and certainly not the timing of the decision — this feels like the referee changing the rules with no notice in the second half of the 4th quarter, Glickman wrote.
He added that the union was concerned about a floodgate of money opening up with the decision, pointing to Republican support of O'Donnell's campaign.
An email to Birk's campaign Wednesday seeking comment wasn't returned.
In an interview Wednesday, O'Donnell said the heavy partisanship and spending in the race could have a lasting impact on state Supreme Court races.
"I’ve worked really hard to embrace impartiality and being open person for all Washingtonians, and I think that’s reflected in the broad support I have," O'Donnell said Wednesday evening.
As for the PDC, “I am stunned that they would do this while the election is occurring,” he added. “It’s not like these legal issues were new.”
Earlier in the election season, O'Donnell's campaign put out a letter signed by more than 60 judges decrying Birk's campaign for allegedly disparaging, partisan and inaccurate statements about O'Donnell in a campaign email.
Since the PDC announcement, at least one other large contribution has been reported: A $100,000 donation made by a political committee went to another political committee that has previously donated to a third committee whose website has a video supporting O'Donnell.
The $100,000 donation is from a committee called WA Needs to Compete, funded by large donations from T-Mobile, Alaska Airlines, Weyerhaeuser and Microsoft, as well as former and current Microsoft executives, including Brad Smith, Satya Nadella and Steve Ballmer.
That money went to a group called Enterprise Jobs PAC, tied to donors like Phillips 66 and Chevron. The PAC previously donated money to another group called Citizens for Working Courts that appears to support O'Donnell's campaign. As of Wednesday, Citizens for Working Courts appeared to still be holding on to almost all of its $334,000 on hand.
Also on Wednesday, the Senate Republican Campaign Committee put out a fundraising appeal by email, citing the PDC rule change.
"With Election Day right around the corner, supporters who are able to give at higher levels can now do so without bumping into that 21-day cap," the email said. "If you’ve been wanting to do more for our Senate Republican candidates, now’s the time.
© 2026 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
