2012 Washington Attorney General election

The 2012 Washington Attorney General election was held on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the other statewide elections and the gubernatorial election. Incumbent Republican State Attorney General Rob McKenna retired to run for governor. Democratic King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson won the general election over Republican King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn.

2012 Washington Attorney General election

← 2008 November 6, 2012 (2012-11-06) 2016 →

Nominee Bob Ferguson Reagan Dunn Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,564,443 1,361,010 Percentage 53.5% 46.5%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results Ferguson:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Dunn:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      50%      No votes

Attorney General before election Rob McKenna Republican Elected Attorney General Bob Ferguson Democratic

Primary election

Blanket primary results by county

  Ferguson

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Dunn

•   40–50%
•   50–60%

Democratic candidates

• Bob Ferguson, King County Councilmember^[1]

Republican candidates

• Reagan Dunn, King County Councilmember^[2]
• Stephen Pidgeon, attorney and anti-gay activist^[3]

Results

Primary election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bob Ferguson	685,346	51.68
	Republican	Reagan Dunn	506,524	38.20
	Republican	Stephen Pidgeon	134,185	10.12
Total votes			1,326,055	100.00

General election

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Reagan Dunn (R)	Bob Ferguson (D)	Undecided
Washington Poll	October 18–31, 2012	632 (LV)	± 3.9%	34%	45%	21%
Elway Research	October 18–21, 2012	451 (RV)	± 4.5%	36%	38%	25%
Elway Research	September 9–12, 2012	405 (RV)	± 5.0%	27%	40%	33%
SurveyUSA	September 7–9, 2012	524 (RV)	± 4.4%	33%	42%	24%
Elway Research	June 13–16, 2012	408 (RV)	± 5.0%	28%	26%	46%
Public Policy Polling (D)	February 22, 2012	1,264 (RV)	± 2.8%	34%	32%	34%
SurveyUSA	September 26, 2011	529 (RV)	± 4.3%	34%	39%	26%

Results

General election results^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bob Ferguson	1,564,443	53.48
	Republican	Reagan Dunn	1,361,010	46.52
Total votes			2,925,453	100.00
	Democratic gain from Republican

By congressional district

Ferguson won 6 of 10 congressional districts.^[5]

District	Dunn	Ferguson	Representative
1st	49%	51%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	43%	57%	Rick Larsen
3rd	53%	47%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	65%	35%	Doc Hastings
5th	58%	42%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	45%	55%	Norm Dicks
			Derek Kilmer
7th	23%	77%	Jim McDermott
8th	54%	46%	Dave Reichert
9th	36%	64%	Adam Smith
10th	46%	54%	Denny Heck

References

1. Rosenthal, Brian M. (August 7, 2012). "AG hopeful Bob Ferguson: Primary a "dream start"". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
2. Young, Bob (October 11, 2012). "Attorney general's race: Republican Dunn carves his own path". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
3. "Snub claim a sign of discord among gay-marriage foes". February 20, 2012.
4. "November 06, 2012 General Election Results: Attorney General". Washington State Secretary of State. November 27, 2012. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
5. Results. sos.wa.gov (Report).