‘Judges are a check on power’: WA Supreme Court candidate Sean O’Donnell warns against politicizing judicial races

King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell said a late flood of outside spending against him threatens public trust in Washington’s courts, as he makes his final push in the race for the state Supreme Court.

O’Donnell joined “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio days before the election, just after returning from campaigning in Spokane.

“This vote this November will likely lock in this court for six to 10 years,” O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell criticizes timing of PDC decision

O’Donnell pointed to a recent Public Disclosure Commission decision not to enforce limits on contributions to independent expenditure groups once voting is underway. He said that within 72 hours, more than $300,000 went to a group supporting his opponent, followed by about 300,000 mailers. He put the total spent on attack ads against him at more than $1.5 million.

He gave the commission the benefit of the doubt on the law itself but questioned the timing.

“They’ve known about this for months,” O’Donnell said. “Why, when the ballots are in people’s hands, is the change happening?”

He also noted that judicial races appear deep in the voters’ pamphlet.

“They bury us on page 57 of the voter pamphlet,” he said.

O’Donnell rejects ‘MAGA’ label

O’Donnell argued that his opponent has run a partisan campaign in a nonpartisan race and that outside groups have followed suit by labeling him MAGA.

“If you have a record on your side, you pound on your record. If you have a vision on your side, you pound on the vision, and if you have neither, then you get on top of the Space Needle and cry MAGA,” O’Donnell said.

He pointed to endorsements from former Gov. Christine Gregoire, former Gov. Gary Locke, Seattle City Council member Joy Hollingsworth, Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove, a majority of the King County Council and 25 mayors. He also cited Republican support, including King County Council member Reagan Dunn, a former classmate.

O’Donnell noted that dozens of judges have criticized his opponent’s campaign and that The Seattle Times has called it disqualifying.

How independent expenditures work

Curley raised a Seattle Times report on outside money supporting O’Donnell and asked whether critics could accuse him of the same thing. O’Donnell explained that judicial candidates cannot personally ask for money and that independent expenditure groups operate separately from campaigns.

“Those groups that you’ve just referenced have no part in my campaign,” he said. “I don’t solicit that money.”

He also argued that the contributors behind the groups supporting each candidate line up the same way, adding that personal injury lawyers are “sort of where he came from,” referring to his opponent.

Experience and public safety

O’Donnell outlined what he sees as three contrasts with his opponent: experience, judgment and public safety. He said he has been a judge a decade longer and that no current or prospective justice has his public safety background.

A former homicide prosecutor, O’Donnell worked on the Green River Killer case and prosecuted Washington’s first human trafficking case. He has also served as chief criminal judge in King County.

“I’ve been to murder scenes. I have been to autopsies. I’ve sat with families who have lost loved ones,” he said. “It’s just a perspective that is important for context on that court that we’re currently lacking.”

Asked whether he considers himself an originalist, O’Donnell said he avoids labels but stressed the text of the law and precedent.

“It’s not the world according to Sean,” he said. “It’s the world of what does the law say? What do the cases interpreting the law say, and how do I apply that?”

Warning about impartiality

O’Donnell argued that if partisan attacks succeed, future judicial candidates will abandon impartiality.

“It will be a race for judicial candidates who can bend the knee the fastest to the party in power,” he said. “Impartiality and trust in the judiciary go hand in hand.”

He closed with a line he had to repeat after a brief power outage in the studio.

“Judges are a check on power,” O’Donnell said. “We’re a check on power, not an accelerant.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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