Washington's campaign finance watchdog has stopped enforcing restrictions on political committees' acceptance of contributions and candidates' use of their own money just days before the state's general election, as spending across the state's Supreme Court races reaches a record. The decision clears the way for larger last-minute contributions to political committees and for candidates to use more of their own money, upending a law that had restricted committee receipts and candidate self-funding close to Election Day.
Regulators Cite Legal Risk in Lifting the Caps
The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission voted last week to suspend enforcement of restrictions on political committees' receipts and candidates' self-funding, including limits of $75,000 for legislative and statewide-office candidates and $7,500 for local political committees or candidates within 21 days of a general election, according to the Washington State Standard. The commission said it acted because it worried the statute could not survive a legal challenge, stating that it was concerned the law on the books is not enforceable. Limits on individual contributions directly to candidates remain in place, the outlet reported — it is the 21-day pre-election restrictions on political committees' receipts and candidates' self-funding that regulators have stopped enforcing.
The timing lands squarely on top of the race for the state Supreme Court's Position 4 seat, where Washington State Court of Appeals Judge Ian Birk is facing King County Superior Court Judge Sean O'Donnell, according to OPB. As The Seattle Times reports, campaign donations tied to this one contest have already produced at least $350,000 in two large contributions within a week of the commission's decision.
Union and Business Cash Floods the Supreme Court Contest
Among the five Washington Supreme Court races on the ballot, reported donations have reached roughly $2.8 million, which campaigns describe as a record for judicial elections in the state, per OPB's reporting. The Birk-O'Donnell race and a separate contest between Angelis and Larson are among the five contests.
On the labor side, the SEIU 775 Quality Care Committee donated $250,000 to the political committee Beware the Attack on Our Courts, according to the Seattle Times.
That same PAC, Beware the Attack on Our Courts, bought tens of thousands of dollars in Google and Meta attack ads targeting O'Donnell and boosting Birk, even though both platforms generally prohibit political ad placements for Washington state and local candidates, according to KUOW. The PAC reported spending $58,000 on the Google ads alone. Google agreed to pull the ads on Monday, but the station's report notes they kept running on Meta until Wednesday.
Business-Backed PAC Pushes Money Toward O'Donnell
On the other side of the race, the business-aligned political committee Citizens for Working Courts appeared to support O'Donnell's campaign, per the Seattle Times. The group reported spending more than $290,000 on O'Donnell's behalf, the same outlet's report notes, while a separate committee, Concerned Taxpayers of Washington State, reported spending almost $94,000 to support him. Citizens for Working Courts received hundreds of thousands of dollars from JOBS PAC, a fund that includes contributions from oil, pharmaceutical and insurance companies, per the same account.
Meanwhile, a separate business-backed group called Washington Needs to Compete transferred $100,000 to Jobs PAC, the Washington State Standard reported. Conservative donors have also funded political committees making independent expenditures in support of O'Donnell, who is endorsed by the Washington State Republican Party.
Candidates React as Endorsements Split Along Party Lines
Birk's campaign is backed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, former Gov. Jay Inslee, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal. O'Donnell, for his part, counts former Democratic governors Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke among his supporters, along with Democratic Representatives Adam Smith and Marilyn Strickland — even as he also holds the state GOP's endorsement.
Criticism of the commission's rule change and attack ads came from O'Donnell's campaign and consultant Stephen Paolini. His campaign also issued a letter signed by more than 60 judges criticizing what it described as partisan, disparaging and inaccurate statements about O'Donnell made in a campaign email. Birk's campaign did not respond to a request for comment, per the Seattle Times.
The episode is not Washington's first high-profile brush with late-stage campaign spending controversy. The Washington State Standard notes that on Oct. 24, 2025, Snohomish County District Court Judge Tam Bui paid $41,000 for last-minute mailers just 10 days before that year's election. And the Washington Supreme Court itself previously upheld a $35 million campaign-finance penalty against Meta — the largest such fine in state history — underscoring how aggressively the state has policed election spending rules in the past, per KUOW's reporting.
