Washington Court of Appeals Judge Ian Birk is running for Washington Supreme Court Position 4 in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. Sean O'Donnell is the other candidate in the nonpartisan statewide race, according to King County Elections.
Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Birk to Division One of the Court of Appeals in April 2022. He retained the seat in the November 2022 election, according to his official Washington Courts biography.
Before taking the bench, Birk spent 20 years in civil litigation, including insurance and consumer-protection work at Keller Rohrback. He also worked as a law clerk at the Washington Supreme Court.
The court biography lists undergraduate and law studies at the University of Washington and more than a decade of volunteering with the King County Bar Association's Neighborhood Legal Clinics.
On his campaign's values page, Birk emphasizes judicial independence, equal access to justice and respect for precedent. He argues that judges should explain their reasoning clearly and decide cases according to the law and the record. These are campaign positions, rather than predictions about future rulings.
Official biography: https://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/bios/?fa=atc_bios.display&folderid=div1&fileID=birk
Campaign positions: https://ianbirk.com/values/
Election listing: https://info.kingcounty.gov/kcelections/Vote/contests/candidates.aspx?eid=55
Responses are based on public data and answers to a Surround Sound Media questionnaire if they were provided.
