Race to watch: Washington secretary of state

The big picture: Washington Democrat Steve Hobbs was appointed to fill a vacancy last year and has not yet been elected to the seat. No Democrat has won a Washington secretary of state race since 1960.

• Julie Anderson, the Pierce County auditor who is running as a nonpartisan candidate, is giving Hobbs a run for his money, recent polls show.

Yes, but: Hobbs has a big fundraising lead, having raised $639,934 in campaign donations to Anderson's $298,276, as of the latest campaign finance reports.

• Hobbs has also outspent Anderson 2:1 so far.

What they're saying: "Anderson has two key advantages. She has experience as the top election administrator of Washington's second-largest county, and she's not a Republican, which could make more people willing to vote for her in this blue state," FiveThirtyEight says.

• "That said, Hobbs is still the one with the 'D' beside his name," the politics website adds.

What we're watching: If the sizable amount of money each candidate has on hand translates into a big ad blitz in the final weeks before the Nov. 8 election.