By Assunta Ng
Northwest Asia Weekly
Steve Hobbs and his wife Pam (courtesy of Washington State Archives)
Eight days after the election, Governor Jay Inslee offered Senator Steve Hobbs the position of Secretary of State. Former Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman accepted the post of director of cybersecurity in the administration of President Joe Biden. Hobbes sitting in Wyman’s chair will be the envy of Democrats who have challenged and opposed her since 2012. Hobbes is going smoothly.
Hobbs is the first person of color in this position, and he has become the third most powerful politician in the state government after the governor and the lieutenant governor. Apart from Hawaii, Washington State may be the only state where Asians account for 10% of the total population, but Asian Americans have and currently hold the top three jobs in the state. Gary Locke served as the first Asian American governor from 1997 to 2005, Cyrus Habib served as the first Asian American Lieutenant Governor from 2017 to 2021, and now Hobbs ) Served as Secretary of State.
Hobbs, a moderate Democrat of Japanese descent, was as surprised as other members of the Asian community that he got the job. It was his colleague who encouraged him to apply.
You think this will be an extended process of filling out the application form, conducting a formal interview with the governor, and reviewing it. But there is no form to fill out, no formal interview, and no recommendation letter. Instead, it was a simple phone call from Hobbs to the governor on the same day Wyman announced her new job on Twitter.
The call is short. How short is it? “10 minutes?” I asked. Hobbs paused to remember. “Five minutes?” I asked again.
“No, a minute or two, not that long,” Hobbs said. Perhaps the governor did not even hear that Wyman was leaving. He said, “He (Insley) just said,’Thank you for your attention.'”
Hobbs was not the only one who was surprised by the job Insley gave him. So were his wife and Japanese immigrant mother. Hobbs considered the appointment “incredible” because he and Insley did not always agree.
“We disagree on many things, such as tax policy, but we agree more than we disagree.”
Steve Hobbs (left) and Governor Jay Insley (courtesy of Washington State Archives)
On November 10th, Insley was attending the World Climate Change Conference in Scotland. At 11 o’clock in the morning, Hobbs received a call from Insley’s chief of staff, “You got the job.”
At 12:04 noon, “Northwest Asia Weekly” received a video announcement from the Insley Press Office. Insley announced Hobb’s appointment in that video.
Asia Weekly asked how many people in Insley’s office had applied for the job. Insley’s office told us that they had a conversation with six candidates.
Hobbs said he learned from news reports that four or five people are interested in the job. It does not include anyone in the legislature. Hobbs did not know whether any Republicans sought this job from Insley.
Hobbs was asked if anyone was lobbying for him? “No,” he said, because he “focused on the Senate’s transportation budget. I am the chairman of the negotiations for next year’s budget.”
In addition to representing the 44th legislative district in the state Senate since 2007, Hobbs was also a lieutenant colonel in the Washington State National Guard and has served in the agency for 32 years. Since Hobbs just graduated from the nine-week course offered by the Department of Defense Information School, which taught him how to combat false information, the job of a secretary couldn’t be more appropriate.
In last year’s election, former President Trump claimed that voters cheated. Hobbs said this course taught him how to deal with false information and outreach activities.
Cybersecurity related to national security has always been Hobbes’ interest.
As Hobbs is about to complete the final year of Wyman’s term, Hobbs must run for re-election in the congressional district elections, the busiest period in the Secretary of State’s office next year. “It’s not the worst,” he said. He has seen the worst in the National Guard.
Hobbs has begun his re-election campaign. He proudly told Asia Weekly, “I have got the endorsement of Gary Locke.”
Hobbs said his mother might also run for him.
“She was the first to show me an “Asia Weekly” with my story.”
Assunta can be reached assunta@nwasianweekly.com.
