Six insurance commissioner seats were up for grabs Nov. 7, with only two incumbents seeking reelection. At press time, all official tabulations were not completed, so the percentage by which some of the winners were elected was not available.
In Washington state, Democrat Mike Kreidler will fill the seat vacated by Deborah Senn in her unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Senate seat.
Kreidler, an optometrist and former state legislator and U.S. congressman, defeated Republican Don Davidson. Davidson is a dentist, past president of the Seattle-King County Dental Association and former mayor of Bellevue.
Florida’s race to fill Bill Nelson’s seat went to Republican Tom Gallagher, who held the post from 1989 to 1995. Gallagher will fill the two-year unexpired term Nelson left in his successful bid for a U.S. Senate seat.
Gallagher, 56, defeated Democrat John Cosgrove for the seat by a wide margin. Gallagher is a departing state education commissioner and two-time gubernatorial candidate who settled for the commissioner race after party leaders persuaded him to drop out of the U.S. Senate race so that fellow Republican Bill McCollum could run against Nelson.
Gallagher defeated Cosgrove on broad promises of reform compared to Cosgrove’s specific insurance industry reform plan. But late on Election Day, Gallagher released some information on what he hopes to accomplish while in office. His campaign manager, Walter Graham, said the commissioner-elect plans to eliminate an arbitration panel that enables insurance companies to appeal the commissioner’s rate decisions, adding more consumer representatives to an industry-controlled windstorm insurance rate board and appointing a task force to recommend ways to lower rates.
Besides serving as commissioner, Gallagher will serve as treasurer and fire marshal and oversee the merging of the agency with the state comptroller’s office. Gallagher will be the state’s last elected insurance commissioner, as the merged office will be led by an appointed chief financial officer.
In Delaware, two-term incumbent Donna Lee Williams defeated Karen Weldin Stewart. Williams has promised to focus on consumer protection as it applies to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, pushing for legislation to safeguard the privacy of consumer information.
In Montana, Democrat John Morrison defeated Republican Joyce Schmidt and Natural Law candidate Rebecca Scott for the state’s insurance commissioner equivalent, state auditor. Morrison will fill incumbent Mark O’Keefe’s position. O’Keefe, who lost a close race (52 percent to 48 percent) to former Lt. Governor Judy Martz, was barred from serving a third term as state auditor by term limits.
Morrison has said his focus as auditor will be to protect consumers, thus benefiting insurers that deal honestly with policyholders.
In North Carolina, Democrat Jim Long won his third consecutive race for insurance commissioner against Republican Mike Causey. Long, a former president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), defeated Causey comfortably, 57 percent to 43 percent. The victory marks Long’s fifth time to win the seat.
In North Dakota, Republican Jim Poolman defeated Democrat Gorman King Jr. 53 percent to 47 percent. Poolman, a trust officer for a Grand Forks bank and two-term
state representative, will succeed Glenn Pomeroy, a former NAIC chairman, who was defeated by Wayne Stenehjam for state attorney general.
Topics USA A.J. Gallagher
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
‘Extremely Dangerous’ Hurricane Beryl Takes Aim at Caribbean 
Guidance and Insurance Implications for the CDK Global Cyberattack 
Farmers Adjusters Cry Foul Over Workloads, Claims Handling in Letter to Regulators 
German Insurtech Wefox to Replace CEO After Board Rejects Mubadala Sales Plan From This Issue
