John F. Main, the incumbent, attempted to withdraw because of illness, but was forced to remain on the November 3, 1942 General Election ballot by a Court decision denying the #3 candidate in the primary, the right to replace Main in the race.
Mallery is best remembered today for a series of controversial rulings against state anti-discrimination laws in WA targeting private businesses (RCW 49.60), including e.g. Browning v. Slenderella Systems, 54 Wn.2d 440, 453, 341 P.2d 859 (1959), where a dissenting Justice Mallery and one other justice, voted to deny recovery for the tort of emotional distress against a dentist's wife (Browning), alleged barred from a Seattle salon because of her race.
Mallery, who evidently became more conservative later in life, also ruled against a black family in Seattle, in a case decided by the Court on other grounds (Price v. Evergreen Cemeteries, 57 Wn.
For this, Mallery was targeted for defeat by a "Seattle lawyer and the NAACP" (second case cited, at 57 Wn.
[citation omitted] 'As judges, we must recognize the role we have played in devaluing black lives.'