Kathleen Drew, who served as a state senator from Issaquah in the 1990s, beat out two other candidates to win the state Democratic Party nomination for secretary of state at its convention on Saturday.

Drew, who until recently was a policy aide to Gov. Chris Gregoire, was picked over a former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, and state Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup.

All three candidates gave brief speeches before the ballots were cast, shortly before noon, but Kastama had the distinction of being booed several times.

Kastama was one of three Democrats who crossed party lines earlier this year and gave Republicans control of the state budget in the Senate. He tried to defend his actions during his speech Saturday saying "voters want a secretary of state who has a proven record of independence."

The crowd wasn't impressed. Drew got 598 votes, Nickels received 144 and Kastama got 44 votes, according to a count provided by Drew.

All three candidates will appear on the August primary ballot, but only Drew gets the official party stamp of approval.

In the state auditor's race, state Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, was nominated over two other Democrats: Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, and Rep. Troy Kelley, D-University Place.