Gregoire and Governor Gary Locke asked the legislature to reserve portions of the settlement for restitution to the state and to establish a special account to finance a long-term tobacco prevention and control program. The account would be used to pay for anti-tobacco advertising and education, accessible cessation programs, and other activities. In March 1999, Gregoire announced that Washington would receive at least an additional $394.9 million in settlement payments from the major tobacco companies. Other portions of the agreement included enforcement of laws against tobacco sales to children, broad-based smoking prevention strategies, smoking cessation programs, full disclosure of tobacco's health effects, and preservation of an individual's right to sue the tobacco companies. Gregoire defeated Ron Sims and four other minor candidates in the Democratic primary election for governor on September 14, 2004. She had come under fire during the primary for her membership in Kappa Delta because of its nonwhite membership policy in the late 1960s. She clashed with Sims over her position at the sorority, but Sims dropped the issue and dismissed any claims of racism. Sims campaigned on tax reform and the institution of a statewide income tax. Gregoire won the primary with over 60% of the vote. During the general election against former state senator and real estate agent Dino Rossi, Gregoire proposed a major initiative in life sciences, especially by increasing state funding for embryonic stem cell research. In debates, she tried to counter voter unease about the state government by saying she would "blow past the bureaucracy" and bring change herself. Gregoire won the backing of the legislature within six months after pushing through a number of important measures on car emission standards and unemployment benefits. The election was held on November 2, 2004, with the initial count showing Gregoire trailing Rossi by 261 votes. A legally mandated machine recount reduced that lead to only 42 votes, then a hand count requested and funded by the state's Democratic Party gave Gregoire a 10-vote lead. Following a State Supreme Court ruling that allowed several hundred ballots from King County to be included, her lead further increased to 130 votes, but when the vote was certified by the state's Secretary of State, Sam Reed, at the end of December, one vote that had been counted in Thurston County past the deadline was disqualified and her lead was reduced to 129 votes. Washington's Republican leadership then filed suit, claiming that hundreds of votes, including votes by felons, deceased voters, and double voters, had been counted, but on June 6, 2005, Judge John E. Bridges ruled that the Republican Party had not provided enough evidence that the disputed votes were ineligible—or for whom they were cast—to overturn the election.