(Too) Early Reactions to Washington Primary

Posted by Joe Adamack on August 7, 2024

While there are still a significant number of votes to count, the initial information coming from the first release of Washington primary ballot results last night do provide a reasonable picture of what to expect from some key races.

Congressional:

• The 5th Congressional District will see Michael Baumgartner, the current Spokane County Treasurer, move on to the general election, and with the district consistently leaning Republican it is likely that he will be successful in November’s general election.
• In the 6th Congressional District current, State Senator Emily Randall will advance to the general and in what has been a Democratic district, she has a significant advantage heading into the November general election.
• In the 4th Congressional District early returns show Congressman Dan Newhouse advancing to the general despite facing multiple Republican challengers. While this data will continue to evolve and could change in the next week it’s likely Newhouse will face challenger Jerrod Sessler in November.

Statewide:

• As anticipated Attorney General Bob Ferguson will advance to take on former Congressman Dave Reichert.
• Nick Brown will likely be the Democratic candidate to move onto the general and face Republican Pete Serrano for state Attorney General, following a primary challenge with current State Sen. Manka Dhingra.
• Early returns have two Republicans advancing to the general, including former Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler leading the way. That said, given how many candidates are in the race, the fact that more votes are still to be counted in areas that generally vote Democratic, and how close votes are for the second position, it’s way too early to tell how that will end up.

Legislative:

• The Yakima area 14th legislative district that was re-drawn by courts to cure a Voting Rights Act issue and was an area Democrats hoped to pick up another seat, but so far Republicans are strongly leading the way in all three races.
• Democrats are leading in all three seats in the swing districts of the 10th and 5th.

Much more to come in the next few days, but we wanted to share some early insights and analysis of early returns, with the caveat that anything is subject to change.

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Washington Advocacy.