Primary Results Unpacked

At the time of this publishing, we had most of the early results back in the primary election that took place on August 6th. However, if some results have changed significantly since the time of our publication we apologize.

Governor: RHAWA endorsed and supported Senator Mark Mullet (D), but sadly he will not be advancing to the primary as only the top two candidates will continue. Washington will be choosing between Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) and former Congressman Dave Reichert (R) for governor.

Lieutenant Governor: Denny Heck (D) who RHAWA supports, seems to be walking away with this one and will be hard to beat in the November general.

Commissioner of Public Lands: This race is still a little close to call, but it appears two Republicans will be facing each other in November. Former US Representative Jamie Herrera Butler (R) and Sue Kuehl Pederson (R) are currently in the lead, but this could change as more votes are counted. King County Council member Dave Upthegrove (D) is in a close third place.

Insurance Commissioner: The November race will be between two sitting state senators Patty Kuderer (D) and Phil Fortunato (R).

Marcus Riccelli-District 3: With Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig stepping down, Representative Marcus Riccelli is running unopposed and will win this seat in November. Something too close to call currently is the race for Riccelli’s current representative seat with a race between Ben Stuckart (D), Natasha Hill (D), and Tony Kiepe (R). Kiepe has the lead, but Hill and Stuckart are separated by only 22 votes at the time of this printing.

District 4: There is a very crowded field running for the senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Mike Padden. At the time of print, this race is too close to call. Current District 4 Representative Leonard Christian (R) seems to be the front-runner here to face off against Miguel Valencia (D) in November. Position 1 Representative Susanne Schmidt has overwhelming numbers to retain her seat, but the 2nd District 4 position could be a closer contest with Ted Cummings (D), Rob Chase (R), and Brandi Peetz (R) all too close to call.

District 5: A close race between Current District 5 Representative Bill Ramos (D) and former Representative Chad Magendanz (R) to fill the seat being vacated by current District 5 Senator Mark Mullet (D). This will be a race to watch in November. The favorites to fill Ramos’ representative seat will be Victoria Hunt (D) and Mark Hargrove (R)

Senator Ron Muzzall-District 10: This is a closely watched race as Senator Muzall (R) has a tight race going with challenger Janet St. Clair (D), the current Island County Commissioner. Senator Muzzall was originally appointed in 2019 and then was elected to his position in 2020. This is an extremely important district as this could have far-reaching implications on party balance in the Senate. The 10th is seen as a swing district as both current Representatives Clyde Shaver (D) and Dave Paul (D) are Democrats and look poised to retain their seats. The 10th is one of only two districts currently with multi-party representation.

Senator Curtis King (R)-District 14: This is the newly drawn district in Central Washington where Senator King is running to retain his seat and the two representative seats look to be a very close call between candidates from both parties. Only time will tell here.

Representative Chris Corry (R)-District 15: Corry is currently the representative for District 14, but after the redrawing of districts he is running for the District 15 representative seat. He seems to have this well in hand along with former Representative Jeremie Dufault (R) who looks to most likely be his seatmate after the general election with a sizable lead for both candidates over their Democratic opponents.

District 26: If you remember above in District 10, I talked about how there are only a couple of districts statewide with multi-party representation. The 26th is the other district. A friend of RHAWA and of housing, Jim Henderson (R) will not be advancing to the November ballot. Instead, voters will decide between former District 26 Representative Jesse Young (R) and Addison Richards (D). The votes here will be extremely tight as the last few elections for this seat have been won by less than one percent. Jesse Young is an absolute No on rent control and will be a friend for housing providers in Olympia. Current Position 2 Representative Michele Caldier looks poised to retain the seat she has held for the last decade.

The senate seat is currently held by Senator Emily Randall (D) who is running for Washington’s 6th District Congressional Seat and looks poised to be the favored candidate on the November ballot. This will leave a temporary appointed senator in her seat until a special election can be held.

District 27: No surprise here as current Representative Jake Fey and Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins will be heavily favored in November. It should be noted that Fey is running against Devin Rydel Kelly who was one of the main architects and proponents of the extremely onerous rental housing policies put in place by Tacoma Measure 1 in November of 2023.

Maia Espinoza (R)-District 28: The numbers here are telling; incumbent Senator Twina Nobles (D) holds a small lead, but both Espinoza and Senator Nobles will be moving on to the general election in November. Current Representatives Mari Leavitt (D) and Dan Bronoske (D) also look to be favored in the general election.

Representative Kristine Reeves (D)- District 30: Reeves appears to have this race well in hand along with her running mate Jamila Taylor (D).

Andrea Suarez (D)-District 43: Andrea and Shaun Scott will be moving on to the November General election here. This is the seat long held by former Speaker of the House Frank Chopp who has chosen not to run for re-election. Suarez founded the organization We Heart Seattle and aligns with RHAWA on many issues that pertain to rental housing.

Senator Annette Cleveland (D)-District 49: I likely don’t need to remind our readers about Senator Cleaveland’s pivotal role in blocking the Senate rent control bill from moving forward, she continues to be one of the most impactful members of the legislature when it comes to rental housing issues. She faced an incredible amount of vitriol for standing her ground. Despite this, Cleveland has 61% of the vote and looks to be favored in retaining her seat in Clark County.

RHAPAC VOTERS GUIDE: Look forward to an RHA PAC Voters Guide which will be available for your reference very soon. RHA PAC has worked tirelessly observing races that will likely impact our issues and determining which candidates will properly represent the needs of small housing providers. Thank you for always being involved and keeping up to date on the political processes that impact your business.