Here’s who’s leading in Washington’s U.S. House races

Battles for Washington’s seats in the U.S. House came into sharper focus Tuesday night, with an endangered Republican incumbent on track to slip through the primary and a highly anticipated rematch solidifying in southwest Washington.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse has drawn the ire of fellow Republicans since voting in 2021 to impeach former President Donald Trump. Trump endorsed two Republicans trying to oust him from the seat he’s held for nearly a decade. As it stood late Tuesday, he could end up facing one of those opponents – Jerrod Sessler – in the November election.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, who flipped a Republican-held seat in 2022 by narrowly defeating Republican Joe Kent, will face him again this fall. Their sequel showdown in the 3rd Congressional District will draw national attention as it is one of the races that will help determine which political party holds the House majority next year.

And a pair of state senators, Democrat Emily Randall and Republican Drew MacEwen, were the frontrunners in the contest to succeed a retiring congressman. Hilary Franz, the Democratic public lands commissioner, who had competed fiercely with Randall, wasn’t conceding Tuesday.

Here’s a round-up of what happened on election night. Counties will update their vote counts throughout Wednesday.

3rd District

Gluesenkamp Perez, 36, who emerged as one of the most moderate House Democrats in her first term, voting with Republicans on multiple occasions, garnered 46.9% of the vote in the 3rd Congressional District, followed by Kent, 44, with 38.3%. 

Republican Leslie Lewallen, 49, a Camas City Council member, who campaigned as a more electable conservative Republican than Kent, received 12.4%. John Saulie-Rohman, an Independent, collected 2.3%.

The 3rd district is in southwest Washington and spans seven counties: Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum, and Skamania counties and a touch of Thurston County. It includes Vancouver, just north of Portland, rural areas with ties to timber and agriculture, and communities around Willapa Bay on the Pacific Coast.

In 2022, Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto repair shop owner and political neophyte, beat Kent by 2,629 votes, to win a Republican-held seat in a district that former president Donald Trump won. 

Kent, an Army Special Forces veteran, advanced beyond the primary that year by beating six-term Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who endured backlash for voting to impeach Trump after the former president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Last time around, Kent leaned in on election fraud conspiracies, spoke loudly for a national ban on abortion and fully embraced Trump – moves that may have cost him votes from moderate Republicans and independents. In this cycle, there are signs he’s focusing his message more on areas like the economy, immigration and crime.

4th District

Newhouse, who has served in Congress since 2015, appeared positioned to advance but will face a difficult challenge to retain his job. 

As of Tuesday, Sessler led with 29.8%, an improvement from the 12% he collected in his unsuccessful bid for this seat in 2022. Newhouse held the second spot with 25% and Smiley, the last candidate to enter the race, had 19.5%.

Democrats are unlikely to have a candidate on the ballot in November as their top finisher Mary Baechler, was fourth with 15%. 

Newhouse, like Herrera Beutler, was one of 10 GOP House members who voted to impeach Trump. He’s one of only two of those lawmakers still serving in the House. 

Trump endorsed both Sessler and Smiley, calling Newhouse a “pathetic RINO” – short for Republican in name only.

Two years ago, Newhouse, whose background is in farming, faced six Republican challengers in the primary, most targeting him for not backing Trump. He finished second in the primary that year with 25.5% and went on to get two-thirds of the vote en route to winning in November.

Sessler, a Navy veteran and businessman, founded a company called HomeTask. Smiley became an advocate for veterans after her husband was blinded in an explosion while serving in the Army in Iraq. 

The J-shaped 4th Congressional district covers much of central Washington, stretching from the Canadian border to the Oregon state line. Its southern section includes the heavily agricultural Yakima Valley, the Yakama Indian Reservation, and Tri-Cities, which are a regional hub. Further north, the district covers Moses Lake, East Wenatchee, small towns east of the North Cascades and part of the Colville Reservation.

5th District

Republican Michael Baumgartner and Democrat Carmela Conroy are leading in the 5th Congressional District, as of Tuesday night. 

Baumgartner had 28.1% of the vote while Conroy had 19.7%. 

Eleven candidates threw their names in the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who announced in February that she would not seek reelection. McMorris Rodgers has represented the reliably Republican district that covers eastern Washington since 2005. 

Following Baumgartner and Conroy, the next candidate with the most votes was Republican Jacquelin Maycumber, who is a representative in the Washington state House. She had just over 12% of votes. Democrat Bernadine Bank had just under 12%.

Baumgartner is in his second term as Spokane’s treasurer and served as a state senator before that. He said his biggest issue this election is securing the nation’s southern border with Mexico, which he blamed for rising crime and a surge in illicit fentanyl. 

Conroy was a foreign service officer for almost 25 years. Before that, she worked as Spokane’s deputy prosecuting attorney. She has said she wants to focus on the federal farm bill if elected – a sprawling piece of legislation that guides agricultural policy and food aid programs. 

6th District 

After the first ballot count of all six counties in the 6th Congressional District, Randall, a Democratic state senator, and MacEwen, a Republican state senator, led in the top-two primary for the district’s open U.S. House seat. As of Tuesday night, Randall had won 33.3% of the vote and MacEwen 30.5%. 

Randall ran her campaign to the left of state Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, a Democrat endorsed by U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer who has held the seat since 2013. Franz is close behind Randall and MacEwen at 25.7%. 

In a statement, Randall said she’s “really encouraged by the early returns.” 

“I’ve been overwhelmed and overjoyed by the outpouring of grassroots support,” she said, adding a shoutout to Democratic U.S. Sen Patty Murray for her endorsement. 

Franz, who was running for governor before Kilmer announced he wouldn’t seek reelection last November, was criticized for appearing opportunistic by jumping over to the congressional race and the contest has been contentious at times. 

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Franz said the race was too close to call and referenced money from cryptocurrency billionaires supporting Randall.

“Out-of-state super PACs spent over $2.4 million to buy this seat,” Franz’s statement said. “I encourage everyone to check to see if their ballot has been accepted, and please reach out to our team if you’d like to help us cure ballots to ensure every vote is counted.” 

Republicans haven’t won the U.S. House seat in the 6th Congressional District since 1964.

Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to Randall and MacEwen as state representatives on one reference. They are state senators.