Washington’s 2024 primary election: Results and updates

Franz concedes in 6th Congressional District

Hilary Franz, the state’s lands commissioner, who late last year abandoned a nascent bid to be the next governor to instead run for a U.S. House seat in western Washington’s 6th Congressional District conceded in that race on Wednesday.

A pair of state senators — Democrat Emily Randall and Republican Drew MacEwen — are poised to face off for the seat, which has been held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer since 2013. Kilmer said in November he would not seek reelection and swiftly endorsed Franz.

Franz, a Democrat, on Wednesday thanked her supporters and blamed her loss on outside money that flooded into the race in support of Randall. Even so, she said she’d called Randall to “congratulate her on her historic primary win.”

“It is time for all of us to work harder than ever so we can flip the House, defeat Donald Trump and defend our democracy,” Franz added.

Conroy to square off with Baumgartner in eastern Washington congressional district

Democrat Carmela Conroy, a U.S. foreign service officer for almost 25 years and before that Spokane’s deputy prosecuting attorney, will face Republican Michael Baumgartner in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers in eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District.

The Associated Press called the primary race in Conroy’s favor at 5:37 p.m. on Wednesday. AP said on Tuesday night that Baumgartner would advance to the general election. Eleven candidates ran to replace McMorris Rodgers, a Republican who said earlier this year she wouldn’t seek reelection.

Baumgartner, who emerged as the frontrunner, is in his second term as Spokane’s treasurer. He’s a former Washington state senator and past U.S. State Department officer who, in that role, spent time in Iraq. He’d claimed 28.3% of the vote as of 6 p.m. Wednesday. Conroy had 19.6%.

State Supreme Court field narrows

There’s an open state Supreme Court justice seat this year, and four candidates competed for it in the primary. 

Washington State Supreme Court justices serve six-year terms and face mandatory retirement at age 75. This year’s open seat is left by Justice Susan Owens who will retire at the end of the year. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, Sal Mungia and Dave Larson are likely moving forward to compete in November. Mungia had received 42.3% of the votes and Larson 36.9%. 

Mungia is a trial and appellate court lawyer who has experience as a former law clerk for the state Supreme Court and as the former president of the state Bar Association. He also has the endorsement of eight of the nine current justices as well as Gov. Jay Inslee, according to his voter guide statement. 

Larson is a judge for the Federal Way Municipal Court, where he’s served for 16 years. He is the only judge running for the seat. He also spent 23 years as a trial attorney. During his time as a trial lawyer, Larson was active in the state and local bar associations. 

Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven González and Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud are also up for reelection but are running unopposed.

An 89-day sprint lies ahead in the governor’s race

Finishing atop the 28-person race for governor didn’t surprise Bob Ferguson. The margin between him and second-place finisher Dave Reichert did.

Ferguson, the Democratic attorney general, collected 45.5% of the statewide vote in Tuesday’s first round of ballot counting. Reichert, the Republican former congressman, trailed with 27.9% In King County, which has the biggest bounty of votes, Ferguson hauled in 60.8% to Reichert’s 20.6%.

“I did not have on my bingo card the result we saw last night,” he told reporters Wednesday morning. “It exceeded our most optimistic projections.” A couple hours later, in a call with supporters, he described the result as “great” then added, “That might be an understatement.”

Democratic state Sen. Mark Mullet, Ferguson’s chief intraparty challenger, was fourth with 5.8%. Ferguson figures most of those who voted for Mullet will come his way, which positions him well for the Nov. 5 election.

Mullet didn’t dispute the calculations but said he’s not endorsing Ferguson. At least not yet, as he wants to see if the Democratic Party adopts a less contentious relationship with business. And he is “definitely not” backing Reichert, a social conservative who is not pro-choice or pro-marriage equality.

“The race is over,” Mullet said. “I don’t think the state of Washington will elect a socially conservative governor.”

Ferguson, an accomplished chess player, diagrammed for supporters some of the key campaign moves behind his election night success. In King County, for example, he pointed to a heavy dose of advertising targeting Reichert’s votes in Congress to ban abortions. “Those hurt him. He doesn’t have a response to that,” he said.

And, Ferguson noted, he bought a blitz of commercials during Olympics coverage. “I really believe that made a difference,” he said. “We’ve been able to define Reichert before he can define himself.”

Ferguson said he hasn’t been the target of attack ads but they will come because “unfortunately attack ads work.”

State senators advance in insurance commissioner race

The race for insurance commissioner is the first without an incumbent in more than 20 years. Commissioner Mike Kreidler took office in 2001 and isn’t running for reelection.

Despite polls indicating that Democrats could get locked out of the general election, their top candidate, state Sen. Patty Kuderer, is performing well. She’d claimed about 44.8% of votes, as of Wednesday afternoon. In second place was Republican state Sen. Phil Fortunato who garnered almost 28%. 

Kuderer, of Bellevue, has been in the Legislature since 2015, first as state representative and then as a state senator. Fortunato, of Auburn, has served in the state Senate since 2017 and as a state representative from 1999 to 2001. 

Of the remaining six candidates, Democrats held a combined 12.3% of the vote, Republican Justin Murta had 10.4% and nonpartisan candidates had a combined 4.4%. That math appears to work in Kuderer’s favor but lots could happen between now and November.

Grudge match in the 3rd

The rematch between Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican Joe Kent is going to be nasty. Real nasty. 

Forty-two minutes after polls closed Tuesday night, Gluesenkamp Perez issued a statement thanking voters in the 3rd Congressional District in southwest Washington.

Then she lit into Kent, who she defeated by 2,629 votes in 2022, flipping a seat Republicans had held for more than a decade.

She called him “the same strange, angry, dangerous bonafide white nationalist I defeated last time. Joe Kent is still too extreme for Southwest Washington, and I’m once again the only thing standing between Joe Kent and a seat in Congress.”

Gluesenkamp Perez fired several salvos, hitting the same issues that she targeted in their 2022 slugfest such as his past support of a national ban on abortion, his doubts about the 2020 election, and what she dubbed his “delusional conspiracy theories.”

Kent, in a statement released 18 minutes later, said circumstances this year are different. 

The brutal 2022 primary in which he defeated Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler left him in debt and the Republican Party divided. This time, he said his campaign finances are strong, the state Republican Party is behind him and the National Republican Campaign Committee has embedded staff with his team.

“We are unified and ready to come together to flip this seat,” he said, adding that while Gluesenkamp Perez “was able to disguise herself as ‘Republican lite’ last time” she now has a record to run on. She will “try again to fool voters and hide behind name-calling and photo ops, but the mask is off: she’s a radical who fits right in with the rest of the Democrat ticket,” he said.

Kent picked up the endorsement Tuesday of Leslie Lewallen, the other Republican in the primary, who’d pitched herself as a more moderate and electable alternative to Kent.

“I got into this race to protect and grow the Republican majority in the House of Representatives,” she said in a statement. “We are at a pivotal crossroads right now between strength and success and weakness and failure. There is no margin for error and we have to flip this seat.”

In Tuesday night’s tally, Gluesenkamp Perez garnered 46.9% of the vote followed by Kent with 38.3% and Lewallen at 12.4%.

Easy going for Democrats running for reelection to statewide offices

Democrats have a lock on all of Washington’s statewide offices. For the most part, those running for reelection to those jobs didn’t have much competition this primary. The few that did fared pretty well based on last night’s vote count, signaling an easy road to another term. 

The races for state treasurer and state auditor had only two candidates, including incumbents, so primary results are a pretty good indicator of what will happen in November. 

In the race for treasurer, Democratic incumbent Mike Pellicciotti, who’s running for his second term, was leading Republican Sharon Hanek by about 17 percentage points. Pellicciotti had 58.7% of votes on Tuesday night while Hanek had about 41.3%. 

Democratic incumbent State Auditor Pat McCarthy, who’s held the position since 2017, was leading her Republican challenger, Matt Hawkins, on Tuesday. McCarthy had 59.2% of the vote while Hawkins had 40.8%. 

Races for secretary of state and lieutenant governor had multiple challengers, but incumbents appeared to be advancing easily. 

Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, who’s held the position since 2021, was leading the field with 49% of votes. His challenger in November will likely be Republican Dale Whitaker who took home 36.8% of Tuesday’s count. Marquez Tiggs, a Democrat, had just under 10% of the vote and Damon Townsend, of the No Labels Party, had 4.6%. 

Lt. Gov. Denny Heck, a Democrat running for his second term, was in a similar position. He took home 48.7% of the votes tallied Tuesday while the second-place finisher, Republican Dan Matthews, won 22.5%. Republican Bob Hagglund came in third with 16.7% of the vote and Democrat David Griffin racked up 9.2%.

Schrier faces closer race than other House Democrats

In the 8th Congressional District, which covers Pierce, King, Snohomish, Kittitas and Chelan counties, Democratic incumbent Kim Schrier could face a closer race in November than some of her colleagues in the state’s congressional delegation. But she still led her opponents by a healthy margin on Tuesday.

Schrier received 51.5% of votes on Tuesday with Republican Carmen Goers in second place with 44.3%. Schrier was first elected in 2018. Goers is a commercial banker and community volunteer. 

Two other Democratic candidates, Imraan Siddiqi and Keith Arnold, received 2.8% and 1.3%, respectively.

Siddiqi, executive director of the Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, cited the war in Gaza as his main motivation for running against Schrier. He pledged to push for an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire in the war if elected and criticized Schrier for her voting record related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Congressional incumbents cruise toward November

Most of Washington’s congressional incumbents are on a glide path through the primary. 

Perhaps the best-performing congressperson on Tuesday was U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who represents Washington’s 7th Congressional District, which covers most of Seattle, Shoreline and Vashon Island. She took home 78.4% of votes, as of Tuesday. In a distant second place was Republican Dan Alexander with 8.8% of votes.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell sailed through to the general election in her reelection bid, with 57.8% of the vote. Her November challenger will be Raul Garcia, a Yakima Republican and doctor. Garcia received 21.2% of the vote, as of Tuesday night. Cantwell first won election to her Senate seat in 2000 and has held the office since. She chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committees. Garcia in late July walked from Yakima to Seattle to draw attention to the threat of illicit fentanyl.

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, a Democrat who has held the 1st Congressional District seat since 2012, received 63.9% of the initial votes. DelBene chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the official campaign arm of House Democrats. The second-place candidate in the race, as of Tuesday, was Republican Orion Webster, who had 9.8% of the vote but Republican Jeb Brewer was close behind with 9.4%. The 1st stretches north from Bellevue to around Marysville and Arlington.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, who is in his 12th term representing the 2nd Congressional District was also leading with wide margins. The district covers northwest Washington, including Bellingham, Anacortes, Mount Vernon and Edmonds. Larsen had about 50.4% of the vote as of Tuesday night. The second-place candidate was Cody Hart, a MAGA Republican, with 19.4% of the vote. 

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, the Democrat representing the 9th Congressional District, which extends between Seattle and Tacoma, had 55.6% of initial votes. In second place was Republican Paul Martin with 18.9% followed by Democrat Melissa Chaudhry with 17.7%. Smith was among the congressional Democrats who publicly called on President Joe Biden to step aside in his presidential reelection bid. He has served in the U.S. House since 1997.

In the 10th district, U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland scored 54.3% of votes on Tuesday. The second-place vote-getter was Republican Don Hewett with 27.8% of the vote. Strickland is in her second term in the U.S. House following two terms as mayor of Tacoma.

‘A really good day’

State Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad said she was feeling hopeful following the first round of results. 

In past elections, Democrats tend to vote late, Conrad said, so seeing such a large lead in many races on election night was a good sign. 

“It’s been a really good day,” she said. 

But the party could still face some troubles in one race: the commissioner of public lands. Results were close on Tuesday with two Republicans leading, potentially shutting out Democrats from that seat altogether. 

Conrad said she was still hopeful that one Democrat would make it through and expected a wave of progressive votes to come in later this week.

Still, she blamed Republicans for being “so fractured” that they split the vote among their two candidates in the race. But there are also three Democrats in the contest.

“We just want to make sure every vote gets counted,” she said.

GOP packs the pavilion

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert received a standing ovation as he spoke briefly to the GOP gathering in Puyallup before the first ballot counts were posted.

“We are going to get some numbers,” he said while cautioning that they may not be as good as everyone is hoping to see. Reichert said he’ll return when those results are shown on the big screen and talk about what will happen beginning tomorrow.

“We are going to be your voice. We are your conduit to voicing your thoughts and beliefs on how to make this a better state,” he said.

Raul Garcia, who is challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, drew cheers in his speech.

And Brian Heywood also got a warm reception as he thanked those in the room who helped gather signatures on petitions supporting seven Republican-backed initiatives. State lawmakers adopted three but there will be four more atop ballots in November.

Many attendees lined up to feast on pork, brisket, coleslaw and Texas toast.

In between handing out plates, Sharon Nelson of Lakewood, shared that she felt anxious because the state and country are going in the wrong direction in her view. She said she appreciated that many in the room had volunteered to help Republican candidates.

“I hope the outcome is in our favor,” said Nelson, a member of the Pierce County Republican Party and South Puget Sound Republican Women, as she handed out plates to the hungry crowd.

Good vibes at Ferguson’s bash

Spirits were high at Democrat Bob Ferguson’s results party. 

Supporters packed into a brewery in Ballard decorated with blue and white balloons, photos of Ferguson’s pets, Bob Ferguson campaign T-Shirts and flyers advertising “A bold new direction for Washington state.”

As they waited for results, his supporters enjoyed some brews and tunes like Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” and Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”

Time is up

Time is up for voters in Washington to cast ballots in today’s primary. The state’s 4.9 million registered voters had until 8 p.m. today to get ballots postmarked or deposited in a designated drop box.

As of Tuesday evening, about 1.3 million ballots had been returned. You can see the numbers received in each county on the secretary of state’s website. Jefferson County led the way with 43.9% of its ballots cast.

There are contests for a U.S. Senate seat and all nine statewide executive offices — including governor, attorney general, public lands commissioner and superintendent of public instruction. All 10 of Washington’s U.S. House seats are up for election. Retirements of Democratic Congressman Derek Kilmer and Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers means voters will be filling two vacancies.

In Washington, the top two vote-getters for each office, regardless of party, will move on to the general election in November.

You can follow along here for updates this evening, including coverage of initial results as officials post ballot counts. We have two reporters in the field. Laurel Demkovich will be on the scene at a party in Seattle held by Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who’s running for governor. And Jerry Cornfield will be at a Republican gathering in Puyallup.

A reminder that because of the way Washington votes, it could be several days before it’s clear who will advance out of the primary in some races.

Last-minute voters

A couple hours before the 8 p.m. deadline, voters were racing to get their ballots in on time at drop boxes in Ballard. 

Two King County drop boxes outside the Ballard branch of the Seattle Public Library are among the most popular in the city. The auditor’s office sends election workers to stand next to the boxes throughout Election Day. They wear bright yellow vests labeled “Vote!”, help answer questions, and prepare to collect ballots once the drop boxes close at 8 p.m.

As of Tuesday evening, King County’s turnout was around 27%, roughly in line with the state average.

A video thank you

As Republican Pete Serrano traveled by car to Puyallup Tuesday afternoon, he posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, thanking those who gave their time, money and prayers in support of his bid for attorney general.

“Everything you have done has made a difference in this election,” he says. “I will stand for you. I will stand with you and I will make sure Washington is a safer place. I look forward to seeing the results tonight.”

Serrano is one of three candidates in the contest. Because the other two – Manka Dhingra and Nick Brown – are Democrats, Serrano is expected to make it through the primary.

For those wondering, Serrano was not driving while recording the video.

Ferguson’s day-two plans

Gubernatorial hopeful Bob Ferguson – the likely leading Democratic candidate Tuesday – is already making his post-primary plans.

The attorney general has scheduled two Zoom calls on Wednesday where he will no doubt talk about his road to November, if he makes it through tonight. 

At 10 a.m., he’ll join other Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocates to talk about a host of issues – reproductive rights, housing, education, climate change and gun violence are all on the agenda. 

Two hours later, he has another call scheduled. This time, he’s alone talking to donors, and he’ll be analyzing Tuesday’s results and sharing what they mean for his campaign moving forward.

MGP a no-show in virtual roll call for Harris

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is seeking a second term in southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. 

She narrowly beat Republican Joe Kent in 2022, winning a seat that had been held by a Republican for more than a decade. There’s a good chance they’re headed for a rematch.

At times, Gluesenkamp Perez has opted to keep some distance between herself and fellow Democrats. That was the case again this week as the Democratic National Committee leadership announced the delegates who’d pledged support during a virtual roll call for Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party’s presidential nominee.

Harris garnered 4,567 votes of pledged and automatic delegates in a virtual roll call for the nomination. That worked out to 99% of votes cast. 

That other 1% were folks who either voted “present” or did not vote at all.

Put Democratic Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in that latter category.

Washington had 111 delegate votes. Of those, 101 voted for Harris, nine voted present and one person did not vote. It was Gluesenkamp Perez, according to a state Democratic Party official.

We reached out to her campaign for an explanation and did not immediately hear back. 

When Harris emerged as the party’s presumptive nominee a couple weeks ago, we asked Gluesenkamp Perez’s camp if she planned to endorse the vice president.

“The Congresswoman never endorsed (President Joe) Biden and has not endorsed Harris either. She’s focused on her own race here in Southwest Washington,” her press folks told us.

What we’re watching 

In a few hours, results will start rolling in, and we’ll be on the lookout for a few key storylines. 

In the race to represent Washington’s 4th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse’s future could be on the line. Newhouse, who’s represented the district since 2015, has drawn criticism from within his own party since he voted to impeach former president Donald Trump.

Democrats could get shut out of the race for public lands commissioner, according to a new poll. Although with so many voters still undecided in that race, anything is possible. 

Chris Reykdal, the incumbent for superintendent of public instruction, could be in trouble this election. Reykdal is seeking his third term but has been facing doubters since last August.

The Standard has broken down those races and more things to watch this primary.

Party time

Election night parties are still a thing as candidates hang out with family, friends and supporters to await the arrival of results on their laptops, phones or maybe their watch. We’ve gotten a heads up on a few.

Several Republicans expecting to advance to the general election will be at a bash in Puyallup hosted by the Pierce County Republican Party. 

Gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert tops the attendee list. Pete Serrano, who is running for attorney general, and Raul Garcia, who is vying for U.S. Senate, will join him as will Kelly Chambers, the GOP hopeful for Pierce County executive.

Democratic candidates are mostly doing their own things.

Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal will be at Jellyfish Brewing Co. in Seattle with supporters of her reelection bid. Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is running for governor, will be at a Ballard brewery. 

Nick Brown, one of two Democrats seeking the AG’s job, will be holding court in the lobby bar of the Westin Hotel in Seattle. State Sen. Manka Dhingra, the other Democrat in that race, will be at the Redmond Senior and Community Center along with her Senate colleague, Patty Kuderer, a candidate for state insurance commissioner.

And Emily Randall, the Democratic state senator running for an open congressional seat, plans to be in her Bremerton campaign headquarters.