SEATTLE — Voters in Washington state will face a primary on Tuesday between U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the last remaining Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Donald Trumpand two conservative rivals endorsed by the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Another high-profile race is the battle to become the next governor in a Democratic stronghold where there hasn’t been an open race for the state’s top job in more than a decade.
In other congressional races, Trump-backer Joe Kent is trying to set up a new showdown with Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who defeated him two years ago. And Democratic U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier’s bid to return to office has been shaken by a resurgent campaign sparked by reaction to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Under Washington’s primary system, the top two vote-getters in each race on Tuesday advance to the November election, regardless of party affiliation. Because Washington is a vote-by-mail state, where ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, it often takes days for final results to be known in close races.
Here’s a look at the key races in Washington:
Newhouse’s bid for a sixth term would pit him against Trump-backed candidates Jerrod Sessler, a Navy veteran, and Tiffany Smiley, a former nurse who entered the race after losing to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray two years ago. Trump’s endorsement of Sessler came months ago, while his endorsement of Smiley came three days before the primary, marking a unique, although not unprecedentedwith double support from the former president.
Opponents of Newhouse say his vote to impeach Trump is a major disadvantage, but political experts warn it’s hard to say whether the endorsements will convince voters who voted for Newhouse two years ago.
Newhouse, backed by the NRA and National Right to Life, has largely avoided the Trump issue, focusing instead on agriculture and border security in a state with millions of acres of pastures, orchards and corn fields where immigrant labor is critically important.
Democrat Bob Ferguson, who has served as attorney general since 2013 and is a former Republican representative. Dave Reichert are the two biggest names among the more than two dozen candidates in the running. Reichert is also a former sheriff known for his work in tracking down Gary Ridgway, the so-called Green River Killer.
Weeks of intense bickering between the front-runners have painted Ferguson as a two-faced candidate whose more moderate rhetoric this campaign has been at odds with statements he has made in private or actions he has taken in Congress. Meanwhile, Reichert has painted Ferguson as a candidate who would change nothing about the state while offering a continuation of “one-party rule.”
The race is considered close, but in a state that has not had a Republican governor in nearly 40 years, any conservative candidate faces an uphill battle.
Two years ago, Gluesenkamp Perez came out of nowhere to win a congressional seat from Kent, who had Trump’s support in a district that had not been Democratic for more than a decade. She took over a seat held by a more moderate Republican who lost the primary in part because she voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Now, armed again with Trump’s support, Kent is back to try to win the seat in the state’s southwestern corner. But he faces stiff competition, as former King County Prosecutor Leslie Lewallen is gaining a wave of support from conservatives who want to return the seat to more moderate Republican hands.
Gluesenkamp Perez, ranked by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy as having one of the most bipartisan voting records in the U.S. House of Representatives, has far outpaced her competitors and is expected to survive the primaries and face one of the nation’s most exciting general elections.
Imraan Siddiqi, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, has made the war in Gaza a centerpiece of his platform and has gained support by ridiculing Schrier for her approach, which often parallels that of President Joe Biden.
The district, a mix of wealthy Seattle suburbs populated by tech workers and farmland in central Washington, was held by the GOP until 2019. Siddiqi’s presence could make Schrier appear more moderate, something she has historically sought to do by building Republican endorsements in the purple district.
Schrier, a pediatrician, has been quiet about the war lately, instead showing off the 14 bills that Trump and Biden have signed into law. Experts expect her to face off in November against the Republican running, Carmen Goers, a commercial banker who is running on a mission to curb inflation and cut crime.
