While not a battleground state, Washington’s open seats in the coastal 6th Congressional District and the 5th Congressional District in the Spokane area may factor into what is expected to be a tight race for party control of Congress.
Meanwhile, in Central Washington’s 4th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse’s bid for another term in Congress is far from certain, with one Republican challenger currently leading the primary and another a few percentage points behind.
U.S. Senate
Longtime incumbent U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell won the primary with 57.83% after the first vote drop. Republican challenger Raul Garcia is currently second with 21.23%.
Cantwell looks to extend her senatorial career, which dates back more than two decades.
Garcia, an emergency physician from Yakima, ran for governor in 2020 but didn’t advance from the primary. Garcia initially looked into a second run for governor, but shifted his focus to Senate after former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert joined the race.
6th Congressional District
In the open seat on the Washington Coast, Democrat Emily Randall currently leads with 33.28% of the vote. Second is Republican Drew MacEwen with 30.49%. Democrat Hilary Franz, the current public lands commissioner, is third with 25.66%.
The retirement of U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, a Democrat, has attracted a competitive field that includes several state legislators and executives looking to move up to national politics: state senators, Randall, D-Bremerton, and MacEwen, R-Union.
Kilmer endorsed Franz, who pivoted to this race after a brief bid for governor. The district includes the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas and large swaths of Tacoma.
5th Congressional District
A Republican currently leads in the open 5th District in Eastern Washington Former state senator Michael Baumgartner currently leads with 28.14% of the vote. In second is Democrat Carmela Conroy with 19.71%. Another Republican, State Rep. Jacquelin Maycumber, is third with 12.21%.
Over six decades, only three people have served the district. In 1994, Republican U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt beat Democrat Tom Foley, who had held the 5th District seat for 30 years.
Nethercutt held the seat until he ran for Senate in 2004 and lost to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers took over the seat that year and held it for 20 years. McMorris Rodgers announced earlier this year that she was stepping away from Congress.
The 5th District covers all or parts of 12 counties in Eastern Washington, from the Idaho border on the east to Franklin County on the west. Most residents live in Spokane County, which has a solid mix of Democrats and Republicans. However, voters in rural counties are overwhelmingly Republican.
4th Congressional District
As many election watchers expected, the 4th Congressional District in Central Washington will likely remain Republican with Republican candidates currently in the top two.
Republican challenger Jerrod Sessler currently leads with 29.77% of the vote. Newhouse is in second with 24.97%. However, Tiffany Smiley, the 2022 U.S. Senate candidate, is behind Newhouse with 19.47%.
Sessler and Smiley campaigned on their abilities to work with former President Donald Trump in a potential second term. Both have contended that Newhouse’s vote to impeach Trump in 2021 following the Jan. 6 insurrection would be a liability for the district. Trump has endorsed both Sessler and Smiley for the seat.
Newhouse said he didn’t think his impeachment vote would prevent him from working with Trump if he is elected to a second presidential term. Newhouse said he stands by his vote, but also believes that in the end they still see eye to eye on many issues. Newhouse also has pointed to his experience and leadership roles, including as chairman of the Congressional Western Congress.
The district covers Central Washington from the Columbia River to the Canadian border. It includes voters in eight counties: Klickitat, Benton, Yakima, Grant, Douglas and Okanogan counties and part of Franklin and Adams counties.
3rd Congressional District
In a preview of November’s general election – and a repeat of 2022 – U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, is leading the pack in southwestern Washington with 46.87% of the vote in early returns. Republican Joe Kent is second with 38.32%.
Perez defeated Kent in 2022, flipping the seat Democratic. Former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler did not advance to the general election — she placed behind both candidates in that year’s primary. Herrera Beutler was one of 10 Republicans, along with Newhouse, who voted to impeach Trump in 2021. She returned to politics this year when she decided to run for Public Lands Commissioner.
Republican Leslie Lewallen, who ran as an alternative to Kent and his extremist views, received 12.43% of the vote. Kent, a Trump-endorsed candidate, has gained a higher profile through frequent appearances on FOX News.
The 3rd Congressional District includes southwest Washington: Klickitat, Skamania, Clark, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Pacific and Lewis counties and a small part of southern Thurston County.
1st Congressional District
U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, a Democrat, is on track to a seventh term in the Western Washington 1st Congressional District. She is currently leading the primary with 63.86% of the vote. Republican Orion Webster is in second with 9.77%.
DelBene was first elected in 2012. Prior to her Congressional tenure, she was director of the state Department of Revenue. DelBene serves as chair emeritus of the New Democrat Coalition, a center-left caucus within the House.
Webster is leading among a crowded Republican field that also includes Jeb Brewer, Derek Chartrand, Matt Heines and Mary Silva.
The district is bounded by parts of Bellevue on the south and Arlington on the north. It includes parts of King and Snohomish counties. Kirkland and Bothell are two of its major cities.
2nd Congressional District
Democrat U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, who has held this 2nd District in Western Washington seat since 2001, currently leads the primary with 50.36% of the vote. In second is Cody Hart, who prefers the MAGA Republican party, with 19.42%.
Larsen is currently the top Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He also helped draft and pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which invested over $5 billion in Washington’s transit systems.
The 2nd Congressional District includes all of Skagit, Whatcom, San Juan and Island counties in northwest Washington and part of Snohomish County. Stretching from the U.S./Canada border to Lynnwood and Edmonds at its southernmost tip, the district includes the cities of Everett, Bellingham, Marysville, Lynnwood and Oak Harbor, as well as Naval Station Everett and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
7th Congressional District
Democratic U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal currently leads in the Seattle area with 78.4% of the vote. In second is Republican Dan Alexander with 8.82%.
Jayapal was first elected to Congress in 2016 following a stint as state senator and as the founder and executive director of OneAmerica, which has grown to the state’s largest immigrant advocacy organization. Jayapal, considered one of the more progressive members in Congress, currently chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Washington’s 7th Congressional District runs up and down the east side of Puget Sound, encompassing Vashon Island and most of Seattle, and extending into Shoreline and Lake Forest Park to the north and parts of Burien and Normandy Park to the south.
8th Congressional District
U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier is seeking a fourth term in Congress. She is currently leading with 51.5% of the vote. Carmen Goers, a Republican, is second with 44.27%.
Schrier, a doctor, was elected in 2018 after the seat became open when current gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert stepped away from the office. Schrier’s victory flipped the seat Democratic for the first time in more than three decades. Schrier is part of the New Democrat Coalition, the center-left caucus within the House. Among the 14 bills she’s sponsored that were passed and signed under both the Trump and Biden administrations is one that reduces drug prices.
The 8th Congressional District covers most of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, all of Kittitas and Chelan counties, and a small part of Douglas County. Major cities include Sammamish, parts of Auburn and Redmond, Issaquah, Wenatchee, Graham, Enumclaw, Duvall, Snoqualmie and Ellensburg.
9th Congressional District
Longtime U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, who has represented the south King County district since 1996, currently leads with 55.56% of the vote. Republican Paul Martin is second with 18.92%.
With nearly three decades in office, Smith, a Democrat, is currently Washington’s longest-serving U.S. representative. He is a ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Smith has received criticism recently for not calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The 9th Congressional District covers parts of Bellevue and parts of Seattle, includes Mercer Island, and stretches down to Federal Way and Auburn. Redistricting in 2011 turned the 9th into the state’s only majority-minority Congressional District, that is, a district in which there is no racial majority, and it has kept that distinction since.
10th Congressional District
Incumbent Marilyn Strickland, a Democrat seeking a third term in Congress representing the south Puget Sound area, currently leads with 54.33% of the vote. Republican Don Hewett is in second with 27.81%.
When Strickland was elected in 2020, she became Washington’s first Black Congress member and one of the first Korean-Americans to be elected to Congress.
The 10th Congressional District includes Olympia and stretches north to Puyallup and parts of Tacoma and south to Tumwater, including JBLM, the Nisqually Reservation and parts of the Puyallup Reservation. It is a relatively new district created after the 2010 Census.
