Inslee, Democrats Poll Well in Top Two Primary, WTIA Hosts Gubernatorial Candidates Aug. 14
Washington State Democrats performed well in yesterday’s “top two” primary election. In one of the most high profile gubernatorial contests in the nation, former Congressman Jay Inslee outpolled Republican Attorney General with 46.77% of the vote to 42.93% with the remaining going to lesser known candidates. There are still 200,000+ votes to be counted with 824K+ votes already counted.
Voter turnout for primaries is traditionally low and this was no exception. Voter turnout is unlikely to top one third of Washington’s 3.7 million registered voters.
While the voter turnout was low, it does give a good indication of what voters are thinking. The pre-primary assumption was that Republican and Independent voters would come out strong for McKenna. That did not materialize. Either Democrat voters were highly motivated or Independents voted primarily for Democrats. Under either scenario it does not bode well for Republicans to win the governorship or pick up seats in the state legislature.
You can see the elections results on the Secretary of State’s website:
http://vote.wa.gov/results/current/default.htm
Here is a rundown of some of the other major state races from yesterday’s election:
1st Congressional district (Jay Inslee’s former seat)
This was a highly contested race for an open seat in a newly drawn district. There were five Democrats, one Republican and an Independent. Republican John Koster took 43.72% of the vote. Suzan DelBene, former Microsoft employee and Dept. of Revenue Director outpolled the rest with 23.33% of the vote to make it through to the general election.
10th Congressional district (new district due to 2010 census)
Long time political operator, TVW founder and investor Denny Heck took 41.22% of the vote to easily advance while former Pierce County Councilman Dick Muri garnered 26& of the vote to become the Republican nominee for this new Congressional seat.
Lieutenant Governor
Seasoned Democratic incumbent Brad Owen grabbed 49.21% of the vote. Former Senate Republican Majority Leader Bill Finkbeiner outpaced fellow Republican House Member Glenn Anderson for the right to face Owen in the general election by a margin of 25% to 18%.
Secretary of State
In another crowded primary, former Democratic State Senator Kathleen Drew outpolled fellow Democrats Greg Nickels and Jim Kastama to become the Democratic nominee while Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman grabbed the most votes at 39.16% of the vote to become the Republican nominee.
State Auditor
Three Democrats from the state legislature vied for the chance to succeed retiring Auditor Brian Sonntag. Troy Kelley, state representative from Lakewood beat Mark Miloscia and Craig Pridemore fo the chance to face Republican James Watkins, who took the most votes with 45.62%.
Attorney General
Fellow King County Councilmembers Reagan Dunn and Bob Ferguson faced off to replace the seat held by Rob McKenna. Ferguson easily outpolled Dunn with 52.22% of the vote.
Gubernatorial Candidate Forum – Tuesday, Aug. 14
Register today for WTIA’s gubernatorial candidate forum:
http://www.washingtontechnology.org/events.aspx
Both Jay Inslee and Rob McKenna will speak and take questions.
