Democrats see opportunity in Washington congressional races
OLYMPIA — Democrats were celebrating early returns in three congressional races in Washington state’s primary election, but Republicans said they were confident their party would hold on to all three seats in November.
Tina Podlodowski, chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, said that even though many more votes need to be counted, the early returns Tuesday night show that “nothing is guaranteed” for incumbent Republicans as Democrats showed strength that could carry through to November.
“Democrats are within striking distance of picking up three congressional seats,” she said.
In two of the districts – the 3rd and the 8th – Democratic candidates combined were taking more of the vote than the GOP candidates in early returns.
Washington is a vote-by-mail state, and voters had a deadline of 8 p.m. to have their ballot postmarked or placed in a drop box. In some of the more competitive races, results may not be known for days as most counties will update vote counts only once a day.
Just over 24 percent of the vote had been counted by Tuesday night. State GOP chairman Caleb Heimlich said that “it’s still too early to come to any big conclusions.”
“The eyes of the nation will be on those three seats,” he said. “We will do the hard work and we will connect voters and keep those seats in Republican hands.”
The contest getting the most attention is an open U.S. House seat Democrats hope to capture for the first time since the district east of Seattle was created in 1980. Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert is retiring from the 8th Congressional District after more than a decade.
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