Primaries: Left Turns in Legislative Races

Editor’s Note: Let’s get the Wednesday-morning caveat out of the way: There are a great many votes outstanding, so we reserve the right to be wrong about some of this stuff. 

Voters showed a progressive bent in the early results from Tuesday’s primary, favoring the more leftward candidate in most of the contested races. 

Two closely-watched D-on-D matchups for seats in the Legislature were going the progressive candidate’s way. In the 48th Legislative District, recently appointed Sen. Vandana Slatter, D-Bellevue, raked in nearly 60 percent of the vote against Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, a moderate who ran with strong backing from the business lobby and an expensive late blitz of TV advertising. The result is reminiscent of the failed Mark Mullet-for-governor experiment from last year, and calls into question the premise that suburban voters are yearning for centrist governance.

Further south in the 33rd LD, first-term Rep. Edwin Obras, D-SeaTac, was leading Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling, 43-32 percent. Round Two of that race looks like more of a wild card because a Republican finished third with 24 percent of the vote. Schilling, the director of advocacy for the politically active Washington Dental Association, had strong financial support from the business lobby, and the race featured some spicy hardball.

In Seattle, incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell was trailing Katie Wilson, the head of the left-leaning Transit Riders Union and a progressive gadfly in the city’s politics. Wilson led by nearly 1,300 votes. Hizzoner got less than 45 percent of the vote, which isn’t a good look for an incumbent. 

City Council President Sara Nelson, a pro-business politician reviled by Seattle lefties, got just 39 percent of the early vote, while challenger Dionne Foster got more than 53 percent. That’s despite aggressive independent spending on Nelson’s behalf. 

City Attorney Ann Davison, who was extremely fortunate in her opponent four years ago, was also trailing badly. Challenger Erika Evans had more than 51 percent of the vote to Davison’s 37 percent. Davison, who once ran for lieutenant governor as a Republican in 2020, is as close to a conservative as Seattle politics gets. 

Those are some deep-looking holes that have to be dismaying to the moneyed interests who spent heavily getting all three elected in 2021. Expect big spending in at least Harrell’s defense because Harrell backers will be deeply alarmed at the prospect of Mayor Katie Wilson. 

In the King County Executive’s race, Girmay Zahilay was leading Claudia Balducci, his county council colleague, by more than 10 percentage points at 40 percent. One interesting wrinkle there is that County Assessor John Wilson, running as a pragmatic moderate, got more than 9 percent of the vote even though he dropped out weeks ago amidst a stalking arrest. 

Two state Senate races feature more traditional Democrat-on-Republican matchups. In the swing 26th District on the Kitsap Peninsula, Republican hopes of ousting first-term Sen. Deb Krishnadasan, D-Gig Harbor, remained very much alive. Krishnadasan, who was appointed to replace now-Congresswoman Emily Randall, trailed Rep. Michelle Caldier, R-Gig Harbor, by less than 100 votes. Expect an ocean of money to pour into the district in the fall. 

In East King County’s 5th LD, progressive Victoria Hunt, D-Issaquah, leads former GOP Rep. Chad Magendanz with nearly 53 percent of the vote. Hunt, who was appointed to the Senate seat after the death of Bill Ramos, was the target of an aggressive independent campaign aimed at highlighting her votes for the large tax increases enacted by the Legislature this year. Expect that theme to continue in the fall, although an incumbent who gets more than 50 percent in the primary is usually considered safe. The 5th was Republican territory back in the day, but a GOP candidate last won there in 2016.

This article also appears in the author’s website, The Washington Observer.