Democrats feeling strong after initial results from Aug. 2 primary

U.S. Senator Patty Murray appears well positioned in her bid for a sixth term, coming out roughly 22 points ahead in early results over her challenger, Republican newcomer Tiffany Smiley.

But with just 32% of the vote in, Smiley said she’s feeling good about what she can do in the next three months as the two move on to the November general election.

“I am grateful to everyone who has supported my campaign so far and more determined than ever to be a strong voice for Washington’s values and priorities because let’s be clear: This is not a normal midterm election,” Murray said in a statement shortly after the initial results came down Tuesday night. “Our daughters and granddaughters have lost the right to make their own health care decisions, and today’s extreme Republican Party continues to push lies that the 2020 election was stolen, threatening our democracy. As Tiffany Smiley and the MAGA Republican Party try to roll back basic American rights, I will always stand up for our state’s values and priorities, and make sure the people of our state have a strong voice in the other Washington.”

Early primary returns suggest GOP failed to flip targeted legislative districts, Dems say

Murray’s Republican challenger said she is right where she wants to be — headed to the No. 2 spot in the November election.

“I am very excited about where we are,” Smiley told KIRO Newsradio Tuesday night. “A year ago when we announced this race, we wanted to be right here, where we are — me against Patty Murray. So we’re excited,” said Smiley.

Smiley touted the fact that she had been spreading her message in all 39 counties and felt that it was resonating with voters.

“It’s a message of hope. It’s a message of common sense solutions to the problems we are facing. Combating inflation, getting crime under control, securing our border, and stopping the flow of fentanyl from coming into our schools and our communities,” Smiley said. “We are ready to push hard through the general election and continue to share our message across Washington state.”

Smiley painted Murray as part of the problem suggesting the longtime senator had failed to deliver for Washingtonians.

“30 years in the Senate and do we think that in six more years she will be able to solve the problems that we are facing? She’s been a part of those problems — creating those problems, so it’s time to turn the page.

“It’s time that we turn the page here in Washington state and add leaders who can really deliver on what they’re talking about,” Smiley continued. “I have no doubt that what I’ve been talking about across Washington state, I will be able to go back to Washington D.C. and deliver.”

Democrats are also happy with the showing for 8th District Congresswoman Kim Schrier, who came out of early primary results with 49% of the vote. But Republicans are interpreting Schrier’s sub-50% vote tally as an opening for them to flip the seat in November.

The only question now is which of the viable Republicans running will be her opponent. Former State Attorney General candidate Matt Larkin has a slight edge over the second-highest Republican vote-getter — King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn. Larkin is up by less than one percentage point over Dunn, who believes later votes will break in his favor.

“King County is 59% of the district. And I’m leading my next closest rival there by over 6%,” Dunn said in response to Tuesday night’s early results. “So there are more than 300,000 ballots, perhaps even 400,000 ballots left to count. And there’s going to trend my way. And we think we’ll overcome whatever small deficit that there might be here and ultimately move forward to the second position and get a chance to challenge Congresswoman Kim Schrier.”

Larkin overtakes Dunn in fight to face Schrier in 8th district general election

Third and Fourth Congressional District incumbents Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse both came out of the initial primary results in the top two spots, ahead of their Trump-backed Republican challengers Joe Kent and Loren Culp, who took aim at the Republican incumbents for their vote to impeach the former President. Republicans did not feel Democrats had a particularly strong candidate in the 3rd District running against Herrera Beutler, but early results have Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez leading the race with 31% of the vote. Beutler is in second with 24% of the vote while Kent is a distant third with 20% of the vote.

It’s a similar story in the 4th District, where Democrat Doug White snagged 26% of the early votes while Newhouse holds the lead with just over 27%. Culp pulled 22% of the vote so far.

Those numbers remained unchanged as of this reporting, 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The biggest feather in the Republican cap was a significant lead for Bill Boyce in the race for the 47th Legislative District State Senator seat, vacated by Mona Das. Boyce took 45% of the vote compared to 27% and 28% of the vote for each of the two Democrats in the race — Satwinder Kaur and Claudia Kaufman. The biggest concern for the GOP there is that tallied together, the two Democrats have more than 50% of the vote.

Republican State Party Chair Caleb Heimlich urged supporters to stay positive.

“Obviously, we’re going to get more results over the coming days. We’re at about 20% statewide as far as turnout, and we’re expecting 40-44% by the end,” Heimlich said at the Republican watch party in Issaquah Tuesday night. “So that means even in the primary, there’s another half of the ballots out there. And then it’s going to be a lot of work ahead of us for the next three months and on to November to bring change to the people of Washington state.”

While Heimlich said there were many more votes to be counted and suggested later ballots would lean red, Democratic State Party Chair Tina Podlodowski disagreed.

“No, because it’s not true. Historically, the later ballots are generally democratic. And I do think that that’s a little bit of cover for something that super sad for the Republicans tonight,” Podlodowski said. “Look, they spent millions and millions of dollars on Tiffany Smiley’s campaign, and she didn’t even crack 32% in the Senate race. They spent over $2 million against our legislative district candidates with these terrible mailers, telling lies about different folks, and they’re losing all the way around the state.

“They spent millions of hours against Kim Schrier. It’s not working for them. So the Republicans can tell themselves any lies they need to to make themselves feel better tonight, but I’m confident if we continue to do the work as Democrats, we will be there on Election Day November,” Podlodowski continued.

Podlodowski claimed Washington state’s “red wave” is finished for this election year.

“There obviously is no red wave at all in Washington state. Patty Murray is winning the primary decisively with over 54% of the vote. If you look at all of our incumbents, including Kim Schrier in that tight race in the eighth congressional district, they are all doing great on the congressional side,” Podlodowski said. “We are winning up and down the ballot and all of these legislative races. So I got to say, it’s a nice night for Democrats here in Washington State.”

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