Election Results

It was a good week to be a Democrat. Manka Dhingra defeated her Republican opponent Jinyoung Englund in the 45th Legislative District, meaning Democrats will take control of the state Senate and will now be able to pass a capital budget, fully fund education, and enact common sense legislation around guns, birth control, and voting rights. You can watch Manka’s victory night speech here:

Tina Podlodowski addresses the crowd shortly before Manka's victory speech. "We’ve put the last brick in the big blue wall against the Trump agenda, across the whole West Coast."

Also included in the video, victory speeches by Vandana Slatter and Patty Kuderer, two fantastic Democrats who won their special elections to the state House and state Senate in the 48th district, as well as special appearances by King County Executive Dow Constantine, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and Washington State Democrats Chair Tina Podlodowski.

What an amazing night!

Democrats exceeded expectations in special elections in other legislative districts, including in the 31st, where Michelle Rylands and Nate Lowry challenged incumbent Republicans, and in the 7th–the most Republican district in the state–where Karen Hardy and Susan Swanson gave outstanding performances. This was the first year since 2004 that two Democrats advanced simultaneously to the general election for legislative races in the 7th District, and they laid crucial groundwork for upcoming races in Eastern Washington.

The city of Seattle will have its first woman Mayor in 90 years with winner Jenny Durkan, and in Tacoma, Victoria Woodards defeated Jim Merritt to become the next mayor.

The races for Burien City Council are looking promising. As the ballots continue to be counted, the Fantastic Four progressive candidates–Pedro Olguin, Jimmy Matta, Nancy Tosta, and Krystal Marx–are all ahead of their opponents as of Friday evening. Nancy Tosta has safely won reelection to the council, but the other three races are still too close to call until more ballots are counted.

Getting out the vote in Burien.

The Washington State Democrats lent the four progressive Burien City Council candidates a hand after an anti-immigrant group published a flyer with names and addresses of immigrants in Burien in support of the four conservative candidates. Chair Tina Podlodowski launched a canvass and announced ways in which the state party was helping to push back the ugly divisiveness that had reared its head in Burien:

Tina Podlodowski, Nancy Tosta, Jimmy Matta, and Krystal Marx

We are inspired by Burien’s rejection of hate so far, and next week we hope to be able to tell you that all four candidates who stand for inclusion are on the council.

Additionally, the traditionally conservative Spokane Valley decided it had had enough of its city council’s right-wing antics (and more antics… and even more antics) and voted out ultra-conservative incumbents Ed Pace, J. Caleb Collier, and Mike Munch, replacing them with far more rational and moderate voices: Ben Wick, Brandi Peetz, and Linda Thompson. The race between incumbent Mayor Rod Higgins and his younger challenger Chris Jackson remains too close to call.

Our Labor friends also had a big night with the election of Teresa Mosqueda to the Seattle City Council, Larry Brown to the Auburn City Council, and Matthew Hepner to the East Wenatchee City Council.

Democrats’ successes were not limited to Washington State. After a long gubernatorial race, Democrat Ralph Northam handily defeated former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie to become Virginia’s next governor. A diverse slate of Democrats ousted a surprisingly high number of Republican delegates from Virginia’s legislature, including Danica Roem, Virginia’s first transgender elected official. New Jersey elected Phil Murphy as governor to replace frequent beachgoer Chris Christie, and also elected Sheila Oliver to be New Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor–the first person of color to hold that position. Democrats not only won; we made history nationwide. And we will continue rising and organizing into 2018 and beyond.

DCCC Targets Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Coming off the wave of Democrat wins across the country, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee expanded its list of targeted congressional districts. New to the list? Washington State’s 5th Congressional District. That’s right, the DCCC is targeting Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

Things aren't looking up for Cathy.

GOP Tax Plan

With an excellent series of questions, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene exposes the Trump tax scam as a giveaway for corporations. Check it out!

Rep. DelBene showing that the GOP's tax plan is a scam.