Live 2026 midterm election coverage in Washington

Democrats jubilant as statewide results roll in

As the night winds down, the Washington State Democratic Party’s General Election Watch Party feels cautiously optimistic. Huge cheers erupt as NBC projects blue wins across the country.

The air was electric when the House was called for the Democrats. Someone started a chant of “USA! USA!” that infected the rest of the crowd. They brought it back when they won the Senate.

Some said they couldn’t believe it, others said they were feeling better than they thought they would. Janai Ray was a little more straightforward when asked how she was feeling.

“Fantastic! I lost my voice,” Ray said. “I’m going to scream the rest of the night.”

Arthur Getz tied these Democratic victories back to People working at Nongovernmental Organizations, who he said got their support pulled out from under them with the loss of state and federal funding.

“This gives them hope that all is not lost,” Getz said.

People are quick to temper their excitement with reminders that the night is still young, and results can change. But the energy in the venue is high. People are happy.

Gideon Hall s a reporter for University of Washington’s Community News Lab, a project of the UW Journalism and Public Interest program.

A tight race in the 5th congressional district

At around 8:30 p.m., a crowd of about 20 people cheered at U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner’s watch party at the Swinging Door in Spokane. It was the first moment that the sitting Rep. took the lead in the 5th district’s congressional race. 

Votes are trickling in. The race is tight. 

As of 8:40 p.m., Baumgartner leads Democratic opponent Carmela Conroy by 1,857 votes.  

“We’re very confident that as additional ballots come in, that they will continue to trend Republican,” he said. “There’s just a tremendous amount of Democratic intensity very early on in the process.”

Polls are closed

Voting is over in Washington as the clock strikes 8 p.m., though if voters are in line to put their ballots in a drop box, they should remain in line because their votes will be counted. 

Vote counts should start trickling in from counties shortly. Follow along on the secretary of state’s results webpage. More votes will be tallied in the coming days

Halftime at the Democratic Watch Party

Right around 7 p.m., an hour before polls were set to close in Washington, the Washington State Democratic Party’s General Election Watch Party erupted in the biggest cheer of the night thus far. NBC projected that Democrats won control of the House.

The mood is tense, but celebratory. It feels like watching a sports game.

Julianna Muya said that she’s been going to election watch parties for years.

“It feels so much better than being at home,” Muya said.

The venue is packed with people eating, drinking, and watching the news. Of course, there are still nerves — the night isn’t over yet. But Muya prefers being nervous with friends than by herself.

“Civics…it’s a community engagement, it’s not a spectator sport,” Muya said.

Gideon Hall s a reporter for University of Washington’s Community News Lab, a project of the UW Journalism and Public Interest program.

Capitol Hill residents line up to vote before polls close

Just a few blocks away from the Washington State Democratic Party’s General Election Watch Party, Capitol Hill residents lined up to drop off their ballots. Around 6 p.m., the line stretched the length of the Seattle Central College Building.

“I’ve never seen it this long,” said Inessa Nikulina.

The crowd was bundled up against the creeping November chill, and accompanied by dogs, spouses, and friends.

Jennifer Jost said she’d never seen a line like it, but she chose to wait because she thought it was important.

“I wanted to make sure my voice was heard,” said Jost.

Luckily for Jost, the line was moving quickly. She said she’d only been waiting about five or six minutes by the time she got to cast her ballot.

Nikulina mentioned not wanting to see Let’s Go Washington’s three initiatives repealing the state millionaires tax, banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports, and restoring the original version of the Parents’ Bill of Rights.

Polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3.

Gideon Hall s a reporter for University of Washington’s Community News Lab, a project of the UW Journalism and Public Interest program.

Voting closes in an hour

Weeks of voting for Tuesday’s election will close in about an hour, at 8 p.m. Voters can turn their ballots into a drop box by then. And if you want to register and vote tonight, it’s time to rush to a voting center. 

Results will start to trickle in from across Washington right after 8 p.m. Those vote tallies will start to answer key questions state leaders have been stewing on for months. What do voters think about the state’s high-earners income tax? Will Democrats make gains in the state Legislature? If so, how much? Are we in store for a new-look state Supreme Court?

Watching not just the results but the results website…

The secretary of state’s results webpage is up and ready. This usually wouldn’t be notable, but the version we saw during the primary from the state’s top election official was practically unusable on election night, with discordant and nonsensical results.

This led the state House Republicans to launch their own user-friendly version with the help of ChatGPT, which became the go-to for reliable results. It’s not clear if they’re planning to activate this page for tonight’s results, but we’ll have to hope so if the state faces similar issues again.

Washington poised to elect first openly transgender legislator

Barring a stunning upset, Washington will elect its first openly transgender legislator tonight. 

Scott, who leads the Black trans advocacy organization the Lavender Rights Project, will represent the 37th Legislative District in south Seattle. She faces a college student running as an independent to replace Democratic Rep. Chipalo Street, who is going for state Senate.

Scott, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, will also be the first Black openly trans state lawmaker elected in the country. In Massachusetts, Althea Garrison served one term in the 1990s, but was outed while in office and didn’t publicly confirm she was transgender until years later.

DelBene ‘confident and paranoid’

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, of Washington’s 1st Congressional District, doesn’t need to worry about her own reelection. But as the head of the national Democrats’ U.S. House campaign arm, stakes are especially high for her. 

She predicts Democrats will win the majority in the lower chamber of Congress, as is widely expected. She’s “confident and paranoid,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

He left the Legislature but may win ‘reelection’

Republican Skyler Rude’s last day as a state representative was Halloween. On Sunday, the Walla Walla resident left the Legislature and began a new job with Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.

But his exit came too late to pull his name off the ballot. Today, Rude, a four-term House member, is expected to finish ahead of Democratic challenger Derek Sarley in the 16th District, which encompasses parts of Walla Walla, Grant, Franklin and Benton counties.

If Rude wins, Republican precinct committee officers will have essentially two vacancies to fill — one to complete the ex-lawmaker’s current term and one that would begin in January when the new legislative term starts. The appointment would be made collectively by commissioners of the four counties.

If Sarley wins, those commissioners could appoint someone to serve the final weeks of Rude’s term until the Democrat takes office in January. 

In September, Sarley told the Standard he hoped voters understood that if Rude wins, they would have no say in who is put in the job.

How might legislative leadership posts shift post-election?

We’re watching to see if the results of today’s election are followed by leadership changes in the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the state Legislature.

On the Democrat side, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins of Tacoma is already facing a challenge from Rep. April Berg of Mill Creek. If the caucus gains five or more members, which is possible in this election cycle, Jinkins, buoyed by that success, would seem to be in a solid position to retain her leadership post.

On the Republican side, it could be a different story. House Minority Drew Stokesbary is well-liked by his members, I hear. But the caucus is going to lose seats. If it shrinks too much, Stokesbary may choose to exit on his terms and hand the baton to someone he thinks can begin the rebuilding process.

‘We need politicians who are speaking in respectful ways’

Election officials at the South Hill Library in Spokane emptied out a ballot box for the second time today at around 3 p.m. Washington voters are able to drop off their ballots at any drop box location, regardless of where they live. 

It’s possible that some Spokane Valley residents are flocking to other drop box locations after a deadly shooting occurred at the city’s public library around 1 p.m. Local officials have one man in custody. While the library is closed, the ballot drop-off box remains open. 

Some voters say the situation is akin to the country’s current political moment. 

“It’s just these labels and we get caught up in them and then it goes to the extreme like something like that,” said Matthew Chavez, 36, who voted Democrat. “We need politicians who are speaking in respectful ways and aren’t intentionally trying to divide our country.”

Others said they weren’t surprised about the shooting. 

“Shootings happen all the time here. They just don’t get reported on,” said Alex Biviano, 28.

Many people said they felt that Spokane is often left out of state politics. 

“There’s two halves to the state,” said Paul Mills, 43. “It took them so long to fix the freeway here and that was needed.”

As far as state issues, people are ready for a change, on both sides.

“With the clean-green deal, it feels like it’s more of a money grab than they’re actually doing anything productive with the money they’re taking for the extra taxes for the gases and the utilities,” said Monica, 60. “So yeah, I pretty much voted Republican.”

Lena Roose, 19, said voting for the first time “feels kinda sad.”

“I have to vote for the least bad option,” Roose said. “It’s not spectacular.”

As far as the initiative to repeal the state’s income tax on high earners, she said “that was horrific. Who wants that?”

“Let’s tax millionaires less and give less money to schools? No. I don’t want that,” Roose added.

National Guard work done in King County

King County was one of seven counties across Washington to take up Gov. Bob Ferguson on his offer of National Guard help to add security for ballot drop boxes.

Their work is now done there, said King County Elections spokesperson Halei Watkins. Over a couple days on the job, National Guard members reported a few suspicious people near drop boxes but no “incidents nor any actual nefarious activity,” she said.

“The National Guard was primarily overnight eyes and ears at drop boxes,” Watkins said in an email. “They did just what they were supposed to and kept an eye on boxes, reporting anything suspicious to local law enforcement.”

Watkins said local election officials “very much appreciated” their work.

The other counties that accepted the governor’s offer were Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston, Clark, Lewis and Island. 

A Pierce County spokesperson said they had no reports from the “Election Neighborhood Watch” as Ferguson dubbed the mission..

As for the U.S. Department of Justice presence, election officials in King County expected eight election monitors, but only saw five or six, Watkins said.

Voter turnout down from 2022, per Secretary of State

More than 2.1 million of Washington’s 5.1 million registered voters have returned a ballot for this year’s midterms, as of Monday afternoon. 

That’s just over two in every five. In 2022, that figure was at 42.3% the day before Election Day. In terms of raw numbers, 80,000 more ballots have been returned this year, but there are hundreds of thousands more voters than there were four years ago. 

Voters are heeding repeated calls to return ballots via drop box, not the unreliable mail system. Nearly three in four ballots have been turned in through a local drop box. 

As usual, the older the voter, the more likely they are to have voted. Two-thirds of voters age 65 and up have returned their ballots, while that’s down to just 18.7% for newer voters ages 18-24, according to the secretary of state’s office.

More votes will be counted in the coming days. 

Here’s how each county is doing compared to four years ago.

• Adams: 32.39% in 2026; 33.35% in 2022
• Asotin: 46.85% in 2026; 45.92% in 2022
• Benton: 37.72% in 2026; 39.26 in 2022
• Chelan: 48.15% in 2026; 47% in 2022
• Clallam: 53.84% in 2026; 52.87% in 2022
• Clark: 44.38% in 2026; 41.38% in 2022
• Columbia: 54.1% in 2026; 56.74% in 2022
• Cowlitz: 46.58% in 2026; 44.29% in 2022
• Douglas: 42.92% in 2026; 44.96% in 2022
• Ferry: 42% in 2026; 50.49% in 2022
• Franklin: 32.27% in 2026; 33.47% in 2022
• Garfield: 58.34% in 2026; 65.4% in 2022
• Grant: 26.25% in 2026; 27.17% in 2022
• Grays Harbor: 38.77% in 2026; 37.73% in 2022
• Island: 49.89% in 2026; 51.63% in 2022
• Jefferson: 61.96% in 2026; 59.68% in 2022
• King: 37.46% in 2026; 42.42% in 2022
• Kitsap: 48.04% in 2026; 48.49% in 2022
• Kittitas: 46.34% in 2026; 48.63% in 2022
• Klickitat: 43.72% in 2026; 53.03% in 2022
• Lewis: 48.9% in 2026; 47.48% in 2022
• Lincoln: 46.2% in 2026; 58.87% in 2022
• Mason: 44.87% in 2026; 49.49% in 2022
• Okanogan: 45.84% in 2026; 44.09% in 2022
• Pacific: 53.33% in 2026; 57.31% in 2022
• Pend Oreille: 47.68% in 2026; 45.47% in 2022
• Pierce: 36.21% in 2026; 38.35% in 2022
• San Juan: 57.28% in 2026; 45.4% in 2022
• Skagit: 40.44% in 2026; 38.25% in 2022
• Skamania: 52.24% in 2026; 44.92% in 2022
• Snohomish: 40.66% in 2026; 41.67% in 2022
• Spokane: 44.03% in 2026; 42.73% in 2022
• Stevens: 39.9% in 2026; 48.21% in 2022
• Thurston:  45.5% in 2026; 45.45% in 2022
• Wahkiakum: 53.79% in 2026; 55.33% in 2022
• Walla Walla: 35.78% in 2026; 41.89% in 2022
• Whatcom: 47.88% in 2026; 43.17% in 2022
• Whitman: 37.29% in 2026; 39.92% in 2022
• Yakima: 34.67% in 2026; 33.75% in 2022

Democratic Party chair says early Dem voting outpaces 2022

Shasti Conrad, chair of Washington’s state Democratic Party, says her party has a “sizable advantage in the early vote” based on internal modeling.

“We’re seeing our base turn out at higher rates compared to our 2022 benchmarks, while Republican turnout is running behind theirs,” said party spokesperson Stephen Reed. “And 2022 was a good year for us.”

Reed declined to share exactly what the figures looked like, but attributed the good signs for his party to the Democratic base being “super motivated to provide a check on the chaos and corruption of the Trump-Vance administration.”

Legislative races to watch

Most of the 122 races on the ballots this year for seats in the Washington State Legislature are all but foregone conclusions.

But a bunch are worth watching, as Democrats aim to widen their majorities in Olympia and progressives seek to unseat moderate Democratic incumbents.

Here are a handful of the contests we’re watching.

• All the state House races in southwest Washington’s 17th and 18th Legislative Districts, where Democrats hope to sweep the four GOP-held seats.
• In the 26th District in Kitsap and Pierce counties, Katy Cornell, a Republican, looks to keep the seat red after the retirement of Rep. Michelle Valdez. She faces Democrat Renee Hernandez Greenfield. If Hernandez Greenfield wins, all three of the purple district’s positions will have turned blue.
• Democrat Michael Shepard seeks to hold onto the state Senate seat in Whatcom County’s 42nd District against Republican psychologist Erika Creydt. This campaign and the one in the 26th are the two most expensive campaigns for state legislative seats this year. 
• We’ll be watching the races between Republican Rep. Brian Burnett and Democrat Stacy Willoughby in the 12th, for both Reps. Michael Keaton and Cyndy Jacobsen in the 25th, and GOP state Sen. Drew MacEwen and Democrat Carolina Mejia in the 35th. If Democrats do well there, it’ll be a true wave that could deliver a Democratic supermajority in the House.

There’s also the reelection campaigns for Republican Reps. Gloria Mendoza and Deb Manjarrez in the Yakima Valley’s 14th District, where turnout among Latino voters could be the difference.

Notable Democrat-on-Democrat battles also promise to be interesting. For example, the longest-serving state representative, Sharon Tomiko Santos, faces a formidable challenge from Kelabe Tewolde, who bested her in the primary. 

In the 48th in east King County, Rep. Amy Walen is looking to hold off Redmond City Councilmember Jessica Forsythe.

Rep. Melanie Morgan in the 29th is aiming to keep her seat after losing the primary to Krista Perez, a fellow Democrat who after the primary was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

Longtime Rep. Gerry Pollet is shooting for another two years in the House against former federal prosecutor Will Dreher. 

In the state Senate, Rep. Cindy Ryu is looking to level up to the Senate in the 32nd. To get there, she’ll need to defeat incumbent Sen. Jesse Salomon. Ryu is running to his left. 

Meanwhile, these legislators made the decision to leave on their own. Some are retiring, others are giving up one legislative seat as they seek another. Here’s what we know:

Retirements

• Democratic Rep. Larry Springer of Kirkland
• Democratic Rep. Timm Ormsby of Spokane
• Democratic Sen. Sharon Shewmake of Bellingham
• Republican Rep. Jenny Graham of Spokane
• Republican Rep. Michelle Valdez of Gig Harbor
• Democratic Rep. Steve Tharinger of Port Townsend
• Republican Rep. Carolyn Eslick of Sultan
• Republican Sen. Judy Warnick of Moses Lake
• Democratic Sen. Steve Conway of Tacoma

Other plans

• Democratic Sen. Rebecca Saldaña of Seattle is seeking a seat on the Metropolitan King County Council.
• Democratic Rep. Cindy Ryu of Shoreline is running for the Senate seat in the 32nd Legislative District.
• Republican Rep. Skyler Rude of Walla Walla resigned to take a new job with the Secretary of State
• Republican Sen. Matt Boehnke ran unsuccessfully for Congress. 
• Democratic Rep. Sharon Wylie ran unsuccessfully for Clark County auditor.
• Republican Rep. Mike Volz of Spokane is retiring to focus full-time on his duties as Spokane County treasurer.
• Republican Rep. Suzanne Schmidt is running for the Spokane County Commission.
• Republican Rep. Jeremie Dufault is running for an open Senate seat
• Democratic Rep. Sharlett Mena is running for Conway’s Senate seat.
• Democratic Rep. Chipalo Street is running for Saldana’s Senate seat.
• Republican Rep. Alex Ybarra is running for Warnick’s Senate seat.

Haven’t voted yet?

The deadline to turn in ballots to a drop box or voting center is 8 p.m. 

The mailbox is no longer an option, as ballots have to be postmarked by today to be counted. Election officials have discouraged using the U.S. Postal Service to return ballots because late postmarks could mean votes going uncounted, as happened in the primary.

Still filling out your ballot? You can find the voters’ pamphlet with information on candidates in your local races here. The Standard’s voter guide has candidate responses for the most important races across the state.

You can find Washington’s 603 ballot drop boxes, as well as voting center locations, here. You can still register and vote in person at your county election office up until 8 p.m.

Noncitizen voting claims roil Washington before election

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and federal authorities in Washington are at a standstill in their tete-a-tete over allegations of noncitizen voters on the state’s rolls. 

Washington’s top federal prosecutors last week claimed they’d found over 400 ineligible noncitizens who’d voted upward of 1,500 times in Washington, and said this was just the “tip of the iceberg.” They told the state to set aside the alleged invalid ballots while their eligibility is confirmed

Hobbs, a Democrat, refused, countering that people on the provided list were U.S. citizens, no evidence was given and some of the voting records dated back decades. 

The battle continued through the media.

Hobbs called the federal list a “dumpster fire disguised as a legal document,” but also drew fire from Charles Neil Floyd, the head of Seattle’s U.S. attorney’s office, for saying Washington has “no way” to confirm if immigrant noncitizens are on the state’s rolls and it’s not unusual for them to be mistakenly registered. Hobbs also said those people would be caught if they voted.

“The only questions are how many illegal votes are being counted in Washington and what will the state do about it,” Floyd said in a statement late Thursday. “Washington clearly has no intention or ability to identify non-citizens and remove them from the voter rolls.”

The saga continued Friday when immigrant advocacy and labor groups sued the Trump administration to preemptively stop the federal government from forcing Washington to not count the questioned ballots. The groups, OneAmerica Votes, Latino Community Fund of Washington State and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, are pushing a federal judge in Washington to rule on the issue ASAP. 

“The constitutional rights of Washington voters hang in the balance,” they wrote in court filings. “This Court must act immediately to protect Washington voters from this unlawful intrusion.”

A hearing date on their motion for a temporary restraining order hasn’t been scheduled. The U.S. Department of Justice opposes the lawsuit.

For what it’s worth, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied the Trump administration’s 11th-hour attempt to get California to set aside 20,000 ballots from people suspected to be noncitizens.

Taking the partisan out of politics in Snohomish County

A local measure in Snohomish County would erase political party labels for elected county offices and the people running to serve in them.

Under Proposition 3, “all candidates for a Snohomish County elected office appear on the ballot without a political party designation and that all elected county offices be non-partisan offices.”

Several Snohomish County offices are already nonpartisan. These include treasurer, auditor, assessor, sheriff and clerk.

This one would affect those on the County Council and in the county executive job. If passed, it would apply next year when two council seats and the county executive’s position are on ballots. It would apply for the other three council seats when they are up for election in 2029.

The King County Council is nonpartisan. But don’t tell the Democratic and Republican parties as they seem to do battle in each election as they always have.

No issues with DOJ election monitors in King County

Federal election monitors from the U.S. Department of Justice visited several voting centers this morning in Washington state’s King County, which includes Seattle.

As of 12:30 p.m., they’d been to Federal Way, Bellevue, Kenmore and Kent, said Halei Watkins, spokesperson for King County Elections. They’re expected to stop by every voting center in the state’s most populous county by day’s end.

“There haven’t been any issues with monitors, they’ve been following the rules just fine,” Watkins said.

The monitors so far just observed the process and could be checking for disability access and translated election materials. Watkins said they’ve been asked to check in with staff when they arrive at voting centers so their presence is known.

They’re also slated to be in Yakima County on the east side of the state, but county election officials haven’t heard from them.

“At this point we have no idea if they are in the area or not,” Auditor Charles Ross said in an email around 1:30 p.m.

Before the election, local and state election officials said they expected no problems with the monitors, though the Justice Department is ramping up these efforts this year. Federal monitors haven’t been in King County since 2008.

Will Pierce County dump its sheriff?

Voters elected Keith Swank as sheriff of Pierce County in 2024. Today, they are considering a local ballot measure that if passed would evict him with two years to go in his term.

Charter Amendment 53 would make the sheriff an appointed position rather than an elected one. Swank, who was narrowly elected, would be out of office on Jan. 1, 2027, if it passes. Right now, King County is the only county in the state with an appointed sheriff.

Swank, a mercurial public servant, isn’t about to get appointed to the job given the number of times he’s clashed with other elected Pierce County leaders, including County Executive Ryan Mello. 

Even if Swank keeps his job, he could face added scrutiny. Charter Amendment 54 would create a new Public Safety Ombuds Office to provide independent oversight of the sheriff and sheriff’s department.