Washington 2018 Election Results

Washington held its general election on November 6, 2018, deciding 123 legislative seats. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Democrats widened the narrow majorities they had held in both chambers since a 2017 special election gave them the Senate by one vote. Still, early talk of gaining as many as 20 seats faded as conservative districts held.
• Half of Democrats' gains came at the expense of King County Republicans, the rest in swing districts beyond it:
  • Senate: Claire Wilson (D) unseated Mark Miloscia (R) in the 30th; Emily Randall (D) took the open 26th by about 100 votes over Marty McClendon (R); and in the 47th, Mona Das (D) beat Joe Fain (R), a moderate once seen as a GOP rising star, by about 1,000 votes after a Seattle woman publicly accused him of a 2007 rape, which he denied.
  • House: Democrats took both 5th District seats, as Bill Ramos (D) beat former Rep. Chad Magendanz (R) for an open seat and Lisa Callan (D) unseated Paul Graves (R).
  • Five more Republican House members lost: Mark Harmsworth (R) to Jared Mead (D) (44th), Mark Hargrove (R) to Debra Entenman (D) (47th), Dick Muri (R) to Mari Leavitt (D) (28th), Dave Hayes (R) to Dave Paul (D) (10th), and Vincent Buys (R) to Sharon Shewmake (D) (42nd).
• Several Republicans survived by tiny margins. In Whatcom County's 42nd District, Doug Ericksen (R), perhaps Trump's strongest legislative booster, held off Pinky Vargas (D) by fewer than 50 votes, and Luanne Van Werven (R) kept her House seat in the same district by about 80 votes. House Republicans Vicki Kraft (R) and Jim Walsh (R) were re-elected by under 2 points, and Jenny Graham (R) and Kelly Chambers (R) won open seats by similar margins.
• The one Democratic incumbent to lose fell to another Democrat. In the 32nd District, Washington's top-two system put two Democrats on the November ballot, and Shoreline Deputy Mayor Jesse Salomon (D) ousted Sen. Maralyn Chase (D) in a race that divided the Democratic Party. Every other incumbent who lost was a Republican, and all 10 seats that changed party moved from Republican to Democratic.
• Voters passed 3 of the 5 statewide questions. Initiative 1639 raised the age to buy a semi-automatic rifle to 21 and added background-check and training requirements; Initiative 940 required new police training and changed the legal standard for deadly force; and Initiative 1634 barred local taxes on groceries. Initiative 1631, a carbon emissions fee, failed after the oil industry spent over $28 million against it. In nonbinding Advisory Vote 19, voters advised repealing the Legislature's extension of the oil-spill tax to pipelines.

Legislature

• House (98 seats): 50 D, 48 R before the election, 57 D, 41 R after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (49 seats): 26 D, 23 R before the election, 29 D, 20 R after; control stayed with Democrats.

Legislative races

Ballot measures