Washington 2020 Election Results

Washington held its general election on November 3, 2020, deciding 123 legislative seats and 9 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Democrats kept full control of state government: legislative flips canceled out, leaving the partisan split in both chambers where it was, and the only statewide office to change parties was treasurer, which Republicans lost. The post-census maps would be drawn by the state's bipartisan redistricting commission, with the Legislature allowed only minimal changes.
• Gov. Jay Inslee (D) won a third term over Loren Culp (R) by about 13 points, becoming the first three-term governor since Republican Dan Evans in 1972, in a race that played out as a referendum on Inslee's management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Down the ballot, Mike Pellicciotti (D) unseated the incumbent treasurer, Duane Davidson (R). That left Secretary of State Kim Wyman (R), who beat Gael Tarleton (D) by about 7 points, as the only Republican to win statewide and, as Cascade PBS put it, the only Republican statewide official on the West Coast south of Alaska. The other statewide Democrats seeking reelection, among them Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Auditor Pat McCarthy, also won, as did Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal in the nonpartisan race.
• The legislative results followed an urban-rural sort. Republicans completed a takeover of southwest Washington's rural 19th District, which had sent three Democrats to Olympia from 1989 to 2017: Jeff Wilson (R) beat Sen. Dean Takko (D) by about 11 points in Senate District 19, and Joel McEntire (R) beat 20-year Rep. Brian Blake (D) in House District 19. Democrats answered closer to Puget Sound. T'wina Nobles (D) unseated Sen. Steve O'Ban (R) by about 1,000 votes in west Pierce County's Senate District 28, becoming the only Black lawmaker in the sitting Senate. In Whatcom County's House District 42, Alicia Rule (D) ousted Rep. Luanne Van Werven (R) by about 2,200 votes, giving Democrats both of the district's House seats for the first time since 1998. Statewide, the number of districts with split-party delegations fell from four to two.
• Because Washington's top-two primary sends the two leading finishers to November regardless of party, several races pitted Democrats against each other. The lieutenant governor's race went to Denny Heck (D) over Marko Liias (D). Sen. Mark Mullet (D), a moderate, held off Ingrid Anderson (D), a progressive backed by Gov. Inslee, by fewer than 60 votes in Senate District 5, a race that drew more than $3 million from outside groups and fell within the state's automatic hand-recount range; the recount upheld his win. In House District 11, Rep. Zack Hudgins (D) lost to David Hackney (D).
• The 4 flips above were the only legislative seats to change party. Another 4 races finished inside two points, including both House seats in House District 10 (Dave Paul (D) and Greg Gilday (R) each won by under 1,000 votes) and Senate District 10, where Ron Muzzall (R) kept the seat Republican.
• Voters approved Referendum 90, upholding the 2020 law requiring comprehensive sexual health education, the first time nationwide a sex-ed mandate had gone to a statewide vote. They rejected Senate Joint Resolution 8212, which would have let the long-term care trust fund be invested. On all four nonbinding advisory votes (32, 33, 34, 35), voters advised the Legislature to repeal the tax bills in question.

Legislature

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

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures