(The Center Square) – Tuesday is primary election day in Washington, and votes are still being cast despite many turning in their ballots early.
Tuesday is the day voters that will narrow down the candidate field in local, state and federal contests, to determine who moves on to the November general election.
All Washington House seats and two dozen Senate seats are on the ballot, including several open seats where incumbents have opted not to seek reelection.
Other incumbents are hoping to retain their seats and ward off challengers from their own party.
As reported by The Center Square, early returns indicated a lot of voters were waiting for the last minute to return their ballots.
“I sympathize with those who want to vote on election day. We ought to vote on election day,” said Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh of Aberdeen in a Tuesday interview with The Center Square.
Records show 40.43% of Washington voters participated in the August 2022 primary and Walsh said he expects final returns for this year’s election to be on par or potentially ahead of those numbers.
“What we tend to see is with very late ballots they amplify how a district trends anyway. So red districts tend to get a little redder and blue districts tend to get a little bluer with late ballots,” he said.
Among the more interesting legislative battles is the contest in Seattle in Legislative District 43, where Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, who sponsored the income tax, is up against Hannah Sabio-Howell who is running to his left.
Both Democrats are expected to advance to the general election, but political watchers are anxious to see if liberal Seattle has moved further left with support for Sabio-Howell, or comes in strong for Pedersen, the incumbent.
All ten of Washington’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on the ballot, as well.
In most cases, the incumbents are expected to sail to victory come November, but Republicans are eying District 3 where Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is seen as vulnerable.
The Republican National Committee is betting on Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, to win back the seat.
Democrat Brent Hennrich is running to the left of Gluesenkamp Perez in CD3.
Another one to watch is central Washington’s 4th Congressional District.
Rep. Dan Newhouse is stepping aside and that opened the flood gates to 11 hopefuls.
As reported by The Center Square, the top Republican fundraisers in the battle have argued over who secured the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
Republican Jerrod Sessler, and Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney both claimed the MAGA banner, while Republican State Senator Matt Boehnke, who has stayed out of the fray over the Trump endorsement told The Center Square he’s confident he will advance after the primary.
When it comes to the state Supreme Court, voters are casting ballots to narrow candidates in four positions. An unprecedented five seats are up for grabs, but in one position, only two candidates are running, so they automatically advance to November.
As of Monday night, just under 20% of ballots had been returned statewide.
The top two candidates in each contest move on to the Nov. 3 election.
Election officials recommend that if you’ve yet to return your ballot, it should be placed in a drop box or delivered to a voting center or elections office as it must have an 8 p.m. postmark to be counted.
The first results Tuesday night are expected just after 8 p.m. from the Secretary of State with further results coming in over the next several days.
SOS will certify results by August 21.
The Center Square will post initial results Tuesday night.