Source: GayPolitics.com, Everett Herald, Seattle Times, Columbian, Secretary of State election results
The unofficial "gay caucus" in the Washington legislature appears to remain intact after yesterday's primary. The five out gay Washington state legislators who were up for election moved on to the general election.
Judicial candidate Jean Rietschel also advanced to the general election with the second-highest vote total in a tight three-way non-partisan race for King County Superior Court.
Sen. Joe McDermott and Reps. Jamie Pedersen, Marko Liias, Jim Moeller, and Dave Upthegrove all finished with the highest vote totals in the state's new top two primary system. Two of the candidates, McDermott and Pedersen, ran unopposed.
The dean of the gay caucus, Sen. Ed Murray from Seattle's 43rd District, does not have to run for reelection this year.
In her non-partisan race for the bench on King County Superior Court, Reitschel won 37.68% of the vote in the primary. She will face Barbara Mack in the general election. Mack won 38.03% of the primary vote. The third candidate in the primary, Nic Corning took 24.29% of the primary vote and will not appear on the general election ballot.
Rietschel has served as a municipal judge for 12 years. She has long supported HIV/AIDS activism and education by providing pro-bono representation work as an attorney under a program from the King County Bar Association with people affected by HIV/AIDS.
Rietschel was rated "extremely well qualified" -- the group's highest rating -- by QLaw: The GLBT Bar Association of Washington. Mack was rated "qualified" -- the group's second-lowest rating. Corning was rated "well qualified" by the group.
In a King County legislative race, Democrat Dave Upthegrove garnered 70% of the vote in a two-way preview of the general election race. In November, he will again face GOP candidate Tan Lam, who took 30% of the primary vote.
In Clark County, Democrat Jim Moeller also ran in a two-way primary that guaranteed both candidates a place on the November ballot. Moeller won with 65% of the vote. Mike Bomar, who listed himself as a member of the "Independent Party" received 35% of the primary vote.
In a Snohomish County legislative race, 26-year-old Marko Liias will face 19-year-old GOP candidate Andrew Funk in the general election.
Liias won with an impressive 62% of the vote in the state's first top-two primary. In 2005, voters elected Liias, then 24, to the Mukilteo City Council. In January, the Snohomish County Council appointed him to succeed Democrat Brian Sullivan in the legislature. Funk advanced to the general election with 38% of the primary vote.
The top two primary, which voters approved in 2004, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. It was the first time since 2003 that voters were be able skip back and forth along party lines as they picked a favorite candidate for each office. The top two finishers in each race advance to the general election on Nov. 4, regardless of party.
The new primary allows candidates from the same party to advance to the general election. In the Seattle area, Democrats will face each other in three races. Two Democrats also will also run for the same Senate seat in the Olympia area, Thurston County.
In Eastern Washington, two Republicans will be on the ballot in House races in District 7, which includes Ferry and Lincoln counties, and District 8, Benton County.
Even though he faced a college freshman, age wasn't a big advantage for Liias in the Snohomish County race because Liias is 26 and presently the youngest member of the state Legislature.
"The novelty of it is difficult to make an issue because we are both so young and we both represent the future of this country," Liias told Everett Herald.
Liias knows a bit about the path Funk is on. Liias was 22 when he first ran for a school board seat in Mukilteo and lost.
"When you're young, people want to know what your life experiences are," he said. "Today I do have that experience under my belt."
Joe McDermott won an appointment to his Senate seat from Seattle's 34th District in October of last year after serving in the state House for six years.
He was unopposed in the primary which means that he is guaranteed to retain the seat.
McDermott helped pass the Domestic Partnership Registry in 2007, giving state-registered domestic partners some basic protections for their families, such the right to visit a partner in the hospital, the right to make health care decisions and the right to make funeral arrangements.
Jamie Pedersen first won a seat in the Washington House in 2006 after beating several challengers in a crowded primary.
He was also unopposed in his first race to retain the seat.
In his short time in the House he was the prime sponsor for the passage of the Washington State Domestic Partner Registry. He also served on Lambda Legal's national board for seven years and worked as Lambda Legal's lead volunteer lawyer on the state's same-sex marriage case, Andersen v. King County in 2006.
In the three-way 17th District Position 1 House race, conservative Republican incumbent Jim Dunn was knocked from contention in November by newcomers Tim Probst, a Democrat, and Joseph James, a Republican.
Probst received 50 percent of the votes while James received 32 percent, according to partial returns.
Dunn did not respond to messages from The Columbian at his home or on his mobile phone. He ran what the newspaper described as a "nearly invisible campaign", raising just $893.
The 65-year-old Vancouver Republican gained notoriety when House Republican leaders stripped him of his committee assignments and travel reimbursement privileges for the 2008 session after he made an allegedly inappropriate comment to a female legislative aide. In a rebuff, 17th District precinct committee officers endorsed James 16-1 last month. The state GOP omitted his name and photo from the candidate slate on its Web site.
Also in Clark County, Rep. Jaime Herrera, R-Ridgefield, who was appointed to the 18th District House seat vacated by Rep. Richard Curtis last year after a highly publicized sex scandal, led businesswoman VaNessa Duplessie, a Democrat, 57 percent to 43 percent.
Both candidates will move on to the general election.
Source: Four Victory endorsees advance in Washington state | GayPolitics.com (Victory Fund)
Washington primary results | Secretary of State website
Young candidate makes a bid for the Legislature | Everett Herald
State schools chief: Incumbent Terry Bergeson likely to face Randy Dorn | Everett Herald
Washington's top-two primary put to test | Seattle Times
Dunn's done in Olympia | The Columbian