Ballots for Washington's primary election must be dropped off or postmarked by 8 p.m. on Aug. 4.
The top two candidates in each race will advance to the general election in November, no matter what political party they belong to.
Voters will decide on local initiatives and a host of candidates for the state Legislature, as well as the top two candidates for four different seats on the state Supreme Court, with one additional seat already on the November ballot. A majority of spots on the state's highest court are up for grabs this year.
State government reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan joined All Things Considered host Emil Moffatt to sort through it all.
Interview Highlights
State Supreme Court candidates
The easiest way for folks to find out how they should vote for Supreme Court justice candidates is likely to look at who has endorsed specific candidates — if you're able to look back at how these judges have ruled on past cases. Aside from that, though, these races do tend to be fairly opaque, just because of Washington's ethics laws around Supreme Court justice races. They're really not allowed to weigh in on specific issues that they could be ruling on in the future.
Why these races matter
A majority of Supreme Court seats will be up for election this year, which means voters will have a chance to shape the majority voice of the court, which is a really rare opportunity. Secondly, whoever is elected this year will likely be the court that will see a challenge to the controversial "millionaires' tax" come before them. They'll decide the constitutionality of this tax.
Competitive congressional races
We’ll definitely be watching the 3rd congressional district, which is the race between State Sen. John Braun — he's a moderate Republican — and Democratic incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in a very purple district in Southwest Washington. In the 4th congressional district, arguably one of the most reliably red districts that covers Central Washington, there are 11 candidates vying for that seat, with the top fundraisers so far being Republicans. Amanda McKinney is the front runner here with an endorsement from President Trump.
Democrats challenging Democrats
I'd say the most high-profile race of Democrats running against Democrats is the race in the 43rd legislative district for state senator in the Capitol Hill neighborhood between Senate Majority Leader Jamie Petersen and challenger Hannah Sabio-Howell. There is a third candidate running as well. They're running as an independent and haven't really raised very much money. This is the first time in Petersen's over 10 years as senator that he has a serious challenger for his seat. Sabio-Howell is running further to the left of him, saying he's out of touch with his district and that she wants to get corporate interests out of Olympia.
What to watch as results come in
We'll be looking to see how close Democrats come to their Republican incumbents. I think in a lot of ways the primary is going to be a bellwether for us to see if Washingtonians are feeling like they're going to ride that blue wave we've heard people talking about that could be coming as backlash to the Trump administration this midterm cycle.
