As primary ballots continue to roll in, state Democrats are hopeful for a blue wave in Southwest Washington.
Democratic challengers in four state House seats were leading Republican incumbents in the Vancouver suburbs on Thursday.
With majorities in the House and Senate in Olympia, Democrats aim to flip enough seats to attain a supermajority in the next few years, giving them the power to amend the state constitution or pass laws unilaterally.
In each race — two in Legislative District 17 and two in Legislative District 18, which cover parts of Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat counties — Democrats had over 50% of the vote.
“This is sort of a shockwave for us,” said Shasti Conrad, chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. “I was talking to a number of our members down in Southwest Washington, and they were over the moon because they've never seen a primary like this.”
She said Democrats have never won a majority of the vote in these races in past election cycles.
Dean Nielsen, a Democratic political consultant who’s been working with two of the candidates in these races, called the early results “a huge, huge barometer of how the general [election] will go.”
The Washington State Republican party did not respond to a request for comment, but party chair Jim Walsh said earlier this week that the results were “within our range of expectations.”
The Democrat with the largest lead is Diana Perez, running for Position 2 in the 17th Legislative District in Clark County. On Thursday, she had over 56% of the vote, while incumbent Republican Davide Stuebe had 43%.
In the 17th District’s Position 1 race, Democrat Ben Christly had 54% to Republican incumbent Kevin Waters’ 42%.
In the 18th District, Democrat Deken Letinich had 53%, compared to Republican incumbent John Ley (46%). And Democrat Randi Knott had 52% of the vote over Republican incumbent Stephanie McClintock’s 48%.
While Southwestern Washington has historically been a Republican stronghold, in recent election cycles it’s become more of a swing district, with more Democratic voters moving into the Vancouver-area suburbs from Portland.
In 2024, Democrat Adrian Cortes won a competitive state Senate race in the 18th District against Republican Brad Benton by a margin of around 200 votes.
Both the 17th and 18th Districts also overlap with the 3rd Congressional District boundaries, where a close race is playing out between Democratic incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger John Braun.
