Baumgartner will be Eastern Washington’s next congressman

Republican Michael Baumgartner will be the next congressman for Eastern Washington, having earned a commanding lead in early election results Tuesday night and dispelling the wishful thinking of Democrats who hoped to flip the reliably Republican seat for the first time in 30 years.

Baumgartner took the stage at Spokane’s Historic Davenport Hotel on Tuesday night to a crowd of supporters, starting his acceptance speech by praising his Democratic opponent, Carmela Conroy.

“I salute her for stepping forward to run for office,” Baumgartner said. “She did wonderful service to our country, and I thought she ran a great campaign. So hats off to Carmela — be very proud of the race you ran.”

Baumgartner, who serves as Spokane County treasurer, had earned 59.7% of the vote as of Tuesday night, compared to former diplomat and Democrat Conroy’s 40.2%.

Baumgartner appears to be sweeping every county in the 5th Congressional District, which touches the Canadian, Oregon and Idaho borders. Conroy came closest in Whitman County, home of Washington State University, with 46% of the vote.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has held the seat for 20 years and won both her first race in 2004 and her last race in 2022 with more than 59.5% of the vote. — Spokesman-Review (Spokane)

Maria Cantwell defeats Raul Garcia in 2024 U.S. Senate election

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell won reelection on Tuesday in the race between Republican challenger Dr. Raul Garcia and the Democratic incumbent seeking her fifth term.

With some counties left to be counted, Cantwell had 60% of the vote and Garcia, a Yakima emergency room doctor, had 40% out of more than 2.5 million ballots counted statewide by the Washington Secretary of State’s Office.

“Now, we are going to go back there and work across the aisle,” Cantwell said at a Democratic watch party at the Seattle Convention Center.

Cantwell’s win isn’t surprising — a poll in October showed her with a 23-point lead over Garcia among likely voters, and Democrats have held both of Washington’s U.S. Senate seats since 2000, when Cantwell defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Slade Gorton. She received 57% of the vote against 10 challengers in the August primary; Garcia received 22%. — Seattle Times

WA Congressman Newhouse clings to narrow lead against Trump-backed challenger

Rep. Dan Newhouse will return for a sixth term in Congress representing the 4th District in Central Washington if his relatively small lead in the initial Tuesday vote count holds.

The race drew national attention as two Trump-backed candidates tried to oust Newhouse — one of only two pro-impeachment Republicans left in the House.

Newhouse said Tuesday night in a news media briefing by telephone after a Sunnyside, Wash., watch party that although it was too early to declare victory he was cautiously optimistic.

“The way things have been going this evening look favorable, but there are a lot of votes left to count,” he said.

If Newhouse returns to Washington D.C., he will be joined by Michael Baumgartner representing the 5th District. Baumgartner, also a Republican, would replace retiring Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who endorsed him in the election.

Tuesday night Newhouse had 82,990 votes, or 50%, and his challenger, Jerrod Sessler, also a Republican, had 79,161 votes, or 48%. — Tri-City Herald (Kennewick)

Voters support WA’s carbon market

Voters firmly rejected an initiative that was designed to kill Washington’s fledgling carbon market.

Early election results Tuesday evening showed 62% against the measure.

Redmond, Wash., hedge fund manager Brian Heywood dumped millions into Initiative 2117 to take down the carbon market along with a slate of other conservative initiatives that dominated the state’s political landscape this year.

Not only did voters reject 2117 but they also shot down another measure to eliminate the state’s capital gains tax. And 56% were rejecting a measure to make Washington’s new long-term care insurance program optional.

Another measure also backed by Heywood, which would roll back certain regulations on the use of natural gas, was passing with 51% of the vote.

After results rolled in, Heywood shifted his focus to successes at the statehouse earlier this year.

Gov. Jay Inslee, on the other hand, celebrated the early results on the carbon market as a “thrashing.”

“The world looked to us for leadership, and Washingtonians responded big time,” Inslee said.

The carbon market, which has already raised more than $2.15 billion, is the first of its kind to survive at the ballot box. Voters previously rejected carbon taxes in 2016 and 2018. The market forces the state’s top polluters to buy allowances for their emissions at quarterly auctions. — Seattle Times

WA Cares: Voters rejecting Initiative 2124

About 55.6% of initial ballots counted Tuesday night included votes against state ballot Initiative 2124, an encouraging sign for those who want to preserve the state’s public long-term care insurance program.

The initiative, which drew 44.4% of early votes, would make participation in the state’s WA Cares program optional, meaning Washington workers could decide against paying the 0.58% payroll tax and becoming eligible for long-term care benefits. Initiative supporters say the change would save residents money and add flexibility to the program, but those who want to protect WA Cares worry the ballot measure would gut the fledgling fund and leave residents without a safety net for expensive long-term care.

Initiative 2124 was certified in early January, largely thanks to a signature-gathering campaign organized by Brian Heywood, who has emerged as one of the most consequential figures in Washington politics this fall and who backed all four initiatives on the ballot. — Seattle Times

Voters keep WA capital gains tax on state’s richest

An initiative that would repeal Washington’s capital gains tax failed Tuesday. Thousands of ballots will still be counted over the coming days.

About 63% of Washington voters in early results want to retain the tax, which collects on profits over $262,000 from the sale of assets. When the law was implemented two years ago, the floor was $250,000, but that has risen due to inflation.

The tax excludes real estate sales.

Initiative 2109 is one of four initiatives on the ballot bankrolled by Redmond hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, founder of the political action committee Let’s Go Washington.

The tax was approved by the Legislature in 2021 and has faced numerous legal challenges since then.

Opponents argued it’s effectively an income tax and therefore against the state’s constitution. But they faced a dead end in the courts after the state Supreme Court upheld it last year and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in January. — Seattle Times

Voters narrowly approving natural gas initiative Tuesday

Voters were narrowly approving a natural gas initiative in early returns Tuesday. Thousands of ballots remain to be counted in the coming days.

At press time, about 51.2% in Tuesday’s count were favoring Initiative 2066, which would explicitly protect access to natural gas in Washington and throw a wrench into the state’s plans to ease reliance on climate-warming fossil fuels.

The initiative takes aim at recent building code changes that make it to use natural gas heaters over heat pumps in new construction. It also targets legislation intended to help Puget Sound Energy, the state’s largest utility, plan its transition away from natural gas. — Seattle Times