Primary Election: Eastern Wash. legislative races too close to call Tuesday night

(The Center Square) – As the 2024 Primary Election came to a close on Tuesday night, the Legislature inched toward a new era with a range of new faces across the eastern half of the state.

Eastern Washington is home to Spokane, the state’s second most populous city, and five legislative districts, each consisting of a state Senator and two House Representatives.

The primary election solidified the top two candidates from each race, who will then face off head-to-head in this November’s General Election. However, many races only had two candidates, meaning both advanced anyway.

This article will highlight districts with races of three or more candidates, meaning the results weren’t decided before the election. Readers can find all of the results on the Secretary of State’s website .

Leg. District 3

As Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig prepares to leave office and Democratic Rep. Marcus Riccelli runs unopposed in his place, residents wonder who will take Riccelli’s House seat.

That race was narrowed down to Democrat Ben Stuckart, Spokane’s former city council president, who received 33.62% of the vote, and Repubilcan Tony Kiepe who brought in 34.21%. However, the race may be to close to call at this point. The third candidate, Natasha Hill, brought in 31.94% of the vote, and thousands of ballots have yet to be processed.

Leg. District 4

Similar to District 3, the 4th’s Sen. Mike Padden is also leaving office, with Republican Rep. Leonard Christian coming for his seat in the Senate. Christian brought in 20.86% of the vote to push through to the General Election with Democrat Miguel Valencia, who garnered 23.15% of the vote.

Although, that race may be too close to call as well.

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Suzanne Schmidt defended her chance at retaining, bringing in 66.47% of the vote to proceed to November with Kristopher Pockell, who received 23.18% of the vote.

Democrat Ted Cummings, brought into 25.75% of the vote to proceed to the General Election for Christian’s House seat. He’ll face off with Republican Rob Chase, who received 22.99% of the vote. However, similar to the other races in the district, it could be too close to call at this point.

Leg. Districts 6 and 7

There are no three-person races in District 6. Both Republican incumbents, Rep. Mike Volz and Rep. Jenny Graham, will proceed against each of the two democratic challengers.

However, District 7, one of the largest in the state, will have two entirely new House Representatives this November. Still, Republican Andrew Engell brought in 45.6% of the vote, while Teagan Levine earned 26.25%, less than half a percent more than the third candidate, making it still too close to call.

Meanwhile, Republican Hunter Abell and Democrat Paul Dean are coming for the other open House seat, with Abell bringing in 34.38% of the vote and Dean receiving 30.28%.

Leg. District 9

District 9, also one of the largest in the state, only saw a third-person race in the bid for Republican incumbent Rep. Joe Schmick’s House seat. Schmick managed to garner 64.99% of the vote, keeping him in the race with Democrat Pam Kohlmeier, who received 28.88%.

Each candidate who advanced above and in other key races for Governor, Attorney General and more will face off at the General Election on Nov. 5. However, the official results of the Primary Election aren’t certified until Aug. 20.

These are the Secretary of State’s immediate unofficial results as of 8:41 p.m. on Tuesday. Several races are too close to call with the state and individual counties still needing to process approximately 403,000 ballots between now and Friday.