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Election 2016
KNKX, along with NPR, will bring you all the information you will need as we close in on Election Day 2016. Stay up to date with local and national issues along with stories about how this election cycle will affect you and your family here in Washington and around the world.Also be sure to check out our series on Sound Transit's Proposition 1, also known as Sound Transit 3. You can read more about ST3 and this series here. Be sure to stay up-to-date with our national coverage too by clicking here.

Despite ‘Soft-On-Crime’ Attacks, Incumbents Leading In Supreme Court Races

NWNews | By Austin Jenkins,
Austin Jenkins
Published November 9, 2016 at 3:14 AM PST
File photo of The Temple of Justice in Olympia, Washington, home to the Washington Supreme Court.
Harvey Barrison
/
Flickr - tinyurl.com/zhj7uae
File photo of The Temple of Justice in Olympia, Washington, home to the Washington Supreme Court.

Three incumbent Washington Supreme Court justices appear headed to easy re-election. Justices Mary Yu, Barbara Madsen and Charlie Wiggins are all leading their challengers by double digit margins.

Wiggins was targeted for defeat by a group of wealthy Washingtonians led by southwest Washington billionaire Ken Fisher. A PAC they funded ran soft-on-crime TV ads against Wiggins. Meanwhile his challenger got a lot of help from another PAC funded by Paul Allen’s Vulcan and Bill Gates and others. Even so, Wiggins had 58 percent of the vote in early returns.

The Supreme Court races got extra attention this year because of the ongoing school funding case known as McCleary and the court’s decision to throw out voter-approved charter schools.

Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network
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Politics Election 2016
Austin Jenkins
Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy as well as the Washington State legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia." Prior to joining the Northwest News Network, Austin worked as a television reporter in Seattle, Portland and Boise. Austin is a graduate of Garfield High School in Seattle and Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. Austin’s reporting has been recognized with awards from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, Public Radio News Directors Incorporated and the Society of Professional Journalists.
See stories by Austin Jenkins
Austin Jenkins
Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy, as well as the Washington State Legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia."
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