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Inslee vs. McKenna - Gov. race too close to call; DelBene wins 1st District

Washington state's race for governor remains too close to call, with hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count.

Early results Tuesday night showed Democrat Jay Inslee with a slight lead over Republican Rob McKenna. The two candidates have been competing in one of the most watched and most expensive gubernatorial races in the country, with the campaigns and outside political groups raising and spending some $40 million in the race.

As of Tuesday night, many ballots remained uncounted while others have yet to arrive at election offices around the state.

Washington has a recent history of competitive gubernatorial races. Most notably, current Gov. Chris Gregoire won the 2004 race by a mere 133 votes after two recounts and a court challenge.

DelBene wins in Wash. 1st District 

Democrat Suzan DelBene has defeated Republican John Koster in Washington's most-contested congressional race.

In early returns Tuesday night, DelBene led by 54 percent to 46 percent for Koster in the race for the open 1st Congressional District seat.

Spanning from the suburbs of King County to the Canadian border in Whatcom County, the sprawling, redrawn district was seen as a toss-up throughout the election.

DelBene, a former Microsoft executive, defeated a group of Democrats in the primary to face Koster, who faced little opposition from his own party. DelBene used more than $2 million of her own money in the campaign.

After the 2010 Census, Washington gained a congressional seat. The state now has 10.

Ferguson leading Dunn in Wash. AG race 

OLYMPIA, Wash. – King County Councilman Bob Ferguson was leading fellow councilman Regan Dunn in the race to become Washington's next attorney general.

Ferguson had a narrow lead after initial returns were posted Tuesday night, including an advantage in populous King County.

Ferguson, a Democrat, has offered himself as an independent-minded lawyer who would stress consumer protection. Dunn has touted his experience as a U.S. prosecutor.

Ferguson was an attorney at a prominent Seattle law firm before he entered politics. He was first elected to the County Council in 2003.

Washington Supreme Court race

Longtime appeals lawyer Sheryl Gordon McCloud has thwarted former Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders' bid to return to the high court.

McCloud defeated Sanders Tuesday night. She benefited from a large margin of victory in King County, the state's most populous.

Sanders drew criticism in 2010 for saying that certain minority groups are overrepresented in the prison population "because they have a crime problem" rather than because of some institutional bias.

Sanders argues the comment was misunderstood, but McCloud says it's evidence that Sanders has a poor judicial temperament.

McCloud was endorsed by the Democratic Party, former Gov. John Spellman, former U.S. Attorney Mike McKay, and nine current and former justices.

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