Washington Democrats were leading in a number of races in both the state House and Senate on Tuesday night.
Democratic challengers were ahead against Republican incumbents in four closely watched races to represent Southwestern Washington in the House. Democrats also seemed poised to pick up two seats in the recently redistricted area around Yakima.
State Democrats seemed close to achieving a supermajority in the state Legislature.
Early results showed six seats potentially flipping left Tuesday, putting Democrats close to a supermajority in the House. A supermajority would require seven more seats in the House and three more in the Senate.
A supermajority for Democrats could mean the ability to amend the state Constitution without Republican agreement. They could implement redistricting in off years to be more favorable towards Democrats. Plus, they could have the power to override the governor’s veto on legislation.
As of Tuesday night, Democrats could win all four seats in Southwestern Washington, which includes Clark County and the areas around Battle Ground and Vancouver.
“Suburban voters in particular really turned against Donald Trump and the Republican Party, they saw zero pushback from national and state Republicans,” said Dean Nielsen, a political consultant for CN4 Partners who represented two races in the 17th and 18th Legislative Districts.
“It’s a historically bad night for the Washington State Republican Party. I just want to know what I’m going to be wearing to the funeral for the Washington State Republican Party.”
In Yakima, an area recently redistricted to consolidate the Latino vote, early results on election night signaled possible gains for Democrats to pick up two more House seats.
State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh said he felt it was still too early to call any leads a blue wave on Tuesday.
“Based on the modeled profiles of ballots received but not yet counted, WAGOP expects to grind out wins in LDs 12, 14, 18 and possibly 26,” Walsh wrote in a message to KNKX and KUOW. “The left will not have a supermajority in Olympia. The rest of the country may have seen a ‘blue wave.’ In Washington, it was a blue trickle.”
State Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad wrote in a statement, “Tonight, Washingtonians made their voices heard. From the first day ballots were sent to the last voter in line this evening, Democrats in every corner of our state showed up to reject the chaos and corruption coming out of the other Washington.”
Unofficial results for all state Legislative races are available from the Secretary of State.
