Washingtonians just voted in the primary election, with the top two candidates advancing to the General Election in November. We learned a great deal about where the state is at based on which campaigns prevailed and which fizzled; who better to break it down than four of the region’s leading progressive political consultants? The Hacks and Wonks podcast hosted a roundtable broadcast live on social media Tuesday. Watch the recording below.
Hacks and Wonks host Crystal Fincher (a political consultant who also serves on The Urbanist board) was joined by Heather Weiner of PowerHouse Strategic, Stephen Paolini of Bottled Lightning Collective, and Riall Johnson of Prism West.
The four political wonks largely saw election results as refuting the narrative that the electorate was growing more conservative and that centrists are on the march in former progressive strongholds, as some had argued after centrists flipped the Seattle City Council in 2023. Progressive will still need to close the deal this fall and overcome aggressive outside spending campaigns likely to be marshalled by conservative forces. But, Democrats and progressives find themselves in an enviable position in many races.
While the primary outcome is clear for most seats, one exception is a surprisingly crowded Commissioner of Public Lands race that will come down to the wire. On election night, it appeared two Republicans might advance since Democrats had put up five candidates and split their vote. However, King County Councilmember Dave Upthegrove surged in subsequent ballot drops and jumped into second place Friday. However, outstanding ballots are more numerous in rural counties where the Republicans have racked up votes. The race could tighten, and this could be headed for a recount and frantic ballot curing campaigns.
If Upthegrove fails to advance, it would guarantee Republicans their first statewide election win in several cycles.
Doug Trumm is publisher of The Urbanist. An Urbanist writer since 2015, he dreams of pedestrianizing streets, blanketing the city in bus lanes, and unleashing a mass timber building spree to end the affordable housing shortage and avert our coming climate catastrophe. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in East Fremont and loves to explore the city on his bike.