Power of incumbency strong in 8 of 9 Washington Congressional Districts

By Bryan Bissell, PolitickerWA.com Reporter

Eight of Washington’s nine U.S. Representatives have already punched their ticket back to Washington, D.C. with electoral victories that were known within moments of the polls closing Tuesday night at 8PM, the one exception being Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn) in the battleground 8th District.

Their path was easier than one might have thought. Despite Congress currently garnering a voter approval rating below 20 percent, the power of incumbency runs strong among Washington’s U.S. Representatives.

Although 26 of 39 counties at the Presidential level have reported the losing side of the ticket with at least 40 percent of the vote, nearly every county vote at the congressional level is in the 20s and 30s. Democrat Mark Mays (D-Spokane), a very intelligent and credible candidate in the 5th CD, failed to crack 40 percent anywhere, even in Spokane County where, as recently as yesterday, Barack Obama was leading by a few votes.

On the Westside of the state, Republican congressional candidates only hit the magic 40 percent mark twice. One of which was Lewis County, where 3rd District candidate Michael Delavar (R-Washougal) barely cracked the 40 barrier in a county where Republican Dino Rossi received 62 percent of the vote. On the other side of the coin, it also shows that Rep. Brian Baird (D-Vancouver) was able to outpoll Gov. Chris Gregoire in Lewis by more than 22 points.

Otherwise 4th District Democrat George Fearing (D-Yakima), who released an internal poll showing him at 47 percent in the district just days before the election, so far only has 42 percent in Kittitas, 48 percent in one section of Skamania with fewer than 2000 voters, and 43 percent in Yakima. Doug Cloud (R-Gig Harbor) received 43 percent of the vote in Clallam County in the 6th District.

The 7th District’s Steve Beren (R-Seattle), the 1st District’s Larry Ishmael (R-Kirkland), the 9th District's James Postma (R-Steilacoom) and the 2nd District’s Rick Bart (R-Arlington) never made it to 40 percent in any county, including Bart in his native Snohomish County where he recently served multiple terms as a countywide-elected sheriff.

So even as congress' popularity dips, Washington voters say, "it ain't our guy!"

Bryan Bissell is a PolitickerWA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

Post new comment

Most Active Stories

RSS Feeds

Comments

Post new comment