Procrastinators from across Washington state flocked to mailboxes on August 6 to deposit their votes for the primary election. On Broadway, on Capitol Hill, activists beat drums, passed out stickers, and encouraged potential voters with chants of "You've got 'til eight, don't be late!"
As always, King County received the most ballots cast of any county in the state, totaling 566,007, just above 40% of registered voters.

Federal offices
Maria Cantwell showed significant support, indicating her good chance of retaining the position of US senator. In the primary, she secured 74.5% of the votes in King County and 57.2% of statewide votes. The closest candidate to Cantwell's impressive lead was Dr. Raul Garcia of the GOP, with 13.14% of the county vote and 22.13% of state votes. Both will appear on the ballot in November.
Suzan DelBene also held a significant lead in her race for the 1st Congressional District, with 63% of the statewide vote. DelBene's campaign has focused on improving jobs and the economy while providing essential care to the elderly and veterans.
Trailing far behind her, it was a close race for second, with five Republican candidates splitting the vote. A slight plurality voted in favor of Jeb Brewer over the rest of the field, though with under 1,000 votes separating Brewer and Orion Webster, second place could remain subject to change.
Considering the amount of advertisement she invested into her campaign, it is not a surprise that Primila Jayapal will head into the November 7th Congressional District race with a significant lead in the primaries, earning nearly 80% of the vote in King County, far ahead of all other challengers. Jayapal has run her campaign on prioritizing civil rights, public safety, and criminal justice reform, and enriching local arts.
The 8th Congressional District primary witnessed a much closer race between incumbent Democrat Kim Schrier and Carmen Goers of the GOP. Schrier did pull ahead with 58.2% of the vote in King County (50.11% in the whole district), but Goers only trails by 5% districtwide. Schrier currently serves on the congressional health and energy committees and has focused her campaign on broad, sweeping issues. Goers has narrowed in on the culture wars and has made education reform as a high priority in her campaign.
The 9th Congressional District saw Democrat Adam Smith emerge as the clear frontrunner, with 53.85% of the vote. Still, surprisingly, Democrat Melissa Chaudhry earned the second-highest percentage of voters in the race, topping the closest Republican by just 2% (20.66% vs. 18.21%), or under 4,000 votes. Smith chairs the House Armed Services Committee and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Chaudhry has established herself as a political outsider, highlighting her experiences as an immigrant and person of color while also claiming that Smith is funded by war profiteers.

State results
With a long list of candidates to fill the vacant governor's seat, campaigning has become contentious in recent months. The predicted frontrunners still include Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Mark Mullet, Dave Reichert, and Semi Bird. While Ferguson and Mullet received much better results in King County than their competitors, the state seems to favor a tight race between Ferguson and Reichert. If Reichert were to win, he'd be the first Republican governor of Washington state since the mid-1980s.
Ferguson has placed a high priority on improving public access to mental health resources in Washington. He is best known for numerous lawsuits as attorney general, including against a florist who refused to serve a same-sex couple and against the Trump "Muslim ban" in 2017. He has faced pushback from some on the far left who see his promises to increase the number of police officers and state troopers as counter to promoting safety on Washington's streets. However, his main competitor, Dave Reichert, is a former sheriff and favors increasing police throughout the state.
While early reporting from NPR indicated that an influx in Democratic candidates had potentially split the vote in some races, like that for Commissioner of Public Lands, in the favor of Republican candidates, late tallies now indicate that Democrat Dave Upthegrove may have secured just enough votes to advance to the November ballot. His Facebook page posted the following on August 19: "Now that every county has certified the election results, I am excited to finish in second place and begin my general election campaign! The 51-vote margin of victory [over Republican Sue Kuehel Pederson, out of 1,903,073 votes] will trigger an automatic statewide hand recount, but our campaign is moving full speed ahead toward November."
Upthegrove, Allen Lebovitz, Patrick DePoe, Jaralee Anderson, and Kevin Van De Wege, all Democrats, may have pulled liberal voters in multiple directions by offering similar campaigns built on conservation and environmental justice.
Republican Jaimie Herrera Beutler had with the most votes, at 22%.
Ballots for Washington's general election will be sent out on October 18. Voters have until Election Day, November 5, to register to vote in the upcoming general election, and they will have until 8 p.m. of the same day to deposit ballots into official drop boxes located around each county, or have them postmarked that day or earlier.