Republicans hopeful as primary results show two tight legislative races

Republicans see opportunity in two tight legislative races after Tuesday’s primary, with Michelle Caldier and Chad Magendanz posing strong challenges in Democratic-held Senate seats. — Drop box location in front of city hall in Federal Way. Photo courtesy by Carleen Johnson

Voters will have the final say in the fall’s general election

Carleen Johnson
The Center Square Washington

Initial returns from Tuesday’s primary election in Washington state show an extremely tight race in the 26th Legislative District, which includes Gig Harbor, Port Orchard and Bremerton.

Rep. Michelle Caldier, R-Gig Harbor, who has served six terms in the state House of Representatives, is running for the state Senate seat against Sen. Deb Krishnadasan, D-Gig Harbor.

Krishnadasan was appointed to the seat in late 2024 to fill the vacancy left by Emily Randall, who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Of 29,292 votes counted on Tuesday, Caldier (50.04%) leads Krishnadasan (49.74%) by 89 votes.

Both candidates will advance to the Nov. 4 election.

In the 5th Legislative District in east King County, Democrat Victoria Hunt moved from the House to the Senate after Sen. Bill Ramos’s sudden passing at the end of the 2025 legislative session. Hunt is facing Republican candidate Chad Magendanz for the Senate seat in that legislative district.

After initial ballots were counted Tuesday night, Magendanz received 47.02% of the votes tallied, while Victoria Hunt received 52.79%.

Out of the 24,019 ballots tallied so far, Hunt has the edge by 1,387 votes.

Voters will have the final say in the fall’s general election.

Those two contests may be Republicans’ best chance to take back a couple of seats in the state Senate.

Democrats currently hold a 30-19 seat advantage in the Senate, and a 59-39 advantage in the House.

Washington State Republican Party Chair and state Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, told The Center Square that Caldier and Magendanz have the potential to win over some Democrats.

“If a candidate is successful at persuading not just middle voters, but these voters on the other side to come over, they’re pulling votes out of the other side’s base,” Walsh said. “I’m cautiously optimistic that each of them will.”

State Director of Elections Stuart Holmes told The Center Square that voters approve of the top-two primary system.

“The voters like it because they like to be able to select any candidate they want,” Holmes explained. “And regardless of party, the top two will advance to the general election.”

Washington adopted the top-two primary system in 2004 after the passage of Initiative 872. This system replaced the open primary used in Washington state with a top-two nonpartisan blanket primary.

Washington was the first state to conduct a top-two primary election in August 2008.

Holmes said there is a projected turnout of about 30% of voters for the primary.

As of Tuesday night, 822,389 ballots, or 18.5% of the 4.4 million registered voters in Washington, had been processed.

If the 30% turnout pans out, election officials will have nearly half a million additional votes to tally in the coming days as late ballots trickle in.

Ballot returns will be updated daily for the rest of the week.

Election results will be certified on Aug. 19.

This report was first published by The Center Square Washington.