Eastern Washington Remains Stubbornly Red After 2018 Midterms

2018 House Election Results, 11/11/18: Democrats 228, Republicans 199, Undecided 8.

As the days after November 6th rolled by and results rolled in, the hoped-for "Blue Wave" took shape. Democrats regained control of the House, and won governorships and state legislative seats. The Blue Wave was real, and the Republican party’s vulnerabilities with Donald Trump at its helm were revealed. The picture wasn't so rosy here in Eastern Washington.

Results won't be certified until November 27th, but, as the map above shows, Eastern Washington's 4th and 5th predominantly rural Congressional Districts voted in lock step with the rest of rural America.

Democrats up and down the ticket were shut out here in Benton and Franklin counties. For federal office, incumbent congressman Dan Newhouse defeated challenger Christine Brown by about the same 65/35 percentage margin Republicans have been winning over Democrats for the last quarter century.

Brown was a phenomenal campaigner, putting something like 30,000 miles on her Prius crisscrossing the district from Kennewick to Okanogan. She campaigned hard and employed her considerable skills as a broadcast journalist to produce excellent TV and digital ads to extend her reach, including Spanish-language ads on Spanish radio stations. Despite this, she won only 21 of Benton County's 244 precincts. She won 1 precinct in Adams County, none in Douglas, 1 in Grant, 41 in Okanogan, and 39 in Yakima. We don't yet have a precinct count for Franklin County, which she lost by 20%.

Christine Brown campaigned hard no matter the weather

Shir Regev

Leo Perales, Shir Regev, and Christopher Tracy, Democrats running for the legislature in District 8 lost by similar if slightly greater margins. Regev ran against Brad Klippert for state representative, and received the endorsement of the Tri-City Herald. The Herald said of Regev:

"She is smart – graduating from Washington State University in two-and-a-half years. And that’s before the Running Start program was implemented. She wants to help people who are struggling with health care, retirement and making ends meet."

The Herald said of Klippert that he, "has a tendency to vote against government just because it is government, and we would encourage people to look at his voting record."

Shir Regev won 7 precincts. Christoper Tracy won 8 precincts. Everett Maroon won 14 precincts in the 16th and Rebecca Francik won 13 precincts.

The turnout for the 2018 Midterms in the 4th Congressional District, at 59.13% was slightly better than that for the 2014 Midterms, at 54.85%. Benton County's turnout was 67.15% vs 55.09% in 2014, which reflects an increase of almost twenty thousand people voting. On the other hand, the county with the most registered voters, Yakima, did what it did in 2014 -- it lagged every other county in turnout, at 43.18%.

The number of registered voters in the 4th Congressional District increased by 35,183 voters between 2014 and 2018, with the biggest jump occurring between 2014 and 2016. 

Registered voters in 4th Congressional District

Over the succeeding months we will be refining the Benton County election numbers and then cross checking precinct-level results with the precincts that have PCOs and those that don't. The PCO data maintained by the Benton County Auditor shows Democrats having only 33 elected PCOs. John Harder will have data on PCOs appointed by our outgoing Chair, Allison Dabler. Benton County data shows Republicans having 61 elected PCOs. Benton County has 244 precincts.

We have work to do!

Read more here: https://www.tri-cityherald.com/opinion/editorials/article219024190.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.tri-cityherald.com/opinion/editorials/article219024190.html#storylink=cpy