Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Doug Basler, a former senior vice chairman of the King County Republican Party and current vice president of the Eastside Republican Club, are the two candidates to advance in the open primary for Washington state’s 9th Congressional District, the Associated Press said.
With 53% of the vote counted, Smith had 36,070 votes (51%) and Basler had 16,842 (23.8%), well ahead of socialist Kshama Sawant’s 8,896 votes (12.6%), per the AP.
Basler told JNS previously that he wasn’t focused on beating Smith, a longtime congressman, but on stopping Sawant, a former Seattle City Council member, from advancing. Sawant and Melissa Chaudhry, who had 8,083 votes (11.4%) are “antisemitic” and “they see Jews as oppressors,” he previously told JNS. “They see everything through their Marxist lens.”
“You’re either an oppressor or oppressed,” he told JNS last month, characterizing their worldview. “They see Israel as an oppressor.”
On Tuesday night, after the AP called the primary, Basler told JNS, “I’m excited that the district is recognizing the need to reject job-killing socialism.”
“I look forward to a competitive general election race,” he said. “I’m ready to get started.”
Smith told JNS recently that he is aware that AIPAC won’t support him in the short term after he voted against military aid to Israel.
“But I want to maintain the dialogue and the conversation,” he said, “because I think they need to work harder to try to figure out how to get more friends instead of creating more enemies.”
Smith was one of several Washington state Democratic incumbents, who faced challengers from their political left in Tuesday’s primary, amid a nationwide push by self-identified socialists to run as Democrats.
Early results Tuesday night suggested that the incumbents hold sizable leads in most of those races.
Washington uses a top-two primary system, under which the two candidates receiving the most votes advance to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation.
The state conducts its elections primarily by mail. Helen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Washington secretary of state, told JNS that initial returns would be released on Tuesday night, but votes would be tallied for 13 days after the primary.
“The official certification will occur on Aug. 18,” she said. “That’s when we will ‘officially’ know the outcome of the primaries. Of course, there are likely to be races where the outcome is clear in the days before.”
Travis Couture, a Republican state representative, told JNS that he is shocked by how many “very far left elected Democrats” face socialist or Democratic Socialists of America challengers.
“That should be pretty scary stuff to normal folks,” Couture told JNS. “These candidates’ beliefs are so left field they fell off the spectrum.”
Couture, who had 11,752 votes (53%) at press time, will face off in the general election against Democratic challenger Maria Littesun, who had 10,402 votes (46.91%).
The Republican told JNS that “they also hate Jewish people, almost indistinguishable from 1930s Germany, and I don’t say that lightly.”
“To my Democrat acquaintances, it’s past time to speak out against this cancer before it’s too late,” he said.
‘Bloody wars’
Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, advanced ahead of socialist Sawant, who has organized anti-Israel protests outside the congressman’s home.
Sawant’s husband, Calvin Priest, was arrested for assaulting a Smith staffer.
In a final push on Tuesday, Sawant’s campaign texted supporters that “if we’re able to do this, Kshama would face off directly against billionaire-backed Democrat Adam Smith, who’s been funding bloody wars for 29 years, including the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
“Adam Smith has been bankrolled by AIPAC, Palantir, the weapons industry and big tech billionaires,” Sawant’s campaign said.
Speakers at an official Sawant campaign results watch party on Tuesday night in Seattle, including the candidate’s husband, spoke about ending military aid to Israel and accused the Jewish state of “genocide,” blaming Smith, Democrats and the Biden administration.
Priest claimed at the event that the Democratic Socialists of America “refused” to endorse Sawant. One rally-goer called out, “Disgusting.”
After results came in, Sawant told the crowd that it was important not to leave “demoralized.”
Squad member advances
In the state’s 7th Congressional District, “squad” member Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) advanced with 83,539 votes (83.3%) at press time, with about 53% of votes counted, the Associated Press said.
Nirav Sheth, a Republican, held the second qualifying position, with 10,824 votes (10.8%).
David Blomstrom, who wrote “globalize the intifada” in his candidate statement in the state’s official voter guide, had 2,446 votes (2.4%), the last among the four candidates.
In the 32nd state Senate district, Jesse Salomon, a state senator and co-chair of the state’s Jewish legislative caucus, had 8,848 votes (38.67%), behind Cindy Ryu, a fellow Democrat who left her state House seat to challenge him. Ryu had 9,361 votes (40.91%). The third candidate, Ira McBee, a Republican, had 4,635 votes (20.26%).
Washingtonians for a Brighter Future, a pro-Jewish PAC, backed Salomon. Ryu, who served in the state House since 2011, said that she entered the race because some of Salomon’s positions are too moderate.
Washingtonians for a Brighter Future also endorsed Natalie Poulson, a Republican, in the third legislative district in Spokane county.
At press time, Poulson had 7,653 votes (33.66%). Pam Kohlmeier, a Democrat, also held a qualifying position in the four-way race, with 7,237 votes (31.83%).
The candidates are seeking to succeed retiring Democratic state representative Timm Ormsby, who has represented the district since 2003.
Luc Jasmin III, Eastern Washington outreach representative for Gov. Bob Ferguson, was third with 6,877 votes (30.24%) at press time.
Jasmin’s father, Luc fils Jasmin, recently resigned from the Washington State Human Rights Commission following backlash over antisemitic remarks that he made during a commission meeting.
The younger Jasmin—the one who is in third place in the race—told JNS previously that he did not think it was “fair” to label Hamas a terrorist organization, because he wasn’t a member of the group.
Poulson called that statement “discrediting.”
In the 32nd state legislative district, Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, challenged incumbent Democratic state representative Lauren Davis.
Siddiqi was endorsed by Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), two of Israel’s harshest critics in Congress. With only two candidates in the contest, Siddiqi and Davis will both advance to the general election.
At press time, Davis, who drew an endorsement from Washingtonians for a Brighter Future, led with 15,827 votes (75.33) to Siddiqi’s 4,680 (22.28%).
In Washington’s 49th legislative district, Sarah Mittelman, a former Democrat who told JNS that she switched parties amid rising Jew-hatred after Oct. 7, ran as a Republican for the open state House seat, position one.
At press time, she had 7,052 votes (29.39%), behind Kim Harless, a Democrat who had 12,359 votes (51.51%). Both were in a position to advance in a race to replace Sharon Wylie, a Democratic state representative, who said that she is retiring to run for auditor of Clark County.
