SEATTLE — U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier has won reelection in Washington’s 8th Congressional District, after new vote counts showed Republican challenger Matt Larkin failing to make up enough ground in new vote totals Thursday.
Schrier, a Democrat, led Larkin with about 52% of the vote to his 48% — a gap of nearly 11,000 votes.
The Seattle Times has called the race, as well as The Associated Press.
Larkin would need to garner 57% of the remaining votes to catch up — an unimaginable turnaround given that most of the remaining ballots to be counted are in King County, where Schrier is taking 62% of the vote.
Republicans had hoped for a late surge benefiting Larkin, but that didn’t emerge in any strong fashion in Thursday’s vote counts.
Schrier’s reelection to a third term will buoy Democrats in their effort to hang on to a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives — or at least limit the size of a GOP majority next year.
Meanwhile, in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez maintained a lead over Republican Joe Kent.
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