SEATTLE — U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat seeking a sixth term, led Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley in primary election results Tuesday, with most counties reporting.
Murray and Smiley will face off again in the November general election, with issues like abortion rights and inflation likely to animate their debates. The Associated Press declared the primary settled Tuesday night, predicting Murray and Smiley would advance.
Murray received 55% of the votes counted so far in the statewide race, while Smiley claimed 32%. More primary votes will be counted in the coming days.
There were 18 candidates on the ballot, but Murray and Smiley received all the attention in Washington state’s nonpartisan, top-two primary. Their respective parties lined up behind them and no other candidates in the contest raised much money.
Leon Lawson, identifying with the Trump Republican Party, had the third-most votes Tuesday night with 3%.
Murray spent Tuesday at work in Washington, D.C., having taken part in get-out-the-vote events in Seattle suburbs over the weekend. Smiley joined a GOP watch party Tuesday night in Issaquah.
Murray, 71, from Bothell, first won her seat 30 years ago. She’s running on Democratic priorities like boosting child care assistance, lowering the price of prescription drugs and restoring abortion rights.
Smiley, 41, of Pasco, is a veterans advocate and former nurse trying to appeal to voters worried about inflation, border security and crime. The first-time candidate would be Washington’s first Republican senator in 22 years.
The race matters nationally, as Democrats hope to retain or enlarge their tenuous Senate majority in a crucial election year. Republicans need to flip just one seat in order to take control of the chamber.
Leading up to the primary, Smiley pointed to high gas prices and shortages in supermarkets while asking voters, “Do you want more of the past two years?” Murray reminded voters about COVID-19 recovery efforts, including millions of vaccines distributed and billions of relief dollars given out.
Smiley wants to “rein in” federal spending that she says is driving inflation but dodged questions about where she would cut. Murray said Congress should “go after price gouging by oil companies,” declining to say whether she supported President Joe Biden’s proposal to suspend the federal gas tax.
Smiley has been buoyed by appearances on Fox News and by her personal story: Her husband was blinded by a suicide bomber in Iraq and she quit her job to become a caregiver and advocate. Murray ran ads showing Smiley posing happily with former President Donald Trump, and the incumbent told voters that Smiley’s first vote in the Senate would be to make Republican Mitch McConnell the majority leader.
Murray has said her No. 1 priority in the next Congress would be to legalize abortion access nationwide. Smiley has said she wouldn’t vote to legalize abortion nationally and also would not vote for a nationwide abortion ban. The U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in June, has put the issue back in state jurisdiction, “where it belongs,” Smiley has said.
Murray had raised $14.5 million in campaign contributions and had $6.7 million in available cash as of mid-July, according to federal records. Smiley had collected $7.1 million and had $2.3 million in cash on hand.
Murray held a 51% to 33% lead over Smiley in a poll of Washington voters conducted on behalf of The Seattle Times and partners in early July, dominating among Democratic voters and breaking even with independents. In earlier polls, Murray led Smiley by somewhat smaller margins.
In the WA Poll, Murray enjoyed strong support from women, urban voters and voters who listed abortion as the issue most important to them. Smiley did well among rural voters and voters who listed inflation as most important.
Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.
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