Handful of Wash. races will be one-party showdowns

There were few surprises in Washington's first "top two" primary, but a handful of statehouse races spotlight one of the new system's most interesting facets: two people from the same party moving on to the general election.

Eight legislative races in November will now be one-party showdowns - six in the House and two in the Senate.

In some cases, like the race for the Senate's 11th District, there wasn't even a second-party challenger. In any other year, that would have meant Senate Budget Chairwoman Margarita Prentice running unopposed in November, after claiming 49 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary.

Instead, under the new winnowing primary, Prentice, D-Renton, advances to face one of two Democratic opponents - Juan Martinez or Scott McKay - in the race for the 11th District, which includes south Seattle and suburbs. Martinez had 27 percent of the vote in early returns, and McKay had 24 percent.

Other contests had candidates from more than one party, but still saw two hopefuls with the same party preference moving on to November. One example: The 36th District House seat vacated by retiring Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, now being sought by Democrats Reuven Carlyle and John Burbank, who edged out Republican candidate Leslie Bloss.

For critics of the new top two system, these one-party general election ballots - and the opening for candidates not endorsed by the parties - isn't a good idea.

"It's a stretch to call this election a primary," said Washington State University political scientist Lance LeLoup, who is not a fan of the new system. "It's the first round of a general election. So the state of Washington, in a literal sense and historic sense, no longer has a primary. The parties really can't choose their own nominees anymore."

But Secretary of State Sam Reed called the election a success, and said the voters were the "big winners" because they'll be presented with the strongest candidates in a given district.

"They best represent the district because they're the top vote getters," Reed said Wednesday. "There's a certain logic that says they ought to be the ones squaring off in November. They'll have to campaign through November and be accountable to voters. That's healthy for our process."

The top two primary, which voters approved in 2004, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. This was the first time since 2003 that Washington voters were able to skip back and forth along party lines to pick a favorite candidate for each office. The top two finishers advance to the general election on Nov. 4, regardless of party.

And since the top two is a winnowing primary rather than a nominating contest, candidates get to align themselves with whichever party label they want, even if they're not the "official" candidate of the state parties.

In the race for U.S. Rep. Brian Baird's seat for the 3rd District, Baird easily advanced, but the official Republican candidate, Christine Webb, was trailing behind fellow Republican Michael Delavar, in early returns.

The Democratic and Republican parties' concerns were mostly unrealized, with most of their preferred candidates in the top races, including governor, treasurer and attorney general, all moving forward.

Democratic Party spokesman Kelly Steele said regardless of that fact, the primary "offers voters less choice."

"We think the system has some problems," he said. "I'm not sure where it's going to go. We don't have any immediate plans to claim harm from what happened yesterday, in a legal sense. We'll see how this all pans out."

In its ruling, the Supreme Court noted that since a top two primary had not yet been carried out, there was no basis for the parties' argument that voters would be confused.

The political parties believe that leaves the door open for them, and they're still pursuing challenges on various aspects of the law in federal courts.

"I'm still optimistic we'll win that lawsuit and the top two will be found to be unconstitutional," state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser said.

Reed originally predicted a 46 percent turnout for the primary, but he said Wednesday that it will likely be less due to lower-than-expected poll turnout in Pierce and King counties - the only two counties that still have poll sites.

With a range of 30 percent to 50 percent of the expected vote tallied in various races Wednesday, true turnout won't be known for sure until early next week.

But there weren't any surprises in the early returns.

With about 39 percent of the expected vote counted in the gubernatorial race, Gov. Chris Gregoire had about 49 percent of the vote, her Republican challenger Dino Rossi had 45 percent, and both advanced easily to the general election in November.

In the treasurer's race, Republican Assistant Treasurer Allan Martin, and Democratic state Rep. Jim McIntire, an economist and former House Finance Committee chairman, both moved on to November.

In the secretary of state's race, voters also advanced Republican incumbent Reed and Democrat Jason Osgood to the general election. Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson and challenger Randy Dorn also moved on to the November general election in that nonpartisan contest.

Other races included lieutenant governor, where incumbent Democrat Brad Owen easily advanced. State Auditor Brian Sonntag and Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, both Democrats, also advanced to the general election. All three face relatively weak opposition in November.

Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna faced Democratic challenger Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, and Republican Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland faced Democrat Peter Goldmark. All four advanced under the top two format, since there weren't any third challengers in either race.

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Washington state Secretary of State: http://www.secstate.wa.gov