OLYMPIA — Democrat Manka Dhingra took a strong early lead Tuesday night in a state Senate race that will determine the balance of power at the Washington Capitol.
If the results hold and the Washington Senate flips, the state will join Oregon and California with Democratic one-party rule in both legislative chambers and the governor’s office.
The first posting of ballots show Dhingra leading Republican Jinyoung Lee Englund with 55 percent of the vote. Under the state’s vote-by-mail system, ballots just need to be postmarked or dropped off by Tuesday, which means that final results may not be known for days. The next ballot update is set for late Wednesday afternoon.
Republicans, with the help of a Democrat who caucuses with them, currently control the Senate by a single seat. Democrats hold a slim majority in the House.
Tuesday’s race for the 45th District, one of eight special elections for the state Legislature this year, has broken all previous legislative spending records in the state because of the significance of the outcome. As of Monday, more than $8.7 million had been spent on the race, with much of it — about $5.9 million — being spent by third-party groups.
In another closely watched race, former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan took a strong early lead Tuesday night in Seattle’s contest for mayor that will give the booming liberal city its first female mayor since the 1920s.
Ninety-one years after Seattle elected Bertha Knight Landes as mayor, early returns were showing Durkan had captured more than a 20-point lead with nearly 61 percent of the first votes tallied in the all mail election. Urban planner Cary Moon had tallied just over 39 percent of the vote.
Voters were choosing between Durkan, 59, or Moon, 54, or to lead this city dealing with the benefits and problems of an economy booming for some more than others as e-commerce giant Amazon expands. Seattle voters in August narrowed the field of 21 mayoral candidates down to Moon and Durkan.
There are four other special elections in the Senate, and three in the House.
