King County Democrats congratulate endorsed candidates on Top Two showing

Following the release of initial results in the August Top Two qualifying election, King County Democratic Chair Rich Erwin congratulated the party’s many endorsed candidates on their showing, declaring that the party was ready to go to work to elect Democrats up and down the ballot all autumn long, and recapture control of the state Senate while holding the state House of Representatives.

“Tonight, it appears that most of our endorsed candidates are headed on to November,” said Erwin. “We’re delighted to see Governor Jay Inslee and Senator Patty Murray well ahead of all their rivals. Our choice for the open congressional seat in the 7th, Pramila Jayapal, is in first place, and we’re thrilled to see Chief Justice Barbara Madsen with a commanding lead over her two opponents. We congratulate Erin Jones, Cyrus Habib, and Hilary Franz on qualifying for the general election as well.”

“In state legislative races, we offer our congratulations to Darcy Burner, who we were proud to support in conjunction with the 5th District Democrats. In the 41st, we applaud Lisa Wellman on her strong showing against Republican incumbent Steve Litzow. And in the 30th, we are ecstatic that both Mike Pellicciotti and Kristine Reeves are ahead of their Republican opponents, who are incumbents. Neither Mike nor Kristine faced elimination in this election, but they worked hard to earn support of voters in the South Sound, and the results show we are on the cusp of retaking the 30th this year.”

“We are equally determined to defend Mark Mullet in the 5th District. Chad Magendanz is a Tea Party extremist who takes his cues from the likes of Tim Eyman. We’re pleased that Mark is currently ahead of Chad, and we will do all we can to ensure Mark finishes in an even stronger position in the coming November general election.”