Initial election returns Tuesday night pointed to a sweeping Democratic victory across the country, with several historic milestones and a number of closely watched races in Washington state, including contests involving Asian American candidates.
The election results brought a series of firsts: the country’s first Black woman governor, first Native American woman governor, first Native woman U.S. senator and first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate. By early Wednesday, the country had also added its first Muslim U.S. senator to the list of barrier-breaking victories.
The Democratic wave could also result in the first Black speaker of the U.S. House.
Washington State Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad said the early results reflected a strong turnout effort that began after the 2024 general election.
“Washington voters turned out in large numbers to reject the chaos and corruption coming out of the other Washington and are rewarding the policies and policy makers of this Washington,” Conrad said in a statement.
She cautioned that the results were preliminary.
“We will not declare victory until every ballot is counted, but these results are promising and in line with the supercharged Democratic turnout we worked so hard to achieve since the day after the general election in 2024,” she said.
In King County, 535,712 ballots had been counted out of 1,460,414 registered voters, an initial turnout of 36.68%, according to returns released shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Several races involving Asian American candidates remained particularly important to watch.
In Legislative District 37, challenger Kelabe Tewolde held an early lead over longtime state Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, with 61.84% compared with Santos’ 37.25%. The race remained too early to call.
In Seattle City Council District 5, Nilu Jenks led Julie Kang, with 58.48% of the vote to Kang’s 41.10%.
Both contests could shift as additional ballots are counted.
Asian American representation was also reflected in several other early legislative returns.
- State House District 33, Position 2: Mia Su-Ling Gregerson, 73%.
- State House District 41, Position 2: My-Linh Thai, 60.21%.
- State House District 1, Position 1: Davina Duerr, 73.52%.
- State House District 33, Position 1: Edwin Obras, 72.45%.
- State House District 41, Position 1: Janice Zahn, 70.97%.
- U.S. House District 7: Rep. Pramila Jayapal, 87.47%.
- U.S. House District 10: Rep. Marilyn Strickland, 64.37%.
Sen. Maria Cantwell celebrated the national Democratic victories, which were expected to return control of Congress to Democrats in January.
“Big night for those of us fighting for lower gas and grocery prices, voting rights, and against corruption,” Cantwell said in a statement. “America didn’t just speak tonight, it yelled that it wants change.”
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay also pointed to affordability and the rejection of Trump’s policies as central messages from voters.
“Tonight, voters across the country sent a clear message that they want a different direction for our country,” Zahilay said in a statement. He said voters were rejecting an agenda that puts the interests of the wealthy ahead of working families, as well as mass deportation policies that divide families and communities.
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