Written by by Danny Westneat at seattletimes.com
Donald Trump’s return from the abyss to be the 2024 Republican nominee for president is a political comeback for the ages.
But for his party, at least in this state, it’s proving to be not a comeback but a comedown. Again.
Voters in the Washington primary Tuesday were generally thumping local Republican candidates, especially the Trumpiest ones. It sets up what’s going to be an extremely rough environment for the GOP in November in Washington when Trump’s name is again at the top of the ballot.
It’s a stretch to dub Tuesday’s primary a “blue wave” — roughly half the ballots remain uncounted. But Democrats in statewide races generally were outpolling their GOP rivals, in some cases by large margins. Every statewide Democratic incumbent was cruising toward reelection.
Likewise, Democrats were leading in key Congressional races, while state legislative races seemed to mostly reflect the status quo. That’s considered good for Democrats, because they have had complete control of the Legislature ever since Republicans got wiped out in the suburbs after Trump came on the scene.
Data gurus at Split Ticket, a campaign data outfit, reported that the preliminary vote in the Washington congressional races on Tuesday was adding up to about 58% Democrat to 41% Republican overall. So that’s plus 17 points for the blue side.
That’s a big blue tail wind. In the marquee campaign with no incumbent, the open race for governor, Democrat Bob Ferguson was easily outpolling his main GOP rival Dave Reichert. The MAGA favorite, Semi Bird, who was loudly endorsed by the state GOP convention, was pulling just 9% of the vote Tuesday.