The ballots keep coming in, and so do the reminders that nothing in Washington politics is ever quite as settled as it looks on election night.
Primary Count Continues: A Republican Freshman Pulls Ahead While a Comeback Bid Stalls
Wednesday’s ballot updates brought a mix of good news and setbacks for Republicans as Washington’s primary results continue to settle.
In the 12th Legislative District, freshman Rep. Brian Burnett, R-Wenatchee, flipped a small election-night deficit into a 108-vote lead over Democrat Stacy Willoughby. Burnett now sits at 50.1% to Willoughby’s 49.8% in the Republican-leaning district that runs from Chelan County west to Monroe. In the same district’s other House race, incumbent Republican Mike Steele and Democrat Maggie Adams are advancing after Republicans combined for 67% of the vote.
Farther north in the 39th District, former Republican state representative Robert Sutherland’s comeback effort took a hit. He slipped to third place behind Democrat Ida Keeley (46.4%) and Republican Steve Ewing (25.8%). Sutherland, who held the seat for two terms before losing in 2022, now trails Ewing by 148 votes in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Carolyn Eslick.
Elsewhere, Democratic incumbents mostly held or expanded their positions. In Pierce County’s 29th District, challenger Krista Perez widened her lead over incumbent Rep. Melanie Morgan to 366 votes. In King County’s 48th, Rep. Amy Walen increased her margin over Redmond City Councilmember Jessica Forsythe. And in the 32nd District, Rep. Cindy Ryu continued to lead Sen. Jesse Salomon in a rare Democrat-versus-Democrat challenge; both will advance in the solidly blue district.
In Spokane’s open 3rd District seat, Republican Natalie Poulson remains narrowly ahead of two Democrats, with only a few hundred votes separating the top three candidates after longtime Rep. Timm Ormsby’s retirement.
Counties have until August 18 to finish counting, with the secretary of state certifying the primary by August 21. Several of these races remain close enough that later ballots could still shift the order. Read more at the Washington State Standard.
Checking In on Crazy Town: Seattle City Council Takes Even Father Left Turn
Seattle’s all-Democrat City Council is about to get a fresh progressive injection, because of course it is.
In District 5, far-left Nilu Jenks crushed the primary with 49.7% of the vote. More “moderate” Julie Kang trailed at 36.4%. They’ll face off in November for the seat being vacated by “moderate” Debora Juarez. The current nine-member council sits at three far-left progressives and six relative “moderates.” That balance is shifting left again.
Jenks is running the standard Seattle far-left checklist: 1,000 new “affordable” housing units, more childcare to make the city “child-friendly,” better transit, safer streets (the leftist definition, naturally), and racial equity curriculum she helped write for local high schools. She’s also political director at FairVote Washington, the ranked-choice voting outfit.
Kang, by contrast, is actually talking about adding police officers and cracking down on the gun violence and prostitution that have turned parts of Aurora Avenue into a nightly hazard. She’s backed by the council’s remaining moderates (in the Seattle sense of the word). So in Seattle, that apparently makes her the radical.
This tracks with the broader trend. After socialist Kshama Sawant finally left in 2023, so-called moderates briefly took the wheel. Voters have since been steering the other direction: progressive Dionne Foster ousted Council President Sara Nelson in 2024, Rinck won her seat in a landslide, and fellow far-left Eddie Lin did the same.
To conclude our check-in on crazy-town, Seattle keeps voting for the same experiment that produced open-air drug markets, chronic homelessness, and retail theft that leads the nation. Apparently, Seattle voters are ready for another round. Read more at The Center Square.
Another Week, Another Batch of High-Paying Jobs Fleeing Washington
Google just filed a WARN notice— the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification required when companies plan permanent layoffs—announcing it is cutting 52 Washington jobs. The list includes software engineers, product managers, UX designers and others across Kirkland, Redmond and Seattle. Days earlier Zillow filed its own WARN notice for 91 cuts. That’s 143 high-paying roles erased in one week by two healthy companies.
Alphabet is guiding toward as much as $205 billion in AI spending this year. The money is not the problem. Google is simply choosing not to put those jobs in Washington.
The state’s unemployment rate already sits a full point above the national average, and WARN filings are climbing fast. Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Snap and others have already shed thousands of local positions. How have Democrats responded to the exodus? As Shift WA readers well know, with a record $9.4 billion in new taxes and a 9.9% income tax on high earners and pass-through businesses that takes effect in 2028. Employers got the message: nearly a quarter are now weighing a move out of state, and tax burden ranks as their top concern.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson might wave the concerns off as “super overblown,” but WARN notices keep arriving anyway. Read more at Seattle Red.
Spokane Area Fires Update
The three wildfires that erupted around Spokane on August 1 continue to burn, but firefighters have made meaningful progress in recent days.
Together the Old Trails, Autumn Lane, and Fairview fires have scorched more than 10,400 acres and damaged or destroyed at least 846 structures—most of them homes. Tens of thousands of residents remain under evacuation orders, and officials say those orders are likely to stay in place for many more days as crews work to make neighborhoods safe.
Containment currently stands at 13% for both the Autumn Lane and Old Trails fires and 5% for the Fairview Fire. Cooler weather earlier in the week allowed crews to establish containment lines and begin aggressive mop-up work near homes. More than 1,400 firefighters, supported by National Guard members, are on the ground. No deaths have been confirmed, and all previously unaccounted-for residents have been located safe.
Authorities have arrested 37-year-old Spokane resident Aaron F. Farinacci on a first-degree arson charge in connection with the Old Trails Fire, the most destructive of the three. Farinacci previously served a decade in an Arizona prison for killing his father and was later assessed as a medium-to-high risk to reoffend. After moving to Washington while still on probation, he was released from supervision in 2023 and had been questioned about arson on multiple occasions in the year before these fires.
Hotter, drier conditions are expected later this week, so the threat is not yet over. For the thousands of families who have lost homes or are still waiting to return, the road ahead will be long. The community’s focus remains on safety, support for those displaced, and the difficult work of recovery.