2018 United States Senate election in Washington

For related races, see 2018 United States Senate elections.

The 2018 United States Senate election in Washington took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Washington. Incumbent Democrat Maria Cantwell won election to a fourth term over television news journalist Susan Hutchison, a Republican.

2018 United States Senate election in Washington

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Nominee Maria Cantwell Susan Hutchison Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,803,364 1,282,804 Percentage 58.31% 41.48%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results Cantwell:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Hutchison:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      50% No votes:

U.S. senator before election Maria Cantwell Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell Democratic

Nonpartisan blanket primary

Candidates

The primary election featured 30 candidates.^[1]

Democratic Party

Declared

• Maria Cantwell, incumbent senator^[2]
• Don L. Rivers^[3]
• Clint Tannehill^[4]
• George H. Kalberer
• Mohammad Said

Republican Party

Declared

• Joey Gibson, activist and founder of Patriot Prayer^[5]
• Goodspaceguy, perennial candidate^[6]
• Susan Hutchison, former chair of the Washington State Republican Party^[7]
• Rocky De La Fuente, businessman and former presidential candidate^[8]
• Tim Owen
• Matthew D. Heines
• Art Coday
• John Orlinski
• Keith Swank
• RC Smith
• Dave Bryant
• Matt Hawkins
• Glen Stockwell

Withdrawn

• Ron Higgins (withdrew May 19, 2018^[9])

Endorsements

Susan Hutchison

• Kim Wyman, Secretary of State^[10]
• Jaime Herrera Beutler, U.S. Representative^[11]
• Cathy McMorris Rodgers, U.S. Representative^[12]
• Dan Newhouse, U.S. Representative^[13]
• Slade Gorton, former U.S. Senator^[14]
• J. T. Wilcox, Washington State House of Representatives Minority Leader^[15]
• Hunters Heritage Council^[16]
• Washington Farm Bureau^[17]

Independents

Declared

• Jennifer "GiGi" Ferguson^[18][19]
• Thor Amundson
• Dave Strider^[20]
• Charlie R Jackson
• Jon Butler

Write-in

• Clay Johnson, activist^[19]

Minor parties

In Washington, primary candidates may declare a preference for any party, and their party preference does not imply that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party. Candidates may also declare a preference for new or single-candidate parties.

Declared

• Mike Luke (Libertarian Party)^[21]
• Brad Chase (FDFR Party),^[a] communications strategist^[1]
• Sam Wright (The Human Rights Party)
• Alex Tsimerman (StandupAmerica)^[22]
• Steve Hoffman (Freedom Socialist Party), union organizer^[23][24]
• James Robert "Jimmie" Deal (Green Party)

Notes

1. According to Chase, FDFR stands for Fuck Democrats Fuck Republicans^[1]

Results

 

Results by county:

  Cantwell—60–70%

  Cantwell—50–60%

  Cantwell—40–50%

  Cantwell—30–40%

  Hutchinson—30–40%

  Hutchinson—40–50%

Blanket primary election results^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Maria Cantwell (incumbent)	929,961	54.68%
	Republican	Susan Hutchison	413,317	24.30%
	Republican	Keith Swank	39,818	2.34%
	Republican	Joey Gibson	38,676	2.27%
	Democratic	Clint Tannehill	35,770	2.10%
	Republican	Dave Bryant	33,962	2.00%
	Republican	Art Coday	30,654	1.80%
	Independent	Jennifer Gigi Ferguson	25,224	1.48%
	Republican	Tim Owen	23,167	1.36%
	Republican	Matt Hawkins	13,324	0.78%
	Democratic	Don L. Rivers	12,634	0.74%
	Libertarian	Mike Luke	12,302	0.72%
	Republican	Glen R. Stockwell	11,611	0.68%
	Independent	Thor Amundson	9,393	0.55%
	Democratic	Mohammad Said	8,649	0.51%
	Republican	Matthew D. Heines	7,737	0.45%
	Freedom Socialist	Steve Hoffman	7,390	0.43%
	Republican	GoodSpaceGuy	7,057	0.41%
	Republican	John Orlinski	6,905	0.41%
	Independent	Dave Strider	6,821	0.40%
	Republican	Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente	5,724	0.34%
	Green	James Robert "Jimmie" Deal	3,849	0.23%
	The Human Rights Party	Sam Wright	3,761	0.22%
	FDFR Party	Brad Chase	2,655	0.16%
	Democratic	George H. Kalberer	2,448	0.14%
	Independent	Charlie R. Jackson	2,411	0.14%
	Republican	R. C. Smith	2,238	0.13%
	Independent	Jon Butler	2,016	0.12%
	StandUpAmerica	Alex Tsimerman	1,366	0.08%
Total votes			1,700,840	100.00%

General election

Debates

2022 United States Senate election in Washington debates

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Republican
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Maria Cantwell	Susan Hutchison
1	Oct. 8, 2018	KOMO-TV Pacific Lutheran University	Mary Nam Essex Porter	C-SPAN	P	P
2	Oct. 20, 2018	Community Colleges of Spokane Gonzaga University Eastern Washington University University of Washington Washington State University Spokane Whitworth University	Hayley Guenthner Jane McCarthy	C-SPAN	P	P

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[26]	Safe D	October 26, 2018
Inside Elections^[27]	Safe D	November 1, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[28]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
Fox News^[29]	Likely D	July 9, 2018
CNN^[30]	Safe D	July 12, 2018
RealClearPolitics^[31]	Safe D	November 5, 2018

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Maria Cantwell (D)	Susan Hutchison (R)	Undecided
Elway/Crosscut	October 4–9, 2018	405 (RV)	± 5.0%	53%	39%	9%
Public Policy Polling (D)^[A]	May 22–23, 2018	675 (LV)	± 3.8%	52%	36%	12%

Hypothetical polling

Maria Cantwell vs. Rob McKenna

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Maria Cantwell (D)	Rob McKenna (R)	Undecided
Public Policy Polling (D)^[A]	June 27–28, 2017	887 (LV)	± 3.3%	53%	40%	6%

Results

United States Senate election in Washington, 2018^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Maria Cantwell (incumbent)	1,803,364	58.31%	-2.05%
	Republican	Susan Hutchison	1,282,804	41.48%	+1.99%
	Write-in		6,461	0.21%	+0.06%
Total votes			3,092,629	100.00%	N/A
	Democratic hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Cowlitz (largest city: Longview)
• Grays Harbor (largest city: Aberdeen)
• Klickitat (Largest city: Goldendale)
• Mason (largest city: Shelton)
• Skamania (Largest city: Carson)
• Yakima (Largest city: Yakima)
• Wahkiakum (Largest city: Puget Island)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Whitman (Largest city: Pullman)

By congressional district

Cantwell won 7 of 10 congressional districts.^[33]

District	Hutchison	Cantwell	Representative
1st	43%	57%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	39%	61%	Rick Larsen
3rd	51%	49%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	62%	38%	Dan Newhouse
5th	53%	47%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	43%	57%	Derek Kilmer
7th	16%	84%	Pramila Jayapal
8th	49%	51%	Kim Schrier
9th	27%	73%	Adam Smith
10th	44%	56%	Denny Heck

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear

Partisan clients

1. This poll was sponsored by the Northwest Progressive Institute

References

1. Camden, Jim (May 19, 2018). "U.S. Senate primary: Cantwell and 29 challengers". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
2. CANTWELL, MARIA
3. RIVERS, DON L MR
4. TANNEHILL, CLINT RONALD
5. Kavanaugh, Shane Dixon (February 25, 2018). "Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson plans U.S. Senate run in Washington". Oregon Live. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
6. "Who has filed - King County". King County. May 16, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
7. O'Sullivan, Joseph; Brunner, Jim (May 18, 2018). "Former State Republican Party chair Susan Hutchison challenging Sen. Maria Cantwell". The Seattle Times. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
8. "Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente".
9. "2018 Candidates Who Have Filed". Retrieved June 29, 2018.
10. Susan Hutchison. "WA Secretary of State @KimWyman12 endorses @Susan4Senate. Grateful that our state's favorite elected official knows who's best for US Senate! #susan4senate". Twitter.
11. Susan Hutchison. "I'm honored to be endorsed by @JaimeforUSRep, a fierce advocate for Southwest Washington! Let's have a strong showing from Republican voters all across the state today!". Twitter.
12. Susan Hutchison. "Yet another important early endorsement for our campaign: Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Republicans all across Washington are rallying behind our campaign for US Senate; be sure to return your ballot by August 7th! #Susan4Senate". Facebook.
13. Susan Hutchison. "Thank you to Congressman Dan Newhouse for his endorsement of our campaign! Proud to call him a friend and appreciate all he does for #WA04. Remember to return your ballots by Aug 7 and vote #Susan4Senate!". Twitter.
14. Susan Hutchison. "Proudly Endorsed by Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton". Twitter.
15. Susan Hutchison. "Honored to have the endorsement of my friend and next WA House Speaker, @jtwilcox111". Twitter.
16. Susan Hutchison. "The 45,000-strong Hunters Heritage Council has endorsed @susan4senate! #susan4senate #hunting #waelex". Twitter.
17. Susan Hutchison. "I am proud to be endorsed by the Washington Farm Bureau, and will always fight to protect our private property and water rights from burdensome federal regulations. #Susan4Senate". Twitter.
18. Details for Candidate ID : S8WA00202
19. Coleman, Miles (July 5, 2017). . Decision Desk HQ. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
20. STRIDER, DAVID LEE
21. . Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
22. TSIMERMAN, ALEX
23. McNamara, Neal (February 26, 2018). "Patriot Prayer Founder Joey Gibson Will Run Against Cantwell". Seattle Patch. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
24. "Campaign Kickoff Party: Steve Hoffman for U.S. Senate". Freedom Socialist Party. February 23, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
25. "United States Senate primary election in Washington, 2018". Office of the Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
26. "2018 Senate Race Ratings for October 26, 2018". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
27. "2018 Senate Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
28. "2018 Crystal Ball Senate race ratings". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
29. "2018 Senate Power Rankings". Fox News. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
30. "Key Races: Senate". Retrieved July 15, 2018.
31. "Battle for the Senate 2018". Retrieved July 15, 2018.
32. "November 6, 2018 General Election Results - U.S. Senator".
33. (PDF). wei.sos.wa.gov (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 30, 2018.

External links

• Candidates at Vote Smart
• Candidates at Ballotpedia
• Campaign finance at FEC
• Campaign finance at OpenSecrets

Official campaign websites