You asked for it, you got it!
Along with Colorado, Indiana and Connecticut, Washington State gives us the possibility to drastically recolor the state.
But, first things first. Colorado, Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Iowa, New Mexico, West Virginia, Kansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Oregon and Minnesota.
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JUMP!
Washington State is made up of nine Congressional Districts of which six are currently held by Democrats and three are held by Republicans. Democrats are running for all nine seats, Republicans are running for eight.
WA-1 - Puget Sound, North Seattle Suburbs. Our guy, Jay Inslee won the last election with 62%. His opponent is Larry Ishmael, who, according to OpenSecrets, has raised bupkes. Money aside, the First CD is solid blue.
WA-1: Safe Blue
WA-2 - Puget Sound, Bellingham. Our guy, Rick Larsen, won the last election with 64%. He is being opposed by retired Navy Captain Douglas Roulstone, who has raised about half the money Larsen has. I'm figuring this race is going to tighten, but, for now, SUSA is giving Larsen as 23 point advantage. Good enough to call it.
WA-2: Safe Blue
WA-3 - Southwest portion of state including most of Olympia, our guy, Brian Baird, won the last election with 62%. He is being challenged by Michael Messmore who has raised about 100k. He doesn't expect to compete dollar-for-dollar, which is good as he has about 19k COH compared to Baird's 940k. Me, I find it disingenous to pose in his airline uniform and call himself "Captain" like it was his military rank or something, but in all my searches, all I can see is that he served in the Army Reserves and was discharged. But it's captain-this-captain-that-yada-yada such that I'm pretty sure that the only captain he ever was was the kind who would turn off the seatbelt indicator. Whatever. This guy isn't going to dent Baird.
WA-2: Safe Blue
WA-4 - Central portion of the state including Yakima. Reddie Doc Hastings, won the last election with 63%. Our guy, Richard Wright has raised over $100k, but Hastings has only raised 3.5x that, so it's not as bad as it sounds. In the meantime, Hastings is the head of the House Ethics Committee, and, perhaps no coincidentally, has an Abramoff problem. Our guy, Richard Wright is running on security, jobs and healthcare, but it's going to be a challenge getting the message out as his COH is in the 20k range. As such, this race is likely to be a referendum on Doc Hastings. Well then. How is Doc Hastings doing? Not very well. In a recent poll, only 22% said they would definitely vote to reelect and 28% that they would probably vote to reelect. This makes it a 50/50 race from the get-go against a six term incumbent. It only gets worse from there for ol Doc. 59% of respondents said that the nation was on the wrong track. After hearing a description of both candidates, Wright opens up a 10 point advantage. So that's it. If he gets his message out, he wins. If he doesn't, it's close. source
WA-4: A real possibility if we help.
WA-5 - Eastern portion of the state including Spokane. Reddie Cathy McMorris, won the last election with 60%. Our guy is Peter Goldmark, and, given that he got into the race rather late, he's done a nice job in fundraising, and, more importantly, he's giving McMorris a run for her money. As in, he's outraising her. This is another winnable seat in Washington, if Goldmark can get his message out. In a recent poll McMorris has only a 38% reelect. As Goldmark should be able to get his message out, I'm calling this race for us.
WA-5: Blue pickup!
WA-6 - Western portion of the state including the Olympic Peninsula. Our guy, Norm Dicks, won the last election with 69% against the same contender. Not a lot seems to have changed on the ground, certainly not enough to make up 38 points.
WA-6: Safe Blue
WA-7 - Urban Seattle and environs. Our guy, Jim McDermott, won the last election with 81%. Nothing to see here. Move along.
WA-7: Safe Blue
WA-8 - Eastern Seattle suburbs including Bellevue. Reddie Dave Reichert won the last election with 52%, although Kerry carried the district with 51%. Burner is raising impressive dollars, she's getting people like Senator Boxer to speak at her rallies, and, as of the last poll, she was up by 3. Anything can happen in the next 6 weeks, but for now...
WA-8: Another Blue pickup!
WA-9 - South Seattle suburbs. Our guy, Adam Smith, won the last election with 63%. He's being challenged by Steven Cofchin. All I can see about Steve Cofchin is that he is a godly man who wants you to contribute to his campaign along with some local charities, including the YMCA and YWCA, and in case you've forgotten what the C stands for, there's also a link to Youth for Christ.
WA-9: Safe Blue