Voters in western Washington are casting ballots in four legislative races that could reveal whether the electorate wants to change the direction the state is going.
But another factor might be more decisive in the Nov. 4 election: Democrats’ desire to rebuke President Donald Trump.
“They used to say all politics are local. But, in a lot of ways, all politics are national right now,” said Jared Leopold of New Direction PAC, the political committee behind hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending across the four contests. “Everyone who is upset with Donald Trump is looking for a way to send a message and voting is the easiest way to do it.”
It’s a dynamic largely unchanged since the August primary, when four appointed Democratic state lawmakers defeated experienced opponents.
Those results came about seven months into a second Trump administration, and after a legislative session when Democratic majorities pushed through tax hikes, budget cuts and expansive social policies.
In two Senate primaries, Democratic Sens. Deb Krishnadasan and Victoria Hunt held off Republicans — state Rep. Michelle Caldier and former state lawmaker Chad Magendanz, respectively.
Caldier and Magendanz both hammered Democrats’ approval of a $9.4 billion package of tax increases and a $3.2 billion transportation revenue measure anchored by the 6-cent increase in the state’s gas tax.
They also highlighted controversial Democratic-backed policy changes, including a cap on rent increases, unemployment benefits for striking workers and requiring a state-issued permit to buy a gun.
But Caldier and Magendanz struggled to escape Trump’s shadow. It showed in the primary results. It hasn’t gotten easier since.
Meanwhile, two other races, one in the House and the other in the Senate, are Democrat-versus-Democrat battles illuminating stresses within the party among progressive and centrist forces.
There too, Rep. Edwin Obras and Sen. Vandana Slatter are benefitting from anti-Trump fervor among the party’s left flank as they look to fend off moderates Kevin Schilling and Rep. Amy Walen, respectively.
The Trump factor
The duel between Krishnadasan, a former school board director, and Caldier, a six-term representative, is the Republicans’ best chance to flip a seat in the Senate, where Democrats hold a 30-19 seat advantage.
This contest is in the 26th District that encompasses parts of Pierce and Kitsap counties and includes Bremerton, Port Orchard, Purdy and Gig Harbor. It is one of Washington’s few districts represented by lawmakers from both parties.
Krishnadasan is running as a moderate and touts her votes against this year’s tax hikes.
“We need to bring a voice that will get the majority party to work for our people, to take the word ‘taxes’ off our most vulnerable. We need to change direction,” she said at a forum in September.
Caldier, considered a moderate in her party, has said without more Republicans in the chamber, there will be more taxes from the majority next year.
“The makeup of the Legislature is so bad. The direction that we are going is absolutely ridiculous,” she said at the forum. “We need to change the balance of the Legislature…and turn around the direction of our state.”
But Caldier’s been hard-pressed to make her case amid an onslaught of mailers and ads from New Direction labeling her an “extremist” and pairing her with Trump.
The political committee, which supports incumbent and progressive Democrats, is funded largely by the Democratic caucuses of the House and Senate, the Service Employees International Union, and the Washington Education Association, which is the state’s largest union representing public school employees.
It is a strategy intended to deter Democrats who have voted for Caldier before.
In more subtle ways, New Direction is also trying to scare off MAGA Republicans, who’ve not been Caldier fans in the past, by trying to spotlight her old tensions with Jesse Young, a former state representative and a right-wing standard bearer in the Pierce County Republican Party.
In the 5th District, Hunt won a House seat last November, moving to the Senate following the unexpected death of Sen. Bill Ramos in April.
Her opponent, Magendanz, is a former two-term state representative in the district. He ran unsuccessfully for the House seat in 2022 and the Senate in 2024. Tuesday’s winner will represent Issaquah, Black Diamond, Covington, and part of Snoqualmie.
As in the 26th District race, a major focus has been on the new and higher taxes enacted in the 2025 session. And Trump.
Unlike Krishnadasan, Hunt did vote for the tax bills and has defended that decision. It didn’t hurt her as she won the primary handily.
Magendanz, like Caldier, was a centrist in his party during his tenure but has been hit with mailers labeling him an “extremist” and “too MAGA.” Rather than respond, he said he’s focused on getting Republican and independent voters who know him to vote.
Steve Gordon, a Pierce County Republican, has contributed to Caldier and Magendanz and to business-oriented political committees working independently to support them. He didn’t sugarcoat the difficult environment for GOP candidates in Washington state
“Polling shows voters don’t like all the taxes. But voters also say ‘we really, really don’t like Republicans’ and vote against them,” he said.
Democratic divisions
In the 33rd District in south King County, Schilling’s bid to unseat Obras is cast as a barometer of where Democrats want their party to go in the Seattle suburbs. Schilling is currently the mayor of Burien.
“Among rank and file Democrat voters, there are real differences of opinion on real quality of life issues like public safety and homelessness. These are the issues that are front and center in this race,” said Sandeep Kaushik of Soundview Strategies.
He manages an outside campaign against Obras funded by Pragmatic Washington, whose donors are statewide business and health care organizations and individuals, including Gordon.
Obras’ outside backers, like New Direction, are portraying Schilling as a tool of corporate and pro-Trump interests. “This year, there are two Democrats on the ballot — but only one who represents us,” reads one of the group’s hit pieces.
This group first inserted Trump into the conversation in the primary after seeing Gordon had given to Pragmatic Washington.
“They make everything about Trump and if they make everything about Trump, they hope people forget about what is going on in the state,” Schilling said.
It’s been a little less intense in the 48th District, where the progressive Slatter, of Bellevue, and moderate Walen, of Kirkland, are squaring off in an expensive contest.
Slatter won the primary with nearly 60% of the vote.
The two lawmakers voted similarly on a couple major tax bills last session, though Slatter voted for the gas tax increase and Walen did not. Walen opposed the new rent increase cap. Slatter voted for it.
Trump has made it into this race, too, with a pro-Slatter group putting out mailers describing her as “The Real Democrat” who is on the “front lines” opposing the president’s policies.
5 contests without surprises
Five other appointed Democratic state lawmakers are on the ballot.
Rep. Janice Zahn, D-Bellevue, is favored against Republican John Whitney of Bellevue in the 41st District after winning the primary with nearly 63%.
It’s similar in the 48th District, where Rep. Osman Salahuddin, D-Redmond, faces Republican Dennis Ellis. Salahuddin received close to 61% in the primary.
State Sens. Tina Orwall of Des Moines and Emily Alvarado of Seattle, and Rep. Brianna Thomas of West Seattle are unopposed. Orwall serves the 33rd District. Alvarado and Thomas represent the 34th District.
