Olympia Update No. 6 •
November 9, 2006
Election Results
From: Larry Ganders, Assistant to the President
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Democrats’ tide hits Legislature
The tide that flowed for Democrats nationally has seeped into
the Washington legislative election, giving Gov. Christine Gregoire’s political
party a commanding majority of both houses of the Washington Legislature.
Political change spread over much of the state, from Eastern
Washington to the east side of Lake Washington.
As always,
it isn’t clear what the implications are for Washington State University and higher education. But certainly there are political impacts. There are strong
friends of the university and higher education in both political parties. There
were supporters that were elected on Tuesday but there were also some that were
defeated. Too often, there were supporters that ran against each other.
Tuesday’s election took a slim 26-23 Democratic majority in
the Senate this year and delivered Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown,
D-Spokane, the largest Democratic majority in more than 40 years. There will be
32 Democratic senators and just 17 Republican senators in the 2007 Legislative
session. The new majority leaves Democrats just one vote short of the
two-thirds necessary to amend the state constitution.
The new,
larger Senate Democratic caucus will now decide how to restructure the Senate.
The Senate Democrats will meet this weekend in SeaTac. Among other things, they
will decide in the coming weeks whether higher education and K-12 education
will continue to be in a single committee. For many years, there was a separate
higher education committee in the Senate.
The 55-43
majority that Speaker Frank Chopp has had in the state House of Representatives
appears to have extended to a minimum of at least eight more seats. If election
trends hold, it will be a 63-45 Democratic majority. However, there are two
very tight races where Democrats could push their majority to 65 in late
counting. In the 10th Legislative District, Democrat Tim Knue trails
Republican Barbara Bailey by just 28 votes in the Skagit-Snohomish District.
Nearby in the 39th Legislative District that also touches King County, Democrat Scott Olson trails Rep. Dan Kristiansen by just 414 votes out of
23,000 counted.
The new
larger majorities bring hope that the Legislature will not bog down next year
and extend the scheduled 105-day session. But it will also put more pressure
on legislative leaders to hold their members in line on crucial votes, as
larger caucuses tend to splinter into smaller caucuses. It will also force
minority Republican leaders to be more creative on how they can impact a
process where the opposing party has such a large working majority.
Already
before the election, significant changes were in the works. Mark Doumit,
D-Cathlamet, a WSU graduate who organized the writing of the operating budget
on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, resigned from the Senate Nov. 1. The
Democratic majority must now determine who will perform some of the budgetary
roles previously performed by Doumit. Among possible successors to Sen. Doumit
are former Rep. Brian Hatfield, a longtime WSU supporter. A decision on
Doumit’s successor should be made later this month.
The new,
larger House Democatic caucus is planning to meet Nov. 19th to
determine leaders and decide how to organize committees. Rep. Helen Sommers,
D-Seattle, a strong supporter of the research universities, is expected to
continue as chair of the House Appropriations Committee. But there are some
significant leadership positions that need to be filled including the chairman
of the House Transportation Committee.
Analysts
consider the Democratic victories at the state and national levels to be tied
to a relatively slight shift by moderate voters. In Washington, that shift was
most apparent in Spokane’s 6th Legislative District, a district that
Democrats previously failed many times to win despite strong well-financed campaigns.
There,
Spokane Businessman Chris Marr, a member of the WSU Board of Regents, collected
more than 56 percent of the vote to defeat Sen. Brad Benson. Marr becomes only
the second senator in the Democratic caucus east of the Cascade Mountains (the
other is Sen. Brown.) Also in the sixth district, Democratic challenger Don
Barlow, a member of the Spokane Public Schools Board and an instructor at Spokane Community College, defeated state Rep. John Serben, with 53 percent of the vote. He
becomes just the fourth Democrat from Eastern Washington in the House. The
Democratic tide did not strike every Republican incumbent uniformly. That same 6th district returned Republican Rep. John Ahern to the House with more than 58
percent of the vote, a larger percentage than either Marr or Barlow.
House
Democratic Caucus Chair Bill Grant, D-Prescott, was among the few Eastern
Washington Democrats and was thought early this year to be in a tough fight for
re-election in the Walla Walla/Tri-Cities District. However, Grant easily beat
his Republican challenger with more than 60 percent of the vote. In the same
district, Republican Rep. Maureen Walsh won re-election with 64 percent of the
vote.
An open
seat in the 13th legislative district, provided Central Washington
with a new Republican state senator. Rep. Janea Holmquist will now become Sen.
Holmquist after collecting more than 66 percent of the vote in that Columbia Basin district.
State Rep.
Don Cox, R-Colfax, who has been a strong supporter of WSU in the Legislature
and worked on many other education issues as well, did not seek re-election. Cox’s
ninth district represents both WSU Pullman and Eastern Washington University. Mark Schoesler of Ritzville is the senator, and not up for election. Republican
Steve Hailey, a Mesa farmer, received 60 percent of the vote to replace Cox.
Rep. David Buri, a member of the House Higher Education Committee, won
re-election without opposition.
Changes on the East side of
Lake Washington are likely to leave the Senate Republican caucus with fewer
moderate members from swing districts. State Sen. Dave Schmidt, R-Everett, was
upset by Democrat Steve Hobbs, who currently has 54.5 percent of the vote. Democrat Rodney Tom,
of Medina, appears to have
defeated Sen. Luke Esser, R-Bellevue, also with about 54 percent of the vote.
Tom switched parties after serving as a Republican House member. A Democrat
appears to have taken the seat previously held by Sen. Stephen Johnson, R-Kent, who was unsuccessful
in his run for the state supreme court. Democrat Claudia Kauffman leads her
Republican opponent by about 1,100 votes in the King County district.
Some
prominent Republican House and Senate members from swing districts were in
unusually tight races. Rep. Fred Jarrett, R-Mercer Island, is winning for re-election with 52.7
percent of the vote. State Sen. Dale Brandland, R-Bellingham, who led efforts on the capital
construction budget, is leading his Republican challenger with only 51 percent
of the vote. Rep. Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, won re-election more easily with 57 percent of
the vote.
Rep. Jim
Dunn, a member of the House Higher Education Committee from the Vancouver area, appears to have been defeated by Democrat Pat Campbell. Dunn trails by
about 700 votes.
Other incumbent
House members that appear to have been defeated include, Rep. Jim Buck (who trails
by more than 3,300 votes in an Olympic Peninsula race); Rep. Toby Nixon,
R-Kirkland, who trails by more than 2,200 votes
behind Democrat Eric Oernig; and Rep. Jan Shabro, R-Sumner (who trails by about
2,000 votes).
Olympia Update is produced for persons interested in state
government developments affecting Washington State University. For more
information call: Larry Ganders, Assistant to the President, 360-956-2165. From
WSU campuses, dial 8-2165. If you wish to subscribe to Olympia Update directly
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