2010 United States Senate election in Washington

The 2010 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 2, 2010, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Patty Murray won re-election to a fourth term by a margin of 52.4% to 47.6% over Republican Dino Rossi, who had run for governor in 2004 and 2008. This was the last U.S. Senate election in Washington where the margin of victory was single digits.

2010 United States Senate election in Washington

← 2004 November 2, 2010 2016 →

Nominee Patty Murray Dino Rossi Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,314,930 1,196,164 Percentage 52.36% 47.64%

County results Congressional district results Murray:      50–60%      60–70%      80–90% Rossi:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Patty Murray Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Patty Murray Democratic

Primary election

Candidates

Democrats

• Patty Murray, incumbent U.S. Senator
• Charles Allen^[1][2][3]
• Bob Burr^[3]

Republicans

• Dino Rossi, former State Senator and gubernatorial candidate^[4]
• Paul Akers, salesman^[5]
• William Chovil^[3][6]
• Clint Didier, former NFL football player^[7]
• Norma Gruber^[3]
• Michael Latimer^[8]

Others

• Will Baker (Reform Party)^[3]
• Schalk Leonard^[3]
• Skip Mercer, professor^[9]
• Mohammad Said (Centrist Party)^[3]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Patty Murray (D)	Dino Rossi (R)	Clint Didier (R)	Paul Akers (R)	Undecided
Elway Research[10]	April 29 – May 2, 2010	48%	––	4%	8%	36%
Elway Research[11]	June 13, 2010	43%	31%	5%	2%	17%
Survey USA[12]	June 30, 2010	37%	33%	5%	3%	19%
Public Policy Polling[13]	July 27 – August 1, 2010	47%	33%	10%	4%	6%
Survey USA[14]	August 6–9, 2010	41%	33%	11%	5%	4%

Results

Blanket primary results by county

  Murray

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Rossi

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%

  Didier

•   30–40%
•   40–50%

Blanket primary election results^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Patty Murray (incumbent)	670,284	46.22%
	Republican	Dino Rossi	483,305	33.33%
	Republican	Clint Didier	185,034	12.76%
	Republican	Paul Akers	37,231	2.57%
	Independent	Skip Mercer	12,122	0.84%
	Democratic	Charles Allen	11,525	0.79%
	Democratic	Bob Burr	11,344	0.78%
	Republican	Norma Gruber	9,162	0.63%
	Republican	Michael Latimer	6,545	0.45%
	Democratic	Mike the Mover	6,019	0.42%
	Democratic	Goodspaceguy	4,718	0.33%
	Reform	William Baker	4,593	0.32%
	Independent	Mohammad Said	3,387	0.23%
	Independent	Schalk Leonard	2,818	0.19%
	Republican	William Chovil	2,039	0.14%
Total votes			1,450,126	100.00%

General election

Candidates

The top 2 candidates from the blanket primary advanced to the general election.

• Patty Murray (D), incumbent U.S. Senator
• Dino Rossi (R), former State Senator and gubernatorial candidate

Campaign

Rossi heavily criticized Murray for her support of the 2009 economic stimulus package; however, Rossi's economic promises are nearly identical to those of President Bush who asked for the stimulus.^[16] Rossi supports repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He also criticized Murray for her support for earmarks. In response, Murray said, "You bet that seniority and leadership has a big thing to do with it, but the other part of it is, I get up every day and I work hard and I believe in this and I am going to continue fighting for the community I represent."^[17]

The National Rifle Association spent $414,100 supporting Rossi and opposing Murray in the 2010 senatorial contest.^[18]

Debates

Rossi offered six debates, five of which would be in-state and one nationally.^[19] Murray agreed to two debates, and only two debates were held.^[20]

• Seattle on KOMO-TV.
• Spokane on KSPS-TV and KXLY-TV.

Fundraising

Candidate (party)	Receipts	Disbursements	Cash on hand	Debt
Patty Murray (D)	$10,951,403	$12,438,133	$1,032,034	$0
Dino Rossi (R)	$7,365,098	$4,331,414	$2,960,039	$0
Source: Federal Election Commission[21]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Cook Political Report[22]	Tossup	October 26, 2010
Rothenberg[23]	Tossup	November 1, 2010
RealClearPolitics[24]	Tossup	October 26, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball[25]	Lean D	October 21, 2010
CQ Politics[26]	Tossup	October 26, 2010

Polling

Aggregate polls

Source of poll aggregation	Dates administered	Dates updated	Patty Murray (D)	Dino Rossi (R)	Other/Undecided [a]	Margin
Real Clear Politics[27]	October 24–31, 2010	October 31, 2010	48.3%	48.0%	3.7%	Murray +0.3%

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Patty Murray (D)	Dino Rossi (R)	Other	Undecided
Moore Information[28]	January 23–24, 2010	500	± 4.4%	43%	45%	––	––
Rasmussen Reports[29]	February 11, 2010	500	± 4.5%	46%	48%	1%	5%
Rasmussen Reports[30]	March 9, 2010	500	± 4.5%	46%	49%	3%	2%
Research 2000[31]	March 22–24, 2010	600	± 4.0%	52%	41%	––	7%
Rasmussen Reports[32]	April 6, 2010	500	± 4.5%	48%	46%	3%	4%
Survey USA[33]	April 22, 2010	517	± 4.4%	42%	52%	––	7%
The Washington Poll[34]	May 3–23, 2010	626	± 3.9%	44%	40%	––	16%
Rasmussen Reports[32]	May 4, 2010	500	± 4.5%	48%	46%	2%	3%
Rasmussen Reports[35]	May 25, 2010	500	± 4.5%	48%	47%	2%	4%
The Washington Poll[36]	May 24–28, 2010	221	± 6.6%	39%	42%	5%	13%
The Washington Poll[34]	May 28 – June 7, 2010	848	± 3.3%	42%	40%	––	12%
Elway Research[37]	June 13, 2010	405	± 5.0%	47%	40%	––	13%
Rasmussen Reports[38]	June 22, 2010	500	± 4.5%	47%	47%	3%	3%
Rasmussen Reports[39]	July 14, 2010	750	± 4.0%	45%	48%	3%	3%
Rasmussen Reports[32]	July 30, 2010	750	± 4.0%	49%	47%	2%	2%
Public Policy Polling[13]	July 27 – August 1, 2010	1,204	± 2.8%	49%	46%	––	5%
Rasmussen Reports[40]	August 18, 2010	750	± 4.0%	48%	44%	4%	4%
Survey USA[41]	August 18, 2010	618	± 4.0%	45%	52%	––	––
Rasmussen Reports[42]	August 31, 2010	750	± 4.0%	46%	48%	3%	3%
Elway Research[43]	September 9–12, 2010	500	± 4.5%	50%	41%	3%	7%
CNN/Time[44]	September 10–14, 2010	906	± 3.5%	53%	44%	2%	1%
Rasmussen Reports[45]	September 16, 2010	750	± 4.0%	51%	46%	1%	2%
SurveyUSA[46]	September 22, 2010	609	± 4.1%	50%	48%	––	3%
Fox News[47]	September 25, 2010	1,000	± 3.0%	48%	47%	2%	3%
Rasmussen Reports[45]	September 28, 2010	750	± 4.0%	47%	48%	2%	3%
Rasmussen Reports[45]	October 6, 2010	750	± 4.0%	46%	49%	3%	2%
Fox News[48]	October 9, 2010	1,000	± 3.0%	46%	47%	7%	0%
Elway[49]	October 7–11, 2010	450	± 4.6%	55%	40%	0%	5%
CNN/Opinion Research[50]	October 8–12, 2010	850	± 3.5%	51%	43%	2%	0%
The Washington Poll[51]	October 4–14, 2010	500	± 4.3%	50%	42%	––	8%
SurveyUSA[52]	October 11–14, 2010	606	± 4.1%	50%	47%	0%	3%
Public Policy Polling[53]	October 14–16, 2010	1,873	± 2.3%	49%	47%	––	4%
McClatchy/Marist[54]	October 14–17, 2010	589	± 4.0%	48%	47%	1%	5%
Rasmussen Reports[55]	October 17, 2010	750	± 4.0%	49%	46%	2%	3%
Rasmussen Reports[45]	October 27, 2010	750	± 4.0%	47%	48%	3%	2%
SurveyUSA[56]	October 24–27, 2010	678	± 3.8%	47%	47%	––	6%
The Washington Poll[57]	October 18–28, 2010	500	± 4.3%	51%	45%	––	4%
Marist College[58]	October 26–28, 2010	838	± 3.5%	49%	48%	2%	1%
Fox News/Pulse Opinion Research[59]	October 30, 2010	1,000	± 3.0%	49%	47%	4%	0%
YouGov[60]	October 25–30, 2010	850	± 4.1%	50%	48%	0%	2%
Public Policy Polling[61]	October 29–31, 2010	2,055	± 2.2%	48%	50%	0%	2%

Results

Murray defeated Rossi by about 114,000 votes. King County, the home of Seattle, likely gave Murray a victory.^[62]

General election results^[63]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Patty Murray (incumbent)	1,314,930	52.36%
	Republican	Dino Rossi	1,196,164	47.64%
Total votes			2,511,094	100.00%
Turnout			2,565,589	71.24%
	Democratic hold

By county

By county

County[64] Patty Murray Democratic Dino Rossi Republican Total % # % # Adams 27.26% 1,028 72.74% 2,743 3,771 Asotin 39.20% 3,292 60.80% 5,105 8,397 Benton 35.67% 22,305 64.33% 40,230 62,535 Chelan 36.75% 10,082 63.25% 17,349 27,431 Clallam 47.05% 15,639 52.95% 17,602 33,241 Clark 45.75% 67,052 54.25% 79,499 146,551 Columbia 31.21% 665 68.79% 1,466 2,131 Cowlitz 47.13% 17,331 52.87% 19,443 36,774 Douglas 32.66% 4,287 67.34% 8,838 13,125 Ferry 36.01% 1,144 63.99% 2,033 3,177 Franklin 34.53% 5,912 65.47% 11,209 17,121 Garfield 29.26% 340 70.74% 822 1,162 Grant 28.97% 6,884 71.03% 16,880 23,764 Grays Harbor 51.73% 13,086 48.27% 12,209 25,295 Island 49.74% 17,794 50.26% 17,980 35,774 Jefferson 62.99% 10,917 37.01% 6,413 17,330 King 64.92% 489,190 35.08% 264,368 753,558 Kitsap 51.23% 52,952 48.77% 50,414 103,366 Kittitas 38.63% 5,838 61.37% 9,276 15,114 Klickitat 42.89% 3,717 57.11% 4,950 8,667 Lewis 33.71% 10,352 66.29% 20,354 30,706 Lincoln 31.23% 1,666 68.77% 3,668 5,334 Mason 48.97% 12,061 51.03% 12,568 24,629 Okanogan 39.37% 5,766 60.63% 8,881 14,647 Pacific 53.11% 5,156 46.89% 4,552 9,708 Pend Oreille 37.56% 2,165 62.44% 3,599 5,764 Pierce 49.79% 132,924 50.21% 134,025 266,949 San Juan 65.24% 5,994 34.76% 3,194 9,188 Skagit 48.55% 23,223 51.45% 24,609 47,832 Skamania 46.72% 2,118 53.28% 2,415 4,533 Snohomish 51.86% 137,365 48.14% 127,531 264,896 Spokane 43.73% 78,984 56.27% 101,628 180,612 Stevens 32.79% 6,379 67.21% 13,076 19,455 Thurston 56.16% 58,950 43.84% 46,014 104,964 Wahkiakum 45.14% 915 54.86% 1,112 2,027 Walla Walla 38.84% 8,180 61.16% 12,882 21,062 Whatcom 52.49% 44,783 47.51% 40,539 85,322 Whitman 43.04% 5,776 56.96% 7,644 13,420 Yakima 36.78% 22,718 63.22% 39,044 61,762 Total 52.36% 1,314,930 47.64% 1,196,164 2,511,094 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Island (largest city: Oak Harbor) Pierce (largest city: Tacoma) Skagit (largest city: Mount Vernon) Clallam (largest city: Port Angeles) Mason (largest city: Shelton) Skamania (Largest city: Carson) Cowlitz (Largest city: Longview) Wahkiakum (Largest city: Puget Island)

By congressional district

Murray won five of nine congressional districts.^[65]

District	Murray	Rossi	Representative
1st	56%	44%	Jay Inslee
2nd	51%	49%	Rick Larsen
3rd	47%	53%	Brian Baird
			Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	36%	64%	Doc Hastings
5th	41%	59%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	53%	47%	Norm Dicks
7th	81%	19%	Jim McDermott
8th	49%	51%	Dave Reichert
9th	53%	47%	Adam Smith

Notes

1. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.