2018 United States Senate election in Washington

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

← 2012 November 6, 2018 2024 →

Nominee Maria Cantwell Susan Hutchison Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,803,364 1,282,804 Percentage 58.43% 41.57%

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]
• George H. Kalberer
• Don L. Rivers^[3]
• Mohammad Said
• Clint Tannehill^[4]

Republican Party

Declared

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

Withdrawn

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

Endorsements

Susan Hutchison

Individuals

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

Organizations

• Hunters Heritage Council^[16]
• Washington Farm Bureau^[17]

Independents

Declared

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

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

• Brad Chase (FDFR Party^[a]), communications strategist^[1]
• James Robert "Jimmie" Deal (Green Party)
• Steve Hoffman (Freedom Socialist Party), union organizer^[21][22]
• Mike Luke (Libertarian Party)^[23]
• Alex Tsimerman (StandupAmerica)^[24]
• Sam Wright (The Human Rights 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	[26]	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	[27]	P	P

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[28]	Safe D	October 26, 2018
Inside Elections[29]	Safe D	November 1, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[30]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
Fox News[31]	Likely D	July 9, 2018
CNN[32]	Safe D	July 12, 2018
RealClearPolitics[33]	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[34]	October 4–9, 2018	405 (RV)	± 5.0%	53%	39%	9%
Public Policy Polling (D)[35][A]	May 22–23, 2018	675 (LV)	± 3.8%	52%	36%	12%

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Maria Cantwell (D)	Rob McKenna (R)	Undecided
Public Policy Polling (D)[36][A]	June 27–28, 2017	887 (LV)	± 3.3%	53%	40%	6%

Hypothetical polling

Maria Cantwell vs. Rob McKenna

Results

United States Senate election in Washington, 2018^[37]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Maria Cantwell (incumbent)	1,803,364	58.43%	−2.02%
	Republican	Susan Hutchison	1,282,804	41.57%	+2.02%
Total votes			3,086,168	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 seven of ten congressional districts.^[38]

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