2018 Washington State Senate election

The 2018 Washington State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Washington state voters elected state senators in 25 of the state's 49 Senate districts. The other 24 state senators were not up for re-election until the next biennial election in 2020. State senators serve four-year terms in the Washington State Senate. A statewide map of Washington's state legislative districts is provided by the Washington State Legislature here, Archived 2018-10-24 at the Wayback Machine.

Washington State Senate elections, 2018

← 2016 November 6, 2018 2020 →
25 of 49 seats in the Washington State Senate 25 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Sharon Nelson Mark Schoesler Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat 33rd-Des Moines 9th-Ritzville Last election 24[a] 25[a] Seats before 25 24 Seats won 28[a] 21[a] Seat change 3 3 Popular vote 982,741 516,476 Percentage 64.55% 33.92% Swing 18.73 pp 16.94 pp
Results:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      Democrat caucusing with Republicans hold      No election
Majority Leader before election Mark Schoesler Republican (Coalition) Elected Majority Leader Sharon Nelson Democratic

A top two primary election on August 7, 2018, determined which candidates appear on the November 6 general election ballot. Each candidate is allowed to write in their party preference so that it appears as they desire on the ballot.^[1]

Following the 2016 state senate elections, Republicans maintained effective control of the Senate, 25–24 because self-identified Democrat Tim Sheldon caucuses with the Republicans. However, in 2017 Democrats regained control of the Washington State Senate after Democrat Manka Dhingra won a special election in Washington's 45th legislative district.

Democrats expanded their caucus's majority to 28–21 by further flipping the 26th, 30th, and 47th districts. Tim Sheldon was reelected as a Democrat, but continued to caucus with the Republicans.

Overview

2018 Washington State Senate election Primary election — August 7, 2018[a]
Party		Votes	Percentage	Candidates	Advancing to general	Seats contesting
	Democratic	536,781	61.87%	37	28	24
	Republican	302,667	34.89%	26	19	19
	Independent	15,375	1.77%	6	1	1
	Libertarian	9,998	1.15%	4	1	1
	No party preference	2,737	0.32%	2	0	0
Totals		2,869,914	100.00%	75	49	—

2018 Washington State Senate election General election — November 6, 2018[a]
Party		Votes	Percentage	Not up	Contested	Before	After	+/–
	Democratic	982,741	64.55%	10	7	25	28	3
	Republican	516,476	33.92%	12	11	24	21	3
	Independent	13,538	0.89%	0	0	0	0	0
	Libertarian	9,707	0.64%	0	0	0	0	0
Totals		1,522,462	100.00%	24	25	49	49	—

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing[2]	Likely D	October 8, 2018

Summary of results by State Senate district

• Districts not shown are not up for election until 2020.

** Incumbent did not seek re-election.

State Senate district	Incumbent	Party		Elected senator	Party
6th	Michael Baumgartner**		Rep	Jeff Holy		Rep
7th	Shelly Short		Rep	Shelly Short		Rep
8th	Sharon Brown		Rep	Sharon Brown		Rep
13th	Judy Warnick		Rep	Judy Warnick		Rep
15th	Jim Honeyford		Rep	Jim Honeyford		Rep
21st	Marko Liias		Dem	Marko Liias		Dem
26th	Jan Angel**		Rep	Emily Randall		Dem
29th	Steve Conway		Dem	Steve Conway		Dem
30th	Mark Miloscia		Rep	Claire Wilson		Dem
31st	Phil Fortunato		Rep	Phil Fortunato		Rep
32nd	Maralyn Chase		Dem	Jesse Salomon		Dem
33rd	Karen Keiser		Dem	Karen Keiser		Dem
34th	Sharon Nelson**		Dem	Joe Nguyen		Dem
35th	Tim Sheldon		Dem*	Tim Sheldon		Dem*
36th	Reuven Carlyle		Dem	Reuven Carlyle		Dem
37th	Rebecca Saldaña		Dem	Rebecca Saldaña		Dem
38th	John McCoy		Dem	John McCoy		Dem
39th	Keith Wagoner		Rep	Keith Wagoner		Rep
42nd	Doug Ericksen		Rep	Doug Ericksen		Rep
43rd	Jamie Pedersen		Dem	Jamie Pedersen		Dem
44th	Steve Hobbs		Dem	Steve Hobbs		Dem
45th	Manka Dhingra		Dem	Manka Dhingra		Dem
46th	David Frockt		Dem	David Frockt		Dem
47th	Joe Fain		Rep	Mona Das		Dem
48th	Patty Kuderer		Dem	Patty Kuderer		Dem

*Tim Sheldon self-identifies as a Democrat but caucuses with the Republicans.

Source:^[3]

See also

• 2018 United States elections
• 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Washington
• 2018 United States Senate election in Washington
• 2018 Washington House of Representatives election

Notes

1. One Democrat, Tim Sheldon, caucuses with the Republicans, which gave them majority control from 2013 to November 2017, and is counted in the Republican seats