The Washington Senate race is one Republicans publicly believe could become a sleeper competitive race. They have a strong candidate in nurse and veterans advocate Tiffany Smiley, and due to the state’s state’s all-party primary system, Tuesday will give us a look at early initial support for both Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Smiley.
Murray and Smiley are all but assured to finish in the top two and advance to November. There will be five other Democrats and four other Republicans on the primary ballot, along with several third-party candidates.
Murray, who was first elected to the Senate in 1992 by running as a “mom in tennis shoes,” serves as the powerful chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. She has hung on in difficult Democratic years, including in 2010 when she defeated well-funded Republican challenger Dino Rossi 52.4%-47.6%. In 2016, she was re-elected with 59 percent of the vote.
But both Murray and Democrats are taking this race seriously in a state that President Biden carried by 19 points. Murray’s first ad
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