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United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2018
- General election: Nov. 6
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 8 (mail or online), or Oct. 29 (in-person)
- Early voting: N/A
- Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: No
- Voter ID: N/A (Washington conducts all elections by mail)
- Poll times: N/A
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August 7, 2018 |
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The 2018 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Washington took place on November 6, 2018. Voters elected 10 candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's 10 congressional districts.
Partisan breakdown
Heading into the November 6 election, the Democratic Party held six of the 10 congressional seats from Washington.
| Members of the U.S. House from Washington -- Partisan Breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 2018 | After the 2018 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 6 | 7 | |
| Republican Party | 4 | 3 | |
| Total | 10 | 10 | |
Incumbents
Heading into the 2018 election, the incumbents for the 10 congressional districts were:
| Name | Party | District |
|---|---|---|
| Suzan DelBene |  Democratic |
1 |
| Rick Larsen | Democratic |
2 |
| Jaime Herrera Beutler |  Republican |
3 |
| Dan Newhouse | Republican |
4 |
| Cathy McMorris Rodgers | Republican |
5 |
| Derek Kilmer | Democratic |
6 |
| Pramila Jayapal | Democratic |
7 |
| Dave Reichert | Republican |
8 |
| Adam Smith | Democratic |
9 |
| Denny Heck | Democratic |
10 |
2016 Pivot Counties
Washington features three congressional districts that, based on boundaries adopted after the 2010 census, intersected with one or more Pivot Counties. These 206 Pivot Counties voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012.
The 206 Pivot Counties are located in 34 states. Iowa, with 31, had the most such counties. Heading into the 2018 elections, the partisan makeup of the 108 congressional districts intersecting with Pivot Counties was more Republican than the partisan breakdown of the U.S. House. Of the 108 congressional districts that had at least one Pivot County, 63 percent were held by a Republican incumbent, while 55.4 percent of U.S. House seats were won by a Republican in the 2016 elections.[1]
Candidates
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District 1
General election candidates
- Suzan DelBene (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Jeffrey Beeler (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
- Suzan DelBene (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Jeffrey Beeler (Republican Party) ✔
- Robert Mair (Independent)
- Adam Pilskog (Independent)
- Scott Stafne (Republican Party)
District 2
General election candidates
- Rick Larsen (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Brian Luke (Libertarian Party)
Primary candidates
- Rick Larsen (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Stonewall Jackson Bird (Green Party)
- Collin Richard Carlson (Democratic Party)
- Gary Franco (Independent)
- Brian Luke (Libertarian Party) ✔
- Uncle Mover (Moderate GOP Party)
District 3
General election candidates
- Jaime Herrera Beutler (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Carolyn Long (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
- Jaime Herrera Beutler (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Earl Bowerman (Republican Party)
- Michael Cortney (Republican Party)
- Dorothy Gasque (Democratic Party)
- Martin Hash (Democratic Party)
- Carolyn Long (Democratic Party) ✔
- David McDevitt (Democratic Party)
Did not make the ballot:
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
District 4
General election candidates
- Dan Newhouse (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Christine Brown (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
- Dan Newhouse (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Christine Brown (Democratic Party) ✔
District 5
General election candidates
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Lisa Brown (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Jered Gavin Bonneau (Republican Party)
- Lisa Brown (Democratic Party) ✔
- Kari Ilonummi (Republican Party)
- Dave Saulibio (Trump Populist Party)
Did not make the ballot:
District 6
General election candidates
- Derek Kilmer (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Douglas Dightman (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
- Derek Kilmer (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Douglas Dightman (Republican Party) ✔
- Tyler Myles Vega (Progressive Party)
Did not make the ballot:
District 7
General election candidates
- Pramila Jayapal (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Craig Keller (Republican Party)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary candidates
- Pramila Jayapal (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Craig Keller (Republican Party) ✔
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
District 8
General election candidates
- Kim Schrier (Democratic Party) ✔
- Dino Rossi (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
- Keith Arnold (Independent)
- Thomas Cramer (Democratic Party)
- Patrick Dillon (Neither Major Party)
- William Eugene Grassie (Independent)
- Shannon Hader (Democratic Party)
- Jack Hughes-Hageman (Republican Party)
- Todd Mahaffey (Independent)
- Gordon Allen Pross (Republican Party)
- Richard Reyes (Libertarian Party)
- Jason Rittereiser (Democratic Party)
- Dino Rossi (Republican Party) ✔
- Kim Schrier (Democratic Party) ✔
Did not make the ballot:
District 9
General election candidates
- D. Adam Smith (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Sarah Smith (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
- D. Adam Smith (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Douglas Michael Basler (Republican Party)
- Sarah Smith (Democratic Party) ✔
District 10
General election candidates
- Denny Heck (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Joseph Brumbles (Republican Party)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
- Write-in candidates:
Primary candidates
- Denny Heck (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Tamborine Borrelli (Independent)
- Joseph Brumbles (Republican Party) ✔
- Nancy Slotnick (Independent)
Did not make the ballot:
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Wave election analysis
- See also: Wave elections (1918-2016)
The term wave election is frequently used to describe an election cycle in which one party makes significant electoral gains. How many seats would Republicans have had to lose for the 2018 midterm election to be considered a wave election?
Ballotpedia examined the results of the 50 election cycles that occurred between 1918 and 2016—spanning from President Woodrow Wilson's (D) second midterm in 1918 to Donald Trump's (R) first presidential election in 2016. We define wave elections as the 20 percent of elections in that period resulting in the greatest seat swings against the president's party.
Applying this definition to U.S. House elections, we found that Republicans needed to lose 48 seats for 2018 to qualify as a wave election.
The chart below shows the number of seats the president's party lost in the 11 U.S. House waves from 1918 to 2016. Click here to read the full report.
| U.S. House wave elections | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | President | Party | Election type | House seats change | House majority[2] | |
| 1932 | Hoover | R | Presidential | -97 | D | |
| 1922 | Harding | R | First midterm | -76 | R | |
| 1938 | Roosevelt | D | Second midterm | -70 | D | |
| 2010 | Obama | D | First midterm | -63 | R (flipped) | |
| 1920 | Wilson | D | Presidential | -59 | R | |
| 1946 | Truman | D | First midterm | -54 | R (flipped) | |
| 1994 | Clinton | D | First midterm | -54 | R (flipped) | |
| 1930 | Hoover | R | First midterm | -53 | D (flipped) | |
| 1942 | Roosevelt | D | Third midterm | -50 | D | |
| 1966 | Johnson | D | First midterm[3] | -48 | D | |
| 1974 | Ford | R | Second midterm[4] | -48 | D | |
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2018
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2018
- U.S. House primaries, 2018
Footnotes
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
- ↑ Denotes the party that had more seats in the U.S. House following the election.
- ↑ Lyndon Johnson's (D) first term began in November 1963 after the death of President John F. Kennedy (D), who was first elected in 1960. Before Johnson had his first midterm in 1966, he was re-elected president in 1964.
- ↑ Gerald Ford's (R) first term began in August 1974 following the resignation of President Richard Nixon (R), who was first elected in 1968 and was re-elected in 1972. Because Ford only served for two full months before facing the electorate, this election is classified as Nixon's second midterm.
