Welcome back to New Day Northwest.
You have six days left to turn in your
ballot for Washington's primary election,
and there are some big seats at stake,
so make sure you get your ballot,
postmarked or dropped in the
ballot box by next Tuesday,
August 2nd and here to breakdown
some of the key races is KING5
political analyst and former two
term Washington Governor Gary Locke.
Thank you so much for being here.
Welcome to new day.
Well, my pleasure.
Well, I should say, welcome to King,
but I'm sure they've already done that,
so this is a really
interesting and very important.
Time and I don't know that
everyone knows how important.
Sometimes these primaries are because hey,
these two people chosen
no one off to November,
so let's talk about the first race.
One of the biggest ones that we're
watching is the race for Patty Murray,
who currently holds the US Senate
seat and she's seeking a sixth term.
Are they concerned at all about
this political outsider?
Tiffany smiling.
Right now, the polls show that
Patty Murray has a commanding lead,
but that's very early and so much
can change between now and November.
So I think a lot of the pundits will be
watching how well the challenger does.
Does she even?
Does she exceed expectations and
therefore attract more national
donations and and support?
So, but I think it's you know
anything can change between now
and then in terms of inflation.
The COVID international affairs.
Who can nobody really knows,
but Patty Murray is one of the most
senior members in the US Senate,
which brings a lot of has a
lot of clout and therefore is
able to accomplish a lot.
Yeah,
well, that's good news.
Another another race that I've
always found this really fascinating.
The 8th Congressional District
seat covers a lot of ground.
It seems to me it has a lot
of different needs of Scott.
King Pierce crosses the Cascade Caves
into Chelan and Kittitas County.
I mean, what is what is that race?
Something like right now.
And why is it so important that they
that voters pick the right person?
Well, that's gonna be a real close race.
It is a swing district.
It was purposely drawn that way to
neither favor Democrats nor Republicans.
But Congresswoman Kim Schrier has held
that seat for the last four years,
going up for a third term.
It's going to be a tough race.
And what's going to be interesting about
that is who is the Republican challenger?
There's a really hotly contested
race among the Republicans.
There and but it will be a tough race.
Whoever emerges from that Republican
primary coming in November,
that's correct.
Oh my goodness,
alright, let's talk about Washington
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs,
appointed after Kim Wyman resigned.
Midterm for a job with Homeland Security.
What are his chances of retaining his
seat and who else is up against him?
Well, there are quite a few candidates
running, and it's a a nonpartisan race.
Well, it's a partisan race
long held by the Republicans.
So for Steve Hobbs to have been appointed
when the Republican Kim Wyman stepped down
is a real opportunity for the Democrats.
But Steve Hobbs has a great reputation.
He's known as a centrist as a
moderate straight shooter served in
the military for quite some time.
And I think he has a good chance,
but there's so much competition and
it's kind of a sleeper race down now.
People don't really pay attention
to the Secretary of State race,
and that's what I wanted to ask you as
a lot of folks don't quite understand
how central that position is and
what the Secretary of State does.
Could you kind of just share why it
is such an important office that
we should be paying attention to?
Well, especially with all the
national concern and controversy
over the integrity of elections,
the Secretary of State's office
primary duty is to manage and oversee.
Elections throughout the state and to
coordinate with all the counties and
the auditors that handle elections
at this throughout the state.
So it is a highly visible role,
especially given the concerns and
doubts that some people have about
the integrity of our elections.
Washington State has a great
reputation in terms of its fairness,
the smoothness of its elections.
We are one of the few states that
allow people to vote completely
by mail and virtually all of
our elections now are by mail.
That's why I'm here and I saw that yeah, and
we have no controversy about drop boxes.
And as long as the ballots are submitted or
postmarked by election night, you know that.
Well, that makes it a little bit difficult
because you don't know the results for many,
many days until all the ballots come in
and are counted in many other states.
The ballots must have been received
by the county or the state by 8:00 PM
election night, which means that you
then have to put it in the mailbox.
You know three or four or five days earlier,
right? All right? Let's move
to the state legislature. Now.
Any interesting races there?
Well, we have quite a few retirements
throughout the state legislature,
and so again, it will be a question
of on the Republican candidates in
the Republican leaning districts who
emerges in the state of Washington.
It's the top two regardless of party,
and so sometimes in a particular
area with a retirement,
let's say a Democrat retires, you could
end up with two Republicans running.
In the final election,
even though it's been long
held by a Democrat,
so it really depends on the personalities,
the efforts of the candidates to get out,
their message to get their
name out and about.
Alright, let's look ahead in November.
Now, what are the issues that you think
will drive or maybe even divide voters?
Obviously it's going to be.
With the economy inflation,
a lot of people concerned about the
Supreme Court decision overturning Roe V.
Wade, but not so much just overturning
Roe V Wade and the right to a
woman's right to choose, but also.
Inferences that there is no right of privacy,
even on contraception.
Same sex marriage and the list goes on
and on, so that's going to be, I think.
A lurking issue in the minds of the voters.
Another thing that we need to watch
out on Tuesday is who's going to
emerge in terms of the 4th and the 3rd
and the 4th congressional districts.
Those are a long time Republican areas,
but the Republican candidates
are incumbents in Congress.
Congressman Newhouse and Eastern Washington
Congressman Butler in the Vancouver area.
They're being challenged by people
within their own party because
they took a courageous.
Vote to vote for the impeachment
of Donald Trump.
These are two very conservative
Republicans who went against their party,
and many of the Trump supporters and voted
for the impeachment of the president.
And now there's retaliation
by members of their party,
and they're being challenged,
so it's going to be interesting
to see. Wonder, watch,
and Speaking of the former
President Trump, he, just if he
decides to run for another term,
how could that impact the midterms?
Well, obviously.
The midterms are coming up in November
and obviously the more if the Republicans
regain control of the House or the Senate,
it would make life more difficult for
President Biden and the Democratic
administration and possibly make it more
receptive and for a Republican to win.
Whether it's Donald Trump or
any other Republican in 2024,
but also to set-up the policies and to
make it more difficult for the Democrats
to accomplish whatever they want to do.
And therefore create a bigger contrast
between Democrats and Republicans
going into the presidential election
real quick. Before I let you go,
you have had your hat in many rings before,
and you've been through this.
What do you? How would you
describe the political climate now?
It's a well. First of all,
this primary election is
kind of a sleeper election.
It's hitting the first part of August
and everybody's suffering from the heat.
Not many people paying attention
so but it's very, very important.
So many races that are without incumbents,
new people running.
Or incumbents being challenged
by people within their own party?
So it's it's going to be a very,
very important race.
But again,
so much will happen between can
happen between now and November
when the real election occurs.
Thank you so much. Governor lock.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for what you're lending to King.
And remember, if you don't like
what's going on out there,
you want things changed. Make sure
you get out there and rock the vote.
Just a reminder,
the primary is next Tuesday, August 2nd.
Make sure to watch KING5 news for team
coverage on all the big races in Washington.
We'll also have a live show on
king5.com at 8:00 PM Tuesday,
right as the first round
of results are dropped.
Governor Locke will be
back to join the coverage,
along with KING5 political analyst
Scott McClellan.
We do it better than anyone else at King.