Most Washington primary election races won't be decided until Friday

OLYMPIA - Results from Washington state's all-mail primary election will continue to trickle in throughout the week, but the races that were decided early on were no surprise: Democratic incumbent Gov. Jay Inslee and Republican challenger Bill Bryant easily advanced through Washington's primary to the November ballot, as did Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and opponent Republican Chris Vance.

Many other races may take days to determine as the ballots arrive in elections offices throughout the week following Tuesday's drop-off deadline.

"By Friday, you should pretty much know the top two finishers in all the races," said David Ammons, spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

Counties posted more results late Wednesday afternoon as voters narrowed their choices in dozens of federal, statewide and local races, but more than 300,000 ballots still need to be processed and counted. The latest results still had Inslee with 49 percent of the vote and Bryant at 39 percent. Murray advanced with 53 percent of the vote and Vance had 28 percent.

All 10 of the state's U.S. House seats are also on the ballot, including Seattle's solidly Democratic 7th District, which is an open seat after Jim McDermott decided to retire after serving 14 two-year terms in Congress. That race has drawn nine candidates, including Democratic Sen. Pramila Jayapal, Democratic Rep. Brady Walkinshaw and Metropolitan King County Councilor Joe McDermott (no relation to Jim McDermott). Jayapal, with 39 percent of the vote, advanced to the November ballot, and Walkinshaw and Joe McDermott were fighting for the second slot, with each receiving about 21 percent.

Incumbents are running - and were easily advancing to the general ballot - in the rest of the races in the state's congressional delegation, where Democrats hold six of the seats, and Republicans hold four.

The open seat for lieutenant governor also has drawn a large group of 11 candidates, including three Democratic state senators. Early returns showed Democratic Sen. Cyrus Habib and Republican Marty McClendon both sitting atop the crowd, with 20 percent each.