 | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
   Murray: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Smiley: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 40–50% 50% No data | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
.jpg)
| Elections in Washington |
|---|
 |
The 2022 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Washington. Murray had won re-election to a fifth term in 2016 with 59% of the vote.[1]
Because Washington has a blanket primary system, parties did not nominate their own candidates to run in the general election. Instead, every candidate appeared on the same ballot, regardless of their party affiliation. The top two candidates in the August 2 nonpartisan blanket primary then advanced to the general election. Murray received 52.2% of the primary vote and advanced to face Republican Tiffany Smiley.[2]
Although Washington has been a reliably blue state for over 30 years, many polls showed that Murray only had a narrow lead over Smiley, and some polls had Smiley within the margin of error. A couple of late polls had the two candidates tied; such polls caused most pundits to downgrade their forecast from "safe Democratic" to "likely Democratic", and Republicans believed that Smiley had a chance of pulling off an upset.[3] Despite the predictions of a close race, Murray defeated Smiley and won re-election to a sixth term by a 14.5-point margin. Although this was a significantly larger margin of victory for Murray than what was expected, it was fairly consistent with Washington's partisan lean.[4] Smiley conceded the following day. Despite her loss, she made significant gains in several counties, particularly in the Southwestern and Eastern parts of the state.[5]
Following the election, Murray was elected president pro tempore for the 118th Congress, becoming the first woman to hold the role.[6]
- ^ Newsdesk, Kiro Radio (May 17, 2021). "Senator Patty Murray announces reelection campaign". My Northwest.
- ^ "Sen. Patty Murray, Tiffany Smiley advance in Washington Senate primary". PBS NewsHour. August 2, 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
- ^ "Democrats scramble to avert shock Senate loss in Washington state". Politico. October 26, 2022.
- ^ Gutman, David (November 8, 2022). "Patty Murray defeats Tiffany Smiley in U.S. Senate race". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ "Tiffany Smiley concedes U.S. Senate race to Sen. Patty Murray". KOMO News. Sinclair Broadcasting Group. November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
- ^ Shabad, Rebecca (January 3, 2023). "Sen. Patty Murray becomes first female president pro tempore". NBC News. Retrieved April 3, 2023.