Democrats convene in Spokane as preparations ramp up for November election

Washingtonians will weigh in on fewer high-profile races than a typical even-year election.

The general election will not include races for president, governor or senator, a quirk in the electoral cycle that only occurs once every 12 years. Still, residents should expect to see an onslaught of campaign materials over the next four and a half months.

As they gathered in Spokane this weekend for the state Democratic convention, local, state and national party leadership said their focus will be on boosting their governing trifecta in the state and regaining influence in the nation's capital.

During a reception Saturday evening, Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, told the roughly 500 people seated inside the Spokane Convention Center ballroom that the path to a majority in the House of Representatives "runs through this state."

"We have elections this November where we will take back the gavel and make Democrats the majority party in the U.S. House," Martin said in his remarks. "And, God willing, in the U.S. Senate."

In Washington, Democrats remain focused on re-electing Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in the 3rd Congressional District, a seat they likely need to retain if they want to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

While they already hold comfortable majorities in both chambers in the state Capitol, Democrats are eyeing expanding their membership in the state House and state Senate to push them closer to gaining supermajorities.

"We really do feel like, you know, this is a year where we can win big and we're betting on that," state Democratic Chair Shasti Conrad told reporters Saturday.

Although judicial races in Washington are nonpartisan, both Democrats and Republicans are focusing on the five seats on the state Supreme Court up for election this year in races that typically see less fanfare.

And while much of the focus remains on what candidates voters choose , a highly-anticipated U.S. Supreme Court ruling could reshape when they vote.

In addition to Martin, featured speakers in Spokane included Attorney General Nick Brown, Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti, Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove and Mayor Lisa Brown. Gov. Bob Ferguson was not in attendance and said in a prerecorded video that he is in Oregon for a softball tournament.

"This is a big year. We've got to take back Congress, and we've got to defend the millionaires tax at the ballot box this year," Ferguson said in the video about the new income tax on millionaires, which drew applause from the crowd.

National attention remains on southwestern Washington

For the third consecutive election cycle, national political pundits and reporters will be focused on the voters of southwestern Washington.

Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez burst onto the scene in 2022 when she unexpectedly won a Congressional district long controlled by Republicans. Two years later, Gluesenkamp Perez again bucked national trends and won a district that also voted to send Donald Trump back to the White House.

In both races, Gluesenkamp Perez faced Joe Kent, who later joined the second Trump administration. Now, she will face Republican state Sen. John Braun, the state Senate minority leader who has shown he can win in the area and has the backing of Trump and prominent national Republicans.

While in Congress, Gluesenkamp Perez has pushed back on some of the more progressive members of her caucus, drawing the ire of some Democrats in her district. Conrad said Gluesenkamp Perez is "having to play really, sort of, a tight rope" in a district that leans Republican.

"What I tell our folks, particularly in (District 3), is: Do you want someone who, you know, votes alongside us Democrats, you know, 75% of the time, 80% of the time, versus someone who will vote against us 100% of the time?" Conrad said.

Conrad said this year "is different" with Braun on the ballot instead of Kent.

"Joe Kent allowed for a very, very clear sort of contrast," Conrad said. "John Braun, you know, was trying to model himself as a more moderate Republican, which does kind of cut into that moderate middle that Marie Gluesenkamp Perez has done such an incredible job of really building."

Supreme Court

The average voter likely wouldn't know members of the state Supreme Court if they walked by them on the street, much less know the details of their judicial philosophy.

Democrats and Republicans want to change that.

Due to mandatory retirements from two members and state election laws, five seats on the bench will be up for a vote this year instead of the typical three. The court decides the legality of an array of important issues, and is likely to decide in future years if the state's new income tax on millionaires violates the state constitution.

Candidates on the ballot will not have a party affiliation next to their name, though both parties want to make it clear which candidates they're backing. Conrad told reporters that efforts to increase voter awareness will be "one of our No. 1 pieces of work this year."

"Because we have a number of Democratic-aligned candidates in several of those races, you know, I see our role really leaning on education," Conrad said. "So many people have no idea that you even vote for judges, that you can vote on state Supreme Court races. And so we have been doing a lot of education through a lot of our local party organizations."

When is election day?

The question seems simple enough, but depending on how members of the U.S. Supreme Court answer, party and election officials in more than a dozen states will need to scramble to adjust their get-out-the-vote efforts.

Currently, ballots in Washington must be postmarked or dropped in a ballot drop box by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

During oral arguments in March in a case challenging Mississippi election law, members of the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority appeared hesitant to allow states to accept mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, potentially disrupting elections in Washington and 13 other states. A ruling in the case is expected in the coming days.

More than 311,000 of the 2 million ballots that were returned in Washington for the 2025 general election arrived on Nov. 5, the Wednesday after Election Day, according to data from the secretary of state's office, votes that would not be valid under the new requirement.

Earlier this year, the state Democratic Party ran a test to see how delayed ballots from rural areas of the state could be. Conrad said the party sent post cards to party officials across the state, and then tracked to see how long it took them to be returned.

"In major cities, it was kind of like, you know, one to two days. But certainly in the rural areas of our state, it was, you know, three to five and sometimes even a little bit more," Conrad said.

Conrad said the party is talking to candidates about educating voters on how and when to vote "because that is going to be so important to being able to carry out elections."

Statewide initiatives

The November ballot will include at least two statewide initiatives. One would undo changes legislators made to the previously passed parental bill of rights, while a second would bar transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.

Over the next two weeks, organizers could gather enough signatures for a third: repealing the newly passed income tax on millionaires.

Conrad said she believed the initiatives on the 2024 ballot helped boost Democrats, because it "gave us things to talk about."

"I think this year's initiatives are obviously a little bit different, although the millionaires tax is sort of our great, grand piece of legislation that we have gotten done this year," Conrad said.

Conrad said the party is focused on telling voters to vote "no" on all three initiatives and "really making sure that they're sort of bundled together."

"That we're not abandoning our LGBT community in any way, but also making sure that we're defending the work the, you know, the state Legislature has gotten done," Conrad said.

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This story was originally published June 21, 2026 at 7:06 PM.