Sarah Smith Picks Up Commanding Lead In WA-9

RENTON, WA - Progressive Democrat Sarah Smith took a commanding lead over her Republican primary opponent Friday, likely setting up a general election race between Smith and 10-term incumbent Democrat Adam Smith. In vote totals released Friday, Sarah Smith widened her lead over Republican Doug Basler from around 190 votes to over 2,600 votes.

Some have likened Sarah Smith's campaign to Alexandria Occasio-Cortez, who knocked out longtime Congressman Joe Crowley in a Democratic primary in New York City last month. And there certainly are parallels. Adam Smith has never faced a Democrat in a general election, and he hasn't faced a woman since Republican Sarah Casada in the 2000 election.

And, a woman has never held office in Washington's 9th Congressional District, which was created in 1993.

On Friday afternoon, Smith, 30, was cautiously celebrating. The election won't be certified for nearly two weeks, and there are still votes to count - but with only a few thousand votes left to count in the 9th, the math appears to be in her favor.

"Right now, we're looking really really good. But I'm a cautious person, I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch," she said.

Basler expressed support for Sarah Smith on Friday. Even if she beats him, he said, he would be willing to help in any way he can. He highlighted that he and Smith were able to draw enough votes to bring Adam Smith under 50 percent of the vote.

"I'm very proud of Sarah, and I think she did an excellent job," Basler said. "My platform is that elected officials should be like jury duty. We should go to Congress, and then come home.

"I see guys like Adam Smith, and think that's a problem," he said referring to Adam Smith's tenure in Congress.

Smith announced her campaign back in 2017. She ran as a candidate for Brand New Congress (BNC), a group that trains candidates to run without accepting money from corporate political action committees. Occasio-Cortez was also a BNC candidate.

By taking only small donations, Smith raised just $57,000 to Adam Smith's over $600,000 - some that he accepted from big corporations like Amazon, Microsoft, and T-Mobile.

Smith, who lives in Kent, split time between her job at a mechanic's garage in Renton and the campaign trail. She and her volunteers were able to knock on 20,000 doors, she said. She's giving her staff the weekend off. But then she's getting right back to work in the hopes she can defeat Adam Smith in November.

"We've demonstrated that a scrappy, nobody campaign can do it on their own," she said Friday. "We reach people, we touch people, and that's how we're going to win."

Caption: Sarah Smith speaks at a primary night campaign party at Tutta Bella in Columbia City.

Photo by Neal McNamara/Patch