Schrier Wins WA-8, Dino Rossi Concedes

ISSAQUAH, WA - Democrat Kim Schrier was holding her son the 8th Congressional race Wednesday after Republican t Dino Rossi conceded. Schrier's campaign all but declared victory in a statement Wednesday afternoon before the latest returns.

"Following the initial returns tallied in Washington’s 8th District last night, Dr. Kim Schrier is positioned to defeat Dino Rossi. Schrier’s strong lead, combined with her significant advantage in King County, the district’s largest county, leave no realistic path for Rossi to overtake Schrier in the remaining ballot returns," the campaign wrote in a news release.

Schrier's lead is essentially unchanged from Tuesday night, except in terms of vote totals. She gave a victory-like speech at a Democratic election party at the Bellevue Hilton, pledging to listen to voters, fight Donald Trump, and make health care affordable, among other promises.

When the votes are counted, "I beleive we'll have a woman doctor in the House," Schrier said.

Rossi, at a Republican party in Issaquah Tuesday night, said that there are still plenty of votes to be counted.

"You don’t have an election night, you have an election week," he said of Washington's mail-in returns.

Schrier's lead was coming solely from King County on Tuesday night. The 8th Congressional District is unique in the state because it crosses the Cascades, linking liberal Seattle suburbs like Issaquah with more conservative places like Douglas County.

Rossi was ahead in Pierce, Kittitas, Chelan, and Douglas counties, but those counties have fewer voters than King County.

2018 Midterm Election Results: Long Lines Reported Across Country

Here's were the race stood on Tuesday night (we'll start adding results around 8 p.m., refresh this page for up-to-date results):

• Dino Rossi (R): 98,406 votes, 46.82%
• Kim Schrier (D): 111,759 votes, 53.18%

Return to Patch tonight for the latest vote tally. Subscribe to free News Alerts for election results.

Near 5 p.m. Tuesday, voters were dropping off ballots outside Issaquah City Hall in a steady stream.

Asked about the Schrier-Rossi contest, Issaquah resident Jonathan Kittelman said he voted for Rossi. He didn't like that Schrier has been associated with a statewide income tax. A series of ads paid for by Republicans hit Schrier for writing in a candidate questionnaire, "We need to address our regressive tax system, and move toward a progressive income tax." But neither Rossi nor Schrier would be able to enact an income tax, that's the job of state lawmakers.

"I tend to lean toward Rossi," he said. "He knows all the ins and outs."

Issaquah resident Susan Olson voted Schrier. She liked Schrier's debate performance and thought Rossi came across as fake.

"I felt like she was a little more honest," Olson said.

The 8th Congressional District race has been going on, it seems, since right after Donald Trump took office.

In early 2017, progressive voters aligned with the Indivisible movement began holding demonstrations outside Dave Reichert's office over health care. In May 2017, he voted "no" on the House repeal of Obamacare (also known as the Affordable Healthcare Act). At the same time, critics hounded Reichert over his unwillingness to hold public town hall meetings with constituents. He held limited phone-in town halls broadcast on Facebook.

"The Congressman has been meeting with constituents daily, including the Indivisible groups," Reichert's former spokesman Breanna Deutsch told Patch in 2017. "Over this two-week period he has nearly 50 meetings and events scheduled and will meet with well over 200 people from the Eighth Congressional District. He believes this approach is the best way to maintain open communication with his constituents and have productive conversations."

Reichert perhaps saw the writing on the wall. In September 2017, the seven-term House representative announced he would not seek reelection. He won his seat in 2016 with more than 60 percent of the vote, but the 8th went for Hillary Clinton overall.

Meanwhile, Rossi, who in the past unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate and governor before, was a placeholder for state Republicans, holding the seat left vacant when state senator Andy Hill died in 2016. His 45th District seat was taken by Democrat Manka Dhingra in the November 2017 election.

Rossi faced no primary challenger, while Democrats Schrier, Jason Rittereiser, and Shannon Hader competed for the nomination. Without a primary challenger, Rossi benefited by raising millions while the Democrats competed against each other.

Schrier, a Issaquah pediatrician, narrowly beat Rittereiser in the Aug. 7 primary, winning by about 1,000 votes. Hader, also a doctor, came in third. Both Rittereiser and Hader got behind Schrier's campaign after the primary.

Since the primary, Rossi and Schrier have been clashing over issues like health care, taxes, and border security. Rossi has accused Schrier of not treating poor patients at her Issaquah practice. However, Schrier's practice is run by Swedish, which makes the decisions about what types of insurance can be accepted.

Schrier has knocked Rossi over health care, too. She has accused him of wanting to do away with the rule that prevents health insurers for denying coverage for preexisting conditions.

Both candidates have earned powerful endorsements and raised millions. Rossi was endorsed by the Seattle Times editorial board, but Schrier was endorsed by the Tacoma News-Tribune editorial board, which could hold weight in more conservative western Pierce County cities.

As of Nov. 5, Schrier had raised about $7 million to Rossi's $4.4 million - but millions more from independent groups poured into the race.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce paid for this pro-Rossi ad:

The single debate in the race took place on Oct. 17 at Central Washington State University in Ellensburg. The two candidates didn't directly confront each other, but they clashed over hot issues. Schrier criticized Rossi for not fully supporting abortion rights, although he did say he's in favor of the medical procedure in the case of "rape, incest, or the mother's health."

During the debate, Rossi touted his work in 2003 as a state senator crafting a state budget with no tax increases. But former Democratic Gov. Gary Locke has said that Rossi simply took an existing budget and made massive cuts.

It's true that Republicans in 2003 proposed cuts that would've eliminated Medicaid coverage for about 46,000 kids, but that didn't pass.

Pre-election polls mostly showed Schrier and Rossi in a dead heat. One outlier was the Crosscut/Elway poll in September that showed Rossi up by 10 points over Schrier 49-39. But that was still within the poll's wide margin of error. A New York Times/Sienna College poll taken over the last week before the election gave Schrier the advantage 48-45. Again, that results was within the poll's 4-1/2 point margin of error.

We'll see Tuesday night how close those polls were.

Photo by Neal McNamara/Patch