The room rumbled on Tuesday night at the Westin Hotel in Seattle as a crowd of democratic supporters cheered for Gov. Christine Gregoire in unison, “Four more years. Four more years.”
The room erupted in applause as a very confident Gregoire took the stage following the announcement of the election results.
Gregoire addressed her supporters at the Democratic rally after major news organizations declared her the winner over Republican Dino Rossi.
With about 48 percent of the expected ballots counted Tuesday, Gregoire had about 53 percent of the vote, or 755,275 votes, compared to Rossi’s 47 percent, or 674,445 votes.
After waiting to see later returns, Rossi finally conceded by Wednesday afternoon, according to reports.
“All the negative ads are done,” Gregoire said during the event and went on to thank Dino Rossi for running and for all he has done for the state of Washington. “It is time for us to come together as one great state.”
Gregoire thanked voters for braving the long lines throughout Election Day and led the crowd in unison, cheering, “Yes we can. Yes we can.”
Standing before her supporters, Gregoire counted her blessings and praised the state of Washington.
“As one Washington, we will work our way through those tough times and we will be better and we will be stronger.” She said, adding, “We are building a new economy and it is going to be a green, clean economy.”
Gregoire was joined on stage by Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. The two congratulated Gregoire on her win.
“Yes we can, and yes we did,” declared Murray as she stood along side Cantwell.
“This election night is every one of yours. You have worked your hearts and souls out,” Murray said, thanking the crowd.
“I just came from Bellevue and I think we are going to make history there when we put first Democrat to represent the 8th Congressional District,” said Cantwell, rousing a loud cheer from the crowd.
Murray echoed Cantwell’s statement, saying, we are going to have a great new woman elected in the 8th Congressional District, Darcy Burner.
As the election results poured in, ballots showed Democratic challenger Burner leading Republican incumbent U.S Rep. Dave Reichert in early returns. The tide shifted slightly, placing the two candidates in a neck-to-neck race as the votes were counted.
The 8th District covers most of eastern King County, including the Southern edge of Kirkland.
The numbers remained too close to call with only 20 percent of the expected vote counted in Tuesday’s election. However, Reichert had 50 percent of the votes by Wednesday afternoon.
Two years ago, Burner lost to Reichert by 3 percent.
For U.S. Congressional District 1, Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee was in the lead by late Wednesday afternoon, showing more than 69 percent of the votes over opponent Larry Ishmael.
As of Wednesday afternoon, several Democratic legislative races had a sizable lead over Republican opponents.
For Position 1 of the 48th District Representative race, vote counts placed Ross Hunter (D) in the lead over first-time candidate Charles Lapp (R). Hunter held nearly 65 percent of the votes while Lapp had drawn 34 percent.
Position 2 candidate Deb Eddy (D) also of the 48th Legislative District held nearly 60 percent of the votes, while challenger Ronald Fuller (R) had drawn 39 percent.
In a tight race, 45th District candidate Rep. Roger Goodman (D) for Position 1 had pushed the lead with almost 56 percent of the votes over former Rep. Toby Nixon (R).
Rep. Larry Springer (D) also took the lead over first-time candidate Kevin Haistings, with 60 percent of the votes.
Rep. Maralyn Chase (D) of District 32, which covers Finn Hill, out paced opponent Alex Rion (R) with 70 percent of the votes. Rep. Ruth Kagi for District 32, Position 2, is running uncontested.
