The fact that Liias is a little bit behind will be a challenge for him. That’s why a gen­er­al elec­tion bal­lot can fea­ture two Democ­rats and two Repub­li­cans, even in statewide races like this one. Enter your email address to receive automated notifications of new posts published here by email. Washingtonians will unite around our barrier breaking campaign to be the first LGBTQ statewide executive in state history,” said Liias. And obviously coming out of the primary with a second place finish with a more progressive base, Liias is going to have to pivot toward a message that can appeal to more moderate voters and Republicans. That sum did not include any transfers from his congressional account, Heck said. Denny Heck. ... On lieutenant governor, either Denny or Marko would be great in the role, and I think each of them would agree. The Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty clear­ly learned from its expe­ri­ence in the Trea­sur­er’s race, as it put up one and only one can­di­date for the posi­tion this year (Mike Pel­lic­ciot­ti), who is incum­bent Repub­li­can Duane David­son’s sole challenger. In the general election, Heck and Liias will contend with the political dynamics of an intraparty statewide contest. It is the Major­i­ty Floor Lead­er’s job to bring pro­ce­dur­al and busi­ness motions on behalf of the cham­ber’s major­i­ty cau­cus, which entails apply­ing for (and receiv­ing!) Repub­li­can Ann Davi­son Sat­tler is in third place, with 11.55%. Though Repub­li­cans were not like­ly to win any­way, they have no chance at all and no can­di­date to ral­ly behind in the gen­er­al because they did not cull the field of can­di­dates who want­ed the job. “I do think that even though there is an ideological divide, it’s worth noting that the results don’t look the same as other results in Washington that had an ideologically driven primary. Enough ballots have been counted to ensure that Congressman Denny Heck and State Senator Marko Liias, both Democrats, will advance to the November general election. In Our View Editorial: Denny Heck best qualified as lieutenant governor. In the general election, Heck and Liias will contend with the political dynamics of an intraparty statewide contest. Governor (WA State Wire) Political dominoes could make Lt. Governor’s race the one to watch in 2020 (The News Tribune) Denny Heck (D) And what of dislocated Republicans or voters who didn’t participate in the primary? In a real pri­ma­ry, vot­ers pick nom­i­nees to rep­re­sent each par­ty on the gen­er­al elec­tion bal­lot, so this sort of out­come would be unheard of in most oth­er states. Ties are uncom­mon, since the Sen­ate had an odd num­ber of mem­bers, but they do occa­sion­al­ly happen. They seem like very similar candidates. ... U.S. Rep. Denny Heck and state Sen. Marko Liias are both Democrats and have held elective office as such for years. Join Indivisibles from all over our State as we meet the candidates ask the hard questions about their priorities. The Top Two can be thought of as the first round in a mul­ti-round gen­er­al elec­tion, with the autumn elec­tion serv­ing as the final round or runoff. Heck’s campaign raised $439,035 in April and spent $9,233, according to state campaign finance records. “The November electorate will be younger, more progressive, and more reflective of the opportunities for generational change in our politics, sharing my vision for the future of our state. Your con­tri­bu­tion will allow us to con­tin­ue bring­ing you fea­tures like Last Week In Con­gress, live cov­er­age of events like Net­roots Nation or the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion, and reviews of books and doc­u­men­tary films. (Con­suls are diplo­mat­ic offi­cials who rep­re­sent oth­er coun­tries, like Swe­den, Mex­i­co, or Japan.). With revenue declining and costs increasing, Sound Transit lobbies for state and federal aid, Must-read Seattle Times story details how Eyman initiatives sabotaged public health :: NPI's Cascadia Advocate, Twenty years after the Nisqually earthquake, seismic upgrades still needed across Cascadia, U.S. House passes sweeping wilderness protection bill that includes PNW’s Olympics, Murray and Cantwell take up gavels in the Senate as heirs to Scoop and Maggie’s legacy, Tim Eyman concedes that judge's sentence won't keep him out of Washington politics :: NPI's Cascadia Advocate, Inside Tim Eyman’s profit machine: A cartoon guide to his many moneymaking schemes. Liias’ policy page mentions his support for single-payer healthcare and progressive tax reform. # Written by Andrew Villeneuve :: 9:35 PM. Public service journalism is important today as ever. Anderstone isn’t convinced that the size of Heck’s lead can be traced to his name recognition, Heck certainly has done a lot of national television appearances. All names on the list would be Demo­c­ra­t­ic can­di­dates, sub­mit­ted by the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Party. While the general election could play out along factional lines within the Democratic Party, Anderstone said that the contrast between the candidates may have as much to do with name recognition as ideology. The Top Two is an awful sys­tem, deny­ing minor par­ties bal­lot access and reduc­ing ide­o­log­i­cal diver­si­ty on Wash­ing­to­ni­ans’ autumn bal­lots, and deserves to be repealed. Heck is cur­rent­ly win­ning every coun­ty in West­ern Wash­ing­ton except for Lewis Coun­ty, which is extreme­ly right wing. He needs to recover a little bit.”. The Repub­li­can vote is split between a total of five can­di­dates, as men­tioned above, with the oth­ers being Mar­ty McClen­don (10.8%), Dick Muri (9.9%), Joseph Brum­bles (7.58%), and Bill Penor. Washington lieutenant governor hopefuls Denny Heck and Marko Liias traded barbs Thursday in a televised debate. While Liias carried King County, Heck carried almost every other county in Western Washington. The Heck vs. Liias out­come is sure to frus­trate Repub­li­cans, just as the Trea­sur­er race frus­trat­ed Democ­rats four years ago. Retir­ing Unit­ed States Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Den­ny Heck and State Sen­a­tor Marko Liias are eas­i­ly out­pac­ing five Repub­li­cans, two Lib­er­tar­i­ans, and one oth­er Demo­c­ra­t­ic can­di­date to claim the top two spots in the race to suc­ceed out­go­ing Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor Cyrus Habib, who … We don’t run ads or pub­lish con­tent in exchange for money. Liias is not win­ning any coun­ties, but will nev­er­the­less advance on to the gen­er­al elec­tion thanks to his per­for­mance in King and Sno­homish counties. At the time of the election, he was studying public administration at the University of Washington. KING 5 called the race after early results show Heck leading State Sen. Marko Liias for the position. Liias is endorsed by Habib and near­ly all of his col­leagues in the Wash­ing­ton State Senate. Wash­ing­ton, how­ev­er, does not have a real primary. Both can­di­dates are backed by the Wash­ing­ton State Labor Coun­cil and the Wash­ing­ton Con­ser­va­tion Vot­ers, which dual endorsed. State Auditor: Casey vs McCarthy. Ballots are getting mailed this week. The Cascadia Advocate loaded in 0.485 seconds. The dynam­ics in this race mir­ror those in the 2016 Trea­sur­er’s race, which saw two Repub­li­cans advance to the gen­er­al elec­tion from the Top Two elec­tion due to three Demo­c­ra­t­ic can­di­dates (one of whom was Liias) each split­ting the vote almost equal­ly and com­ing in behind the Republicans. If Liias wins, he will need to resign from the Sen­ate (he’s mid­way through a four year term) to take the job he’s now seek­ing. The Con­sti­tu­tion per­mits the Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor to cast a vote in the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate in order to break a tie. Retir­ing Unit­ed States Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Den­ny Heck and State Sen­a­tor Marko Liias are eas­i­ly out­pac­ing five Repub­li­cans, two Lib­er­tar­i­ans, and one oth­er Demo­c­ra­t­ic can­di­date to claim the top two spots in the race to suc­ceed out­go­ing Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor Cyrus Habib, who is leav­ing pol­i­tics to join the Jesuits. Statewide Town Hall with Marko Liias and Denny Heck, candidates for Washington State Lieutenant Governor. If Heck wins in the runoff, he could be spend­ing a lot of time inter­act­ing with Liias in the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate if Liias keeps his cur­rent posi­tion as Major­i­ty Floor Leader. And they're a little bit like the duties of lieutenant governor, the office they both seek: kind of esoteric and not well understood. Governor race is an already peculiar one since it features two Democrats. If you get something from our coverage, please consider making a donation to support our work. The state primary system advances the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party and the Republicans who ran did not advance. He also served as an intern for United States Congressman Jay Inslee of Washington and Eliot Engel of New York. So, it is totally possible for a progressive candidate to emerge from the primary with a lead. The Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate is fund­ed by read­ers like you and trust­ed spon­sors. Denny Heck (27%) and Marko Liias (17%) are leading in the race for Lieutenant Governor in Washington state’s Primary election. Congressman Denny Heck and State Senator Marko Liias met one-on-one in a debate Thursday night. A reckoning for ticket-splitters: Can you vote for any Republican who sticks with Trump? In the primary, Liias ran on a progressive message. The top-two primary was held on August 4, and Democrats Denny Heck and Marko Liias advanced to the general election, which Heck won. Probably not,” said Anderstone. Or make a dona­tion to sus­tain our essen­tial research and advo­ca­cy journalism. Liias earned his B.S.F.S. Thanks for reading our stuff. This November’s election is going to be about making needed changes from the DC insider status quo — putting hard working people and struggling families above lobbyists and special interests. A lot of politically active Democrats are familiar with him. Lt Gov: Heck vs Liias. Heck’s strong performance in Thurston and Pierce Counties suggests that among voters who know him, Heck is quite popular. Hope­ful­ly, at some point in the 2020s, it will be. That’s because Wash­ing­to­ni­ans vot­ed in 2004 to insti­tute a “top two” qual­i­fy­ing elec­tion sys­tem at the urg­ing of the state Grange and its allies. While there are certainly differences between U.S. Rep. Denny Heck and state Sen. Marko Liias, they're not huge. Anderstone said that the framework laid by Bernie Sanders – talking about income inequality and the impacts of globalization on rural economics – is a potential on-ramp for Liias to make inroads with rural voters, at the least. NPI was founded in August 2003 and is based in Redmond, Washington. The Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor of Wash­ing­ton State has three prin­ci­pal respon­si­bil­i­ties: pre­side over the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate, fill in for the gov­er­nor as need­ed, and serve as a bridge between the con­suls based in the cities of the Pacif­ic North­west and the gov­ern­ment of Wash­ing­ton State. Looking ahead to the general, the question is, now that all the voters who didn’t participate in the primary or voted for another candidate are free to play – How will that contribute to this dynamic? Looking ahead to the general, the question is, now that all the You may receive up to three or four notifications per day, usually less. While there are certainly differences between U.S. Rep. Denny Heck and state Sen. Marko Liias, they're not huge. OLYMPIA, Wash. — Congressman Denny Heck won the race for Washington state lieutenant governor. Q&A: Sen. Marko Liias makes his case for a progressive Lt. Governorship (WA State Wire) Q&A: Denny Heck wants to prioritize political civility and economic growth as Lt. The Washington Lt. The two most prominent Democrats in the race are U.S. Rep. Denny Heck of the Olympia area’s 10th Congressional District and … Heck is facing fellow Democrat Marko Liias, a 39-year-old state senator from Snohomish County who has served six years in the Senate after six years in the House. Den­ny Heck and Marko Liias, can­di­dates for Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor (Cam­paign photos). © 2021 The Northwest Progressive Institute. The two most prominent Democrats in the race are U.S. Rep. Denny Heck of the Olympia area's 10th Congressional District and state Sen. Marko Liias of Lynnwood. The 2020 Washington lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the lieutenant governor of Washington concurrently with the 2020 Washington elections. But has that permeated down to the level of a regular old primary voter, let alone a general election only voter? Heck is endorsed by the state’s for­mer liv­ing Demo­c­ra­t­ic gov­er­nors, most of his col­leagues in Con­gress, and by four term Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor Brad Owen, Cyrus Habib’s pre­de­ces­sor. What distinguishes them from one another? The candidates — both Democrats — are state Sen. Marko Liias, 39, the majority floor leader in the Senate, and retiring U.S. Rep. Denny Heck, … Lieutenant governor is the … A spe­cial nom­i­nat­ing cau­cus would be called to draw up a list of poten­tial suc­ces­sors, one of whom would be cho­sen by the Sno­homish Coun­ty Coun­cil to take Liias’ place in the Sen­ate. Liias has served on the Mukilteo City Council and was Student Director of the Mukilteo School Board and Precinct Committee Officer for Mukilteo 09. Heck, a member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition in Congress, is regarded as a moderate Democrat. Help us keep The Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate edi­to­ri­al­ly inde­pen­dent and freely avail­able to all by becom­ing a mem­ber of the North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute today. Only 28,000 votes down in King County as of the latest returns, Heck’s advantage in the rest of Western Washington has translated to a lead of about 7 percent, or 155,000 votes. Both Heck and Liias are expe­ri­enced elect­ed lead­ers with broad sup­port behind their can­di­da­cies. Found­ed in March of 2004, The Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate has been help­ing peo­ple through­out the Pacif­ic North­west and beyond make sense of cur­rent events with rig­or­ous analy­sis and thought-pro­vok­ing com­men­tary for more than fif­teen years. I’m excited for the weeks and months ahead.”. Suburbs getting bluer, rural areas getting redder, early 2020 legislative results suggest, Amtrak restores daily service on long distance routes thanks to the American Rescue Plan, Relief on the way: U.S. House sends American Rescue Plan to President Joe Biden’s desk, Mike McQuaid pulls the plug on challenge to Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda. Two Demo­c­ra­t­ic can­di­dates are com­fort­ably ahead of their oth­er ten rivals in the twelve per­son race for Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor in ear­ly Top Two elec­tion results, which means that the office is pret­ty much guar­an­teed to remain held by the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty until at least the next pres­i­den­tial elec­tion cycle. At this point, it’s a mathematical necessity,” said Ben Anderstone, a consultant at Progressive Strategies NW.”. Become an NPI mem­ber Make a one-time donation. Either Heck or Marko Liias would serve ably, but the out-going congressman offers a deeper resume. The pur­pose of the first round is to win­now every field of can­di­dates down to no more than two, and the law says it does­n’t mat­ter what par­ty they asso­ciate with. Age: 67. Based on the statement Liias provided to the Wire after the first round of primary returns, he seems to be leaning into a message centered around political outsidership rather than economic populism. He has worked as a Researcher for KING-5, a Freelance … Denny Heck has twice as much support as Marko Liias for LG, but most voters undecided This year’s con­test for Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor in Wash­ing­ton State pits two Democ­rats against each oth­er in the final round: U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Den­ny Heck and State Sen­a­tor Marko Liias. The Cascadia Advocate is written by the staff, board, and contributors of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a netroots powered strategy center working to raise America's quality of life through insightful research and imaginative advocacy. Enough ballots have been counted to ensure that Congressman Denny Heck and State Senator Marko Liias, both Democrats, will advance to the November general election. in International Politics and graduated from Georgetown University in 2003. Washington native, lives in Olympia. The Sanders- Biden results, for instance, were pretty tight and Sanders ended up carrying a number of counties. Repub­li­can Mar­ty McClen­don is win­ning most of the small­er coun­ties east of the Cas­cades, though he has few­er votes over­all than Ann Davi­son Sattler. But while state Sen. Marko Liias and U.S. Rep. Denny Heck are both Democrats, they disagreed on the best way to improve health care and clashed over who would be better at … Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether such a strategy, rather than moving to the center on economics, would alienate economic moderates. Republican Marty McClendon carried Lewis and Wahkiakum Counties. Heck is com­fort­ably in first place with 27.71% of the vote, while Liias has a firm grasp on sec­ond place with 16.6%. Thank you for read­ing The Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate, the North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute’s jour­nal of world, nation­al, and local politics. He’s also win­ning Whit­man and Wal­la Wal­la coun­ties. By Lynnwood Times Staff. Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics. recog­ni­tion from the Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor on a con­stant basis.