OLYMPIA, May 14.—It’s put up or shut up time for hundreds of candidates across the state of Washington as filing week opens this morning. A breathless world will find out, among other things, whether anyone will bother running in the million-dollar special election that was triggered when Congressman Jay Inslee decided to resign this year, whether there will be any more retirements from the state Legislature, and whether Dennis Kucinich of Ohio will be moving to this state to run for Congress, as he has been threatening for the last year.
Katie Blinn, the co-director of elections in the secretary of state’s office, says her crew has been gearing up for the rush that will begin when the office opens this morning. Blinn tried to explain it to a group of visiting high school students when they visited Friday: “It’s like the Friday before school starts.”
It’s an apt description. Filing week is really the start of Washington state’s elections season. Some 344 state and congressional positions are on the ballot this year. Candidates in some 89 races will file at the secretary of state’s office in Olympia, including congressional positions and positions that cross county lines. Hundreds more candidates in local races will file at county courthouses and local elections offices.
Not Quite What it Used to Be
Filing week is a big deal, though perhaps not quite as big as it used to be. In the old days candidates were required to file in person, and in some cases – as on absentee ballots – the order in which candidates filed determined the order in which they appeared on the ballot.
An opening-day crowd at the Secretary of State's office in the '50s.
What it meant was that you could always count on a crowd at county auditor’s offices and at the secretary of state’s office in Olympia, and newspaper reporters always showed up to see who was first in line. One shot from the ‘50s, posted online by the secretary of state’s office a couple of years ago, shows just how big those crowds of politicians could get, all dressed in their Sunday best, with paperwork in hand.
Craig Pridemore (center), campaign volunteer for Seattle Mayor Charles Royer, camps out in the corridor of the King County Courthouse in 1981.
As recently as the summer of 1981, 20-year-old campaign volunteer Craig Pridemore camped out for six days in the corridor of the King County Courthouse, with sleeping bag, backgammon set, and battery-operated TV, to make sure Seattle Mayor Charles Royer was listed first. These days, of course, Pridemore is a Democratic state senator from Vancouver, and he’ll be submitting paperwork to run for state auditor.
These days no camping is necessary. Candidates can file by mail or online. Filing order doesn’t determine the listing on the ballot – that’s determined by lot in the primary, and on the general election ballot, the candidate who has the greatest number of votes is listed first.
Of course, some candidates still make a big show of it. State Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, running for U.S. Senate, has already pumped out a press release announcing that he’ll be turning in his paperwork at 10 a.m. at the secretary of state’s office – just in case anyone wants to get a picture.
A Million-Dollar Special Election
Filing week will settle all mysteries about this year’s races. Some 400 candidates have been raising money for this year’s state elections, according to paperwork filed on the state Public Disclosure Commission website, but there’s never any telling for sure who will run until it comes time to formally declare a candidacy.
Former U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., whose decision to quit early has triggered a million-dollar special election in the 1st Congressional District.
The biggest question marks concern the 1st Congressional District race, in south Snohomish and northern King and Kitsap counties, where Congressman Jay Inslee has resigned and left the seat vacant to focus on his campaign for governor. Five Democrats have been raising money to run for the office, but it’s not clear whether all of them will go all the way. The state labor council’s decision to endorse Suzan DelBene for the position may have an effect on Laura Ruderman and Darcy Burner, who have been courting progressive voters in the district. Also running is Sen. Steve Hobbs, a Democratic centrist, and Darshan Rauyniar, a Nepalese immigrant. John Koster is the lonely Republican in the race.
At the same time, Inslee’s decision to quit early has triggered an unusual and rather costly special election. That’s because the boundaries of the district have changed, and therefore state law requires a separate election for the month between the time the election results are certified and a new Congress is sworn in. Until last week it was unclear whether any candidate would bother running for a one-month term. But over the weekend, former Democratic legislator and Snohomish County councilman Brian Sullivan told The Herald in Everett that Congress has always been a dream – even if the term lasts just one month. He’ll be able to run without giving up his council seat. The one-month salary is $15,000. And his decision will mean big money for the county, too. As long as even one candidate enters the race, because of the way elections costs are apportioned, county elections officials will be able to send Washington-state taxpayers a nearly $1 million bill for placing the additional special election on the ballot. Republicans have called for Inslee to compensate the state, but Inslee hasn’t responded.
U.S. Rep. 'Dennis the Menace' Kucinich, D-Ohio.
The wild card in the race for the two-year term is Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. A former Democratic presidential candidate, Kucinich has a national constituency, but he was redistricted into a new district and lost in a primary election earlier this year. Kucinich also has been appealing to progressive Democratic voters in the 1st District, to the dismay of party officials who say they have more than enough local talent already and aren’t eager for a six-way race. State Party Chairman Dwight Pelz has been calling the Ohio congressman “Dennis the Menace” and says his place is in the Buckeye State. If Kucinich decides to run, he’ll need to establish a residence somewhere in Washington state before the end of the week.
How Many Will Retire?
Also to be determined is whether some of the Legislature’s longest-serving members will run for re-election. Already some 23 members have announced that they will not be running for their current positions. Not all of them are giving up on politics. Thirteen of them are doing so because they are running for statewide or county offices, or because they are House members running for Senate positions. But not all of them can win. The auditor’s race, for instance, has drawn three Democratic legislators as contenders, Pridemore and state Reps. Mark Miloscia of Federal Way and Troy Kelley of Tacoma.
State Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell.
Much speculation has centered on state Sens. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, and Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, particularly after the surprise announcement May 3 from Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. Brown had been expected to help raise money for the two veterans. McAuliffe so far has raised just $15,023 for her re-election campaign. Haugen has raised a more respectable $30,823, but faces what is likely to be a strong challenge from state Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor.
In this state, candidates are allowed to declare their own party preference, without party approval, limited only by their imagination and the 16-character limit. That perhaps is the other big filing-week mystery – whether anyone will be able to top Timothy (Cleaver) Stoddard’s 2008 declaration that he represented the “Salmon Yoga Party.” An anxious state can only stay tuned.
Runs Through Friday
Filing week runs through Friday, and there always are a few surprises as candidates make up their minds in the final minutes. Online filing ends at 4 p.m., and in-person filing ends when state and county elections offices close for the day, between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Candidates who have second thoughts may withdraw by the following Monday, but they don’t get their filing fees back. In this state, filing fees are pegged at 1 percent of a position’s annual salary.
This year’s races include one for U.S. Senate, 11 for U.S. House (including the unexpired term in the 1st District), nine races for statewide offices, 98 in state House, 26 in state Senate, three for the state Supreme Court, eight for the Court of Appeals and 188 for superior court.
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