2006 Washington State Senate election

Washington State Senate elections, 2006

November 7, 2006
24 seats of the Washington State Senate 25 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Rosa Franklin Mike Hewitt Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat 29th-Tacoma 16th-Walla Walla Last election 26 23 Seats won 32 17 Seat change 6 6
Results:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      No election
President pro tempore before election Rosa Franklin Democratic Elected President pro tempore Rosa Franklin Democratic

The 2006 Elections in Washington include races for the US Senate, US House and Washington State Legislature. This page tracks incumbents and challengers for the Washington State Senate.

Summary of results

State Senate District	Incumbent	Party		Elected Senator	Party
6th	Bradley Benson		Rep	Christopher Marr		Dem
7th	Harry Morton		Rep	Harry Morton		Rep
8th	Jerome Delvin		Rep	Jerome Delvin		Rep
13th	Joyce Mulliken		Rep	Janea Holmquist		Rep
15th	James Honeyford		Rep	James Honeyford		Rep
21st	Paull Shin		Dem	Paull Shin		Dem
26th	Bob Oke		Rep	Derek Kilmer		Dem
29th	Rosa Franklin		Dem	Rosa Franklin		Dem
30th	Tracey Eide		Dem	Tracey Eide		Dem
31st	Pam Roach		Dem	Pam Roach		Rep
32nd	Darlene Fairley		Dem	Darlene Fairley		Dem
33rd	Karen Keiser		Dem	Karen Keiser		Dem
34th	Erik Poulsen		Dem	Erik Poulsen		Dem
35th	Timothy Sheldon		Dem	Timothy Sheldon		Dem
36th	Jeanne Kohl-Welles		Dem	Jeanne Kohl-Welles		Dem
37th	Adam Kline		Dem	Adam Kline		Dem
38th	Jean Berkey		Dem	Jean Berkey		Dem
42nd	Dale Brandland		Dem	Dale Brandland		Dem
43rd	Patricia Thibaudeau		Dem	Edward Murray		Dem
44th	Dave Schmidt		Rep	Steven Hobbs		Dem
45th	Bill Finkbeiner		Rep	Eric Oemig		Dem
46th	Ken Jacobsen		Dem	Ken Jacobsen		Dem
47th	Stephen Johnson		Rep	Claudia Kauffman		Dem
48th	Luke Esser		Rep	Rodney Tom		Dem

Before the 2006 elections, Democrats held 26 of 49 seats in the state Senate, a 1-vote majority. Democrats successfully flipped five seats while Republicans flipped one, bringing the Democratic majority to 30 out of 49 seats.

Results

District	Incumbent	Party	Elected	Status	2006 Candidates & Results
District 6	Brad Benson	Republican		Running	Brad Benson (R) 45.3% Chris Marr (D) (cw) 54.7%
Republican Sen. Brad Benson, who served eight years in the state House of Representatives, won the Senate seat in 2004 after Jim West (R) resigned to become Spokane's mayor. He defeated West's replacement, Brian Murray, in the GOP primary and defeated Democrat Laurie Dolan, a former administrator for Spokane Public Schools who now serves as an adviser to Gov. Christine Gregoire, in the general election. Chris Marr has been the Chair of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce, a regent at Washington State University, State transportation commissioner, chair of both Deaconess and Valley hospitals, and has been a business owner for 20 years in Spokane. This is the first time since before World War II that this district has been represented by a Democrat.
District 7	Bob Morton	Republican		Running	Bob Morton (R) 68% Chris Zaferes (D) 32%
This was the first time that Bob Morton had been challenged by anyone since he first won the seat in 1994. The 7th District's Senate seat has been held by a Republican since 1982.
District 8	Jerome Delvin	Republican		Running	Jerome Delvin (R) 100%
Jerome Delvin was appointed in 2004 to replace Patricia Hale. He was challenged in 2004 by John David, and got 70.69% of the vote.
District 13	Joyce Mulliken	Republican		Retiring	Janea Holmquist (R) 67.1% Lisa Bowen (D) 32.9%
Joyce Mulliken, the Republican Deputy Whip, is not seeking re-election in 2006.
District 15	Jim Honeyford	Republican		Running	Jim Honeyford (R) 62.5% Tomás A. Villanueva (D) 37.5%
James Honeyford was unchallenged in 2002.
District 21	Paull Shin	Democrat		Running	Paull Shin (D) 100%
Paull Shin was challenged by Cheryl Potebnya in 2002, and received 62.07% of the vote.
District 26	Robert Oke	Republican		Not Running	Jim Hines (R) 40% Derek Kilmer (D) 60% Lois McMahan (R)
This is an open seat in the 2006 election. Robert Oke was challenged by Betty Ringlee in 2002, and received 50.42% of the vote. Oke is not seeking re-election in 2006. This year's contest could have been a rematch of a 2004 House race. Lois McMahan was previously a representative in the State House of Representatives, until she was unseated by Derek Kilmer that year. Kilmer won by 555 votes (with 49.67% of the vote).
District 29	Rosa Franklin	Democrat		Running	Rosa Franklin (D) 100%
Rosa Franklin was unchallenged in 2002.
District 30	Tracey J. Eide	Democrat		Running	Tracey J. Eide (D) 59.5% Renee Maher (R) 40.5%
Tracey Eide was challenged by William Moore in 2002, and received 54.05% of the vote.
District 31	Pam Roach	Republican		Running	Pam Roach (R) 53.1% Yvonne Ward (R) 46.9%
Pam Roach was challenged by Yvonne Ward in 2002, and received 51.69% of the vote.
District 32	Darlene Fairley	Democrat		Running	Darlene Fairley (D) 67.6% David Baker (R) 46.9% Chris Eggen (D)
Darlene Fairley was challenged by Michael Plunkett in 2002, and received 61.74% of the vote.
District 33	Karen Keiser	Democrat		Running	Karen Keiser (D) 62.5% Karen Steele (R) 37.5%
Karen Keiser was challenged by James Russell in 2002, and received 63.37% of the vote.
District 34	Erik Poulsen	Democrat		Running	Erik Poulsen (D) 79.75% Paul Byrne (R) 20.25%
Erik Poulsen was unchallenged in 2002.
District 35	Tim Sheldon	Democrat		Running	Tim Sheldon (D) 72.3% Mark E. Shattuck (R) 27.7% Kyle Taylor Lucas (D)
Tim Sheldon was challenged by Marilou Rickert of the Green Party in 2002, and received 78.28% of the vote.
District 36	Jeanne Kohl-Welles	Democrat		Running	Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D) 100%
Jeanne Kohl-Welles was unchallenged in 2002.
District 37	Adam Kline	Democrat		Running	Adam Kline (D) 86.5% Brian Thomas (R) 13.5%
Adam Kline was unchallenged in 2002.

District 38

• Jean Berkey (D) - Incumbent

Jean Berkey was elected in 2002 into House Seat #2, and took the Senator position when Aaron Reardon took the position of Snohomish County Executive. Aaron was challenged by Glenn Coggeshell in 2002, and received 65.34% of the vote.

District 42

• Dale E. Brandland (R) - Incumbent
• Jesse M. Salomon (D) - Challenger
  • Website: http://jessesalomonforstatesenate.blogspot.com/

Dale Brandland was challenged by Georgia Gardner (D), Peter Tassoni (G) and Donald Crawford (L) in 2002, and received 49.25% of the vote.

District 43

• Pat Thibaudeau (D) - Incumbent, stepping down
• Rep. Ed Murray (D)
  • Ed Murray for State Senate
• Loren Nelson (R)

Ed Murray has served the 43rd district since 1995 in the Washington State House of Representatives.

Pat Thibaudeau was challenged by Linde Knighton (G) in 2002, and received 79.04% of the vote. She announced her retirement from the Senate in May 2006, after Murray had declared his intention to challenge her for the Democratic nomination.

District 44

• Dave Schmidt (R) - Incumbent
• Steve Hobbs (D) - Challenger
  • Website: http://www.electhobbs.com/
• Lillian Kaufer (D) - Challenger
  • Website: https://web.archive.org/web/20060626071857/http://www.lillianforsenate.com/

David Schmidt was challenged by Phil Doerflein (D) in 2002 and received 53.09% of the vote.

District 45

• Toby Nixon (R)
  • Website: http://www.tobynixon.com/
• Eric Oemig (D)
  • Website: https://web.archive.org/web/20151106032436/http://www.voteeric.com/

Incumbent Sen. Bill Finkbeiner has decided to step down, citing personal reasons. Rep. Toby Nixon has declared for the seat, leaving his House seat open.

District 46

• Ken Jacobsen (D) - Incumbent
• Brian Travis (R)

Ken Jacobsen was unchallenged in 2002.

District 47

• Mike Riley (R)
  • Website: https://web.archive.org/web/20060822040045/http://www.riley4senate.com/
• Ed Crawford (D)
  • Website: https://web.archive.org/web/20060627130145/http://www.edcrawfordforsenate.com/
• Claudia Kauffman (D)
  • Website: https://web.archive.org/web/20061008105722/http://www.claudiaforsenate.com/

Stephen Johnson was challenged by Deborah Jacobson in 2002, and received 55.52% of the vote. Johnson has decided to run for Washington State Supreme Court in 2006, making this an open seat.

Steve Reichert was previously running for the Republican nomination, but withdrew due to an "old injury that has flared up".

Ed Crawford recently retired as chief of the city of Kent Police Department.

District 48

• Luke Esser (R) - Incumbent
• Rodney Tom (D) - Challenger
  • Rodney Tom is a 2 term Republican from the House in the 48th. On March 14, he announced that he would be seeking the Senate seat as a Democrat, asking challenger Debi Golden (www.debigolden.com) to step aside to avoid a primary election.