2022 United States Senate election in Washington

The 2022 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Washington. Incumbent senator Patty Murray was first elected in 1992 with 54% of the vote to succeed retiring fellow Democrat Brock Adams. Murray won re-election to a fifth term in 2016 with 59% of the vote.

Because Washington has a blanket primary system, parties did not nominate their own candidates to run in the general election. Instead, every candidate appeared on the same ballot, regardless of their party affiliation. The top two candidates in the August 2 nonpartisan blanket primary then advanced to the general election. Murray received 52.2% of the primary vote and advanced to face Republican Tiffany Smiley.

Although Washington has been a reliably blue state for over 30 years, many polls showed that Murray only had a narrow lead over Smiley, and some polls had Smiley within the margin of error. A couple of late polls had the two candidates tied; such polls caused most pundits to downgrade their forecast from "safe Democratic" to "likely Democratic", and Republicans believed that Smiley had a chance of pulling off an upset. Despite the predictions of a close race, Murray defeated Smiley and won re-election to a sixth term by a 14.5-point margin. Although this was a significantly larger margin of victory for Murray than what was expected, it was fairly consistent with Washington's partisan lean. Smiley conceded the following day. Despite her loss, she made significant gains in several counties, particularly in the Southwestern and Eastern parts of the state.

Following the election, Murray was elected president pro tempore for the 118th Congress, becoming the first woman to hold the role.

Primary election

Democratic candidates

Advanced to general

• Patty Murray, incumbent U.S. Senator and Assistant Democratic Leader

Eliminated in primary

• Pano Churchill, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2016
• Sam Cusmir
• Ravin Pierre, aerospace engineer and data scientist
• Mohammed Said, physician and perennial candidate
• Bryan Solstin, aerospace engineer and software developer

Withdrawn before primary

• David Ishii
• Nicolaust Sleister
• Robert Kirby

Republican candidates

Advanced to general

• Tiffany Smiley, nurse

Eliminated in primary

• John Guenther, state employee
• Bill Hirt, perennial candidate

Withdrawn before primary

• Bob Hagglund, IT professional
• Isaac Holyk, CEO of a software development Company

Third party and independent candidates

Eliminated in primary

• Thor Amundson (independent), candidate for U.S. Senate in 2016 and 2018 and governor in 2020
• Jon Butler (no party preference)
• Henry Clay Dennison (Socialist Workers), perennial candidate
• Dan Phan Doan (no party preference)
• Martin D. Hash (no party preference)
• Chuck Jackson (independent), candidate for U.S. Senate in 2012 and 2016
• Leon Lawson (Trump Republican), candidate for governor in 2020
• Naz Paul (independent), real estate developer
• Dave Saulibio (JFK Republican), U.S. Army veteran, candidate for Washington's 5th congressional district in 2018 and Washington's 8th congressional district in 2020

Withdrawn before primary

• Mfumu Metamorphosis Mpiana
• Larry Hussey

Endorsements

Results

General election

Debates

Two debates were held, the first on October 23 at Gonzaga University. The second was town hall-style forum on October 30 in the KIRO-TV studio in Seattle.

Murray's campaign declined an invitation to a scheduled debate on October 25 at Seattle University.

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

Aggregate polls

Graphical summary

Results

By county

By congressional district

Murray won 7 of 10 congressional districts, with the remaining 3 going to Smiley, including one that elected a Democrat.

See also

• 2022 United States Senate elections

Notes

Partisan clients

References

External links

Official campaign websites

• Patty Murray (D) for Senate
• Tiffany Smiley (R) for Senate

1. 2022 United States Senate elections
2. 2018 United States Senate election in Washington
3. 2024 United States Senate election in Washington
4. 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia
5. 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio
6. 2010 United States Senate election in Washington
7. 2000 United States Senate election in Washington
8. 2024 United States Senate election in Maryland
9. 2024 United States Senate elections
10. 2022 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
11. 2022 United States Senate election in Arizona
12. 2022 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
13. 2016 United States Senate election in Washington
14. 2006 United States Senate election in Washington
15. 2022 United States Senate election in Nevada
16. 2024 United States Senate election in Ohio
17. 1986 United States Senate election in Washington
18. 2022 United States Senate election in Kansas
19. 1988 United States Senate election in Washington
20. 2022 Washington State Senate election