Off to the Races: A Flurry of Political Hopefuls During Filing Week

This week is officially elections filing week in Washington, so for anyone planning to throw their hats into the ring, your time has come.

There are open positions in a number of districts, including redrawn state Legislative districts 5, 41, and 45, and US Congressional District 8.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 343 candidates had already filed for races across the state. Eighth District incumbent Dave Reichert, who recently moved his offices to Issaquah, filed for his seat, as did three others, including Republican Keith Swank (Puyallup), Democrat Karen Porterfield (Issaquah), and Independent candidate James Windle (Snoqualmie Pass).

So far, only Issaquah Republican Chad Magendanz has filed for state Representative Position 2 in the 5th District, the position that to run for Washington Lt. Governor. Businessmen and Issaquah Councilman Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah) have both declared that they will challenge incumbent Cheryl Pflug (R-Maple Valley), for the 5th District state Senate seat, but none of the three had filed yet as of May 15.

Judy Clibborn has filed for state Representative Position 2 in the 41st, which will include the southern half of Sammamish in new districting, and also includes the portions of Issaquah, on the west and north of Interstate 90.

Meanwhile, in the 45th District, Joel Hussey (R-Redmond) has filed for state Representative Position 1, currently held by Roger Goodman, and incumbent Larry Springer (D-Kirkland), has refiled for Position 2. In the new districting which takes effect after the upcoming elections, the 45th District includes the Northern half of Sammamish.

You can see all the offices open for election here, and filings to date here.

The deadline to file is this Friday, May 18.