2026 Washington State Senate election

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Washington State Senate elections, 2026

November 3, 2026

24 of 49 seats in the Washington State Senate
25 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Jamie Pedersen John Braun
Party Democratic Republican
Leader's seat 43rdSeattle 20thCentralia
Current seats 30 19
Seats needed Steady Increase 6

     Democratic incumbent      Democratic incumbent retiring
     Republican incumbent      Republican incumbent retiring

Incumbent Majority Leader

Jamie Pedersen
Democratic



The 2026 Washington State Senate election will be held on November 3, 2026, alongside the other 2026 United States elections.[1] Voters will elect 24 of the 49 the members of the Washington State Senate in the U.S. state of Washington's legislative districts to serve a four-year term.[2]

Elections will be held concurrently with the 2026 US midterm election, as well as elections to the US House of Representatives, Washington State House, Washington Supreme Court, and various county and local offices.[3] Primary elections will be held on August 4, 2026 using a top-two primary where all candidates are listed on the same ballot and the two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election.[4][5]

This will be the first electoral cycle for this cohort of State Senators using the new legislative district boundaries after the court ordered redistricting in 2024. The redistricting was triggered when U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Washington Robert Lasnik ruled that the 15th District as it was drawn in 2022 was in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[6] The seats up for election in the State Senate in 2026 that had boundary changes due to this redistricting are District 7, District 8, District 13, District 15, and District 31.[7]

Partisan background

Of the State Senate seats that are up for election in 2026, only the 35th District is held by a Republican in a legislative district that Kamala Harris won in 2024. In addition, of the districts with a Senator up for election in 2026, only the 26th District has a member of the State House from the same district who is of a different party than the incumbent State Senator.

All other districts up for election in 2026 are represented by the party whose presidential nominee carried the district in 2024 and are of the same political party as both members of the State House from their district.

Harris
  40–50%
  50–60%
  60–70%
  70–80%
  80–90%
  90–100%
Trump
  40–50%
  50–60%
  60–70%

On April 16th, 2026, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) announced that they would be investing in Washington state legislative races to protect incumbents and flip seats. They did not announce investments in any specific races at that time.[8][9]

Outgoing incumbents

Retirements

  1. District 8: Matt Boehnke (R) is retiring to run for Congress.[10]
  2. District 13: Judy Warnick (R) is retiring[11]
  3. District 29: Steve Conway (D) is retiring.[12]
  4. District 37: Rebecca Saldaña (D) is retiring to run for the King County Council.[13]
  5. District 42: Sharon Shewmake (D) is retiring.[14]

Incumbents running in a new district

  1. District 15: Nikki Torres (R) is running in the 8th District.[10]

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[15] Safe D January 22, 2026

Summary of results by district

  • Districts not listed were not up for election in 2026.
  • † Incumbent did not seek re-election in that seat.
District2024 Pres.[16]IncumbentPartyElected SenatorOutcome
6th R+10.9 Jeff Holy Rep TBD
7th R+31.9 Shelly Short Rep TBD
8th R+23.7 Matt Boehnke Rep TBD
13th R+28.0 Judy Warnick Rep TBD
15th R+23.5 Nikki Torres Rep TBD
21st D+36.5 Marko Liias Dem TBD
26th D+9.4 Deborah Krishnadasan Dem TBD
29th D+20.6 Steve Conway Dem TBD
30th D+19.9 Claire Wilson Dem TBD
31st R+7.1 Phil Fortunato Rep TBD
32nd D+53.0 Jesse Salomon Dem TBD
33rd D+36.2 Tina Orwall Dem TBD
34th D+69.6 Emily Alvarado Dem TBD
35th D+0.7 Drew MacEwen Rep TBD
36th D+80.9 Noel Frame Dem TBD
37th D+73.3 Rebecca Saldaña Dem TBD
38th D+19.2 June Robinson Dem TBD
42nd D+9.8 Sharon Shewmake Dem TBD
43rd D+81.3 Jamie Pedersen Dem TBD
44th D+20.7 John Lovick Dem TBD
45th D+44.0 Manka Dhingra Dem TBD
46th D+78.3 Javier Valdez Dem TBD
47th D+15.1 Claudia Kauffman Dem TBD
48th D+44.9 Vandana Slatter Dem TBD

List of districts

District 6District 7District 8District 13District 15District 21District 26District 29District 30District 31District 32District 33District 34District 35District 36District 37District 38District 42District 43District 44District 45District 46District 47District 48

District 6

The 6th district is represented by Republican Jeff Holy, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if he will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 7

The 7th district is represented by Republican Shelly Short, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 8

The 8th district is represented by Republican Matt Boehnke, who is retiring to run for U.S. House in Washington's 4th congressional district to replace retiring incumbent Dan Newhouse (R-Sunnyside).[10]

Candidates

Declared

Declined

Withdrawn

Endorsements

Nikki Torres (R)

State legislators

District 13

The 13th district is represented by Republican Judy Warnick who is retiring.[11]

Candidates

Declared

Declined

District 15

The 15th district is represented by Republican Nikki Torres, who initially was going to run for re-election in this seat, but decided to run for the 8th district's open state senate seat vacated by Matt Boehnke.[23][30]

Sen. Torres was first elected to this seat in 2022, but was drawn out of the district by court ordered redistricting in 2024.[6][7] She continued to represent the district in the Senate despite no longer residing in it.

Candidates

Declared

Declined

Endorsements

Jeremie Dufault (R)

State legislators

Local officials

District 21

The 21st district is represented by Democrat Marko Liias, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

  • Riaz Khan (Republican), former Mukilteo city councilmember and vice-chair of the 21st district Democrats. Candidate for state house in this district in 2024[18][32]
  • Marko Liias (Democratic), incumbent state senator[33]

District 26

The 26th district is represented by Democrat Deborah Krishnadasan, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Declared

  • Gary Parker (Republican), restaurant owner[34]

Filed paperwork

Endorsements

Deborah Krishnadasan (D)
Organizations

District 29

The 29th district is represented by Democrat Steve Conway, who is retiring. Sharlett Mena confirmed she would run for the seat and Melanie Morgan, the other state representative for the district, stated she would support Mena for the state senate seat.[12]

Candidates

Declared

Filed paperwork

Declined

Endorsements

Sharlett Mena (D)
Organizations

District 30

The 30th district is represented by Democrat Claire Wilson, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

Declined

District 31

The 31st district is represented by Republican Phil Fortunato, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 32

The 32nd district is represented by Democrat Jesse Salomon, who is running for re-election.[47]

Candidates

Declared

Filed Paperwork

  • Ira McBee (Republican)[48]

District 33

The 33rd district is represented by Democrat Tina Orwall, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Declared

District 34

The 34th district is represented by Democrat Emily Alvarado, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 35

The 35th district is represented by Republican Drew MacEwen, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 36

The 36th district is represented by Democrat Noel Frame, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

  • Jillian England (Republican), 36th district Republicans Vice-Chair[55][56]
  • Noel Frame (Democratic), incumbent state senator[57]

District 37

The 37th district is represented by Democrat Rebecca Saldaña, who will not run for re-election. She will run for the King County Council District 2 seat that was vacated by Girmay Zahilay when he won election to become King County Executive in November 2025. The two representatives for the district Chipalo Street and Sharon Tomiko Santos stated that they discussed who should run for her vacant seat and decided that Rep. Street would.[58]

Candidates

Declared

Declined

Withdrawn

  • Emijah Smith (Democratic), community organizer and candidate for state house in this district in 2022[18][66]

District 38

The 38th district is represented by Democrat June Robinson, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 42

The 42nd district is represented by Democrat Sharon Shewmake, who will not seek re-election.[14] Both Democratic State Representatives for the district have also declined to seek the Senate seat.[68][69]

Candidates

Declared

Filed paperwork

  • Ryan Bowman (No party preference), full-time caregiver and small business owner[74][75]

Declined

Endorsements

Eamonn Collins (D)

Local officials

Michael Shepard (D)

State legislators

District 43

The 43rd district is represented by Democrat and incumbent Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, who is running for re-election.[77]

Candidates

Declared

Filed Paperwork

  • Heather-Marie Wilson (No party preference), wife of former Seattle city council candidate Kenneth Wilson[18][81]

Endorsements

Jamie Pedersen (D)

State officials

State legislators

Hannah Sabio-Howell (D)

State legislators

Local officials

Organizations

District 44

The 44th district is represented by Democrat John Lovick, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 45

The 45th district is represented by Democrat Manka Dhingra, who is running for re-election.[87]

Candidates

Declared

District 46

The 46th district is represented by Democrat Javier Valdez, who is running for re-election.[89]

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 47

The 47th district is represented by Democrat Claudia Kauffman, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Declared

Filed paperwork

Withdrawn

District 48

The 48th district is represented by Democrat Vandana Slatter, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

See also

References

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