Washington 2026 Election & Infrastructure Intelligence

# Washington Elections and Infrastructure Overview **Research date:** August 3, 2026 Washington has no U.S. Senate, governor, or other executive statewide election in 2026. The core statewide package therefore covers all ten U.S. House districts and four contested Supreme Court positions. The top-two primary is August 4, one day after this package was prepared. ## Election structure Washington's top-two system places all candidates for an office on the same primary ballot. The two highest vote-getters advance regardless of party. Nine House incumbents are seeking reelection. WA-04 is open because Dan Newhouse is retiring. WA-03 is the leading national House battleground. ## Data-center and AI infrastructure policy Washington is balancing a large technology economy and abundant hydropower against transmission constraints, regional load growth, water concerns and ratepayer exposure. Governor Bob Ferguson signed ESSB 6231 on April 1, 2026. The law removed sales and use tax eligibility for refurbishment projects and replacement server equipment beginning July 1 while leaving a narrower pathway for qualifying new construction. JLARC reported that the urban preference had produced an estimated $42.4 million in beneficiary savings from 2023 through 2026, 53 reported family-wage jobs and nearly 300 temporary construction jobs, but no new urban data center built using the preference. Separate 2026 proposals addressed emerging large energy users, utility planning, affordability, reliability, jobs, environmental effects and community impacts. Seattle adopted an emergency moratorium covering large facilities above its threshold while the city studies permanent standards. ## Strategic interpretation The state is not following a single Enable or Restrict model. Its current direction is **Conditional**: new facilities remain possible, but tax preferences are narrower and local governments are asserting stronger siting, utility and impact-review authority. ## Sources - h

Race	Status	Candidates	Impact	Key issue

# Washington Race and Candidate Dossiers **As of:** August 3, 2026 **Primary:** August 4, 2026 Posture labels require issue-specific evidence. General support for AI or business growth alone is not treated as proof of a data-center siting position. ## U.S. House District 1 - Priority: Standard - Status: Primary field active - Infrastructure lens: Technology corridor, clean power, transmission, semiconductor and cloud infrastructure - Polling: No verified public poll ### Candidates - **Benjamin Kincaid** (Democratic): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **Suzan DelBene** (Democratic): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **Bryce Nickel** (Democratic): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **James Etzkorn** (Independent): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **Hunter Gordon** (Democratic): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **Mary Silva** (Republican): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **Catherine Hildebrand** (Democratic): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. ## U.S. House District 2 - Priority: Standard - Status: Primary field active - Infrastructure lens: Ports, aerospace, hydropower, tribal resources, grid resilience - Polling: No verified public poll ### Candidates - **Edwin H. Feller** (Republican): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **Tomas Scheel** (Democratic): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **Devin Hermanson** (Democratic): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. - **Rick Larsen** (Democratic): **Unverified**; confidence Low. No sufficiently specific public data-center siting, utility-cost, water, or tax-incentive position was located in this research pass. ## U.S. House District 3 - Priority: Critical - Status: Primary field active - In

# Research Gaps and Refresh Rules ## Immediate refresh rules - Refresh primary results hourly after 8:00 p.m. Pacific on August 4 until the top two are stable in each contest. - Refresh daily through certification because Washington mail-ballot rankings can change over several days. - Replace primary-stage candidate records with certified general-election fields after certification, while preserving eliminated candidates in a historical table. - Monitor recount thresholds in close races. ## Evidence gaps - Most federal candidates have not published sufficiently specific data-center positions. Keep them Unverified rather than inferring a posture from broad AI, climate, energy or economic rhetoric. - Expand campaign-finance and endorsement fields after the primary. - Add district-level project, utility, water and transmission records during the general-election phase. - Track implementation of ESSB 6231, Seattle's moratorium, large-load utility proposals and any county-level siting a