6 key WA races in the Nov. 8 election

Deadline for voting is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Since May, The Times editorial board has interviewed more than 120 candidates running for offices, ranging from Congress to the state Legislature to King County Prosecutor. Read all the full endorsements and all the other editorial board endorsements here.

Below we are highlighting key races.

King County Prosecuting Attorney: Jim Ferrell

At this time of stress and transition in the criminal legal system, voters ought to choose Jim Ferrell to serve as King County Prosecuting Attorney. He has the experience, priorities and people skills to become only the fifth person to serve in this important position in seven decades.

Currently mayor of Federal Way, Ferrell worked in the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for 16 years. He helped create and later supervised the Domestic Violence Court Unit working with victims of violent crimes.

Ferrell’s résumé as an elected executive leading a city government and its police department give him an important perspective on how decisions by the prosecutor’s office impact residents. While he is familiar with the job, Ferrell brings a fresh mindset to resolving the community’s law enforcement challenges.

Ferrell faces Leesa Manion, who currently serves as chief of staff to King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. In January, he announced his retirement.

While Ferrell and Manion differ on how jail diversion programs should be monitored and overseen, one of the most important factors in the campaign has been office morale.

Several current and former prosecutors, including the recently retired chief of the Criminal Division, have endorsed Ferrell. Manion’s recent gaffe during a debate in which she said criminal trial work was simple only heightened internal misgivings about her leadership.

Ferrell is the best choice for King County Prosecuting Attorney.

U.S. Senate: Patty Murray

Democrat Patty Murray has ably represented the entire state since she was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. She deserves another term.

Establishing herself as both a strong advocate for progressive Democratic values as well as a deal-maker able to find common ground for the good of Washington and the nation, Murray’s stature has grown over her career. Now one of the most powerful senators in the nation, she is able to wield influence for Washington not seen since the days of the late Sens. Henry M. Jackson and Warren Magnuson.

Look almost anywhere from the Pacific to the Palouse, and you can find evidence of Murray’s legislative handiwork.

She secured nearly $100 million for housing and services to support people experiencing homelessness. She directed tens of millions of dollars over the years for environmental restoration in Puget Sound and the Columbia River Basin. A strong advocate for those who have served the nation, Murray took on the Biden administration when the Department of Veterans Affairs recommended that its Walla Walla facility reduce primary care and mental health services.

Republican Tiffany Smiley has made Murray’s tenure a liability, blaming her for all the nation’s ill and proposing that the solution is to retire Washington’s greatest asset in Washington, D.C. Her gimmicky and superficial campaign fails to meet the moment.

Voters ought to reelect Murray.

8th Congressional District: Kim Schrier

In one of the most closely watched congressional races in the nation, Democrat Kim Schrier is running a solid campaign, just as she has effectively represented her rural and suburban constituents.

Schrier earned The Times’ editorial board endorsement because she is a practical dealmaker, not a partisan firebrand.

She has focused on agriculture, trade, law enforcement and other regional issues such as working with state officials to fund a wildfire escape route in Wenatchee. Both Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump have signed her bills.

As the only pro-abortion rights woman doctor in Congress, Schrier supports the right to choose. She voted twice to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade into law.

Her opponent, self-described conservative businessman Matt Larkin, throws out any nuance on abortion. He would support a national abortion ban, without exceptions for rape or incest.

Larkin is ill-suited for the job. The voters of the 8th District need a thoughtful advocate like Schrier, not an ideological social issues warrior.

Voters should also consider the fact that, in this election, party affiliation matters.

A GOP-led House will likely focus on impeaching Biden and investigating his family. The party, now deprived of voices like U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, both eliminated in their primaries, will pump conspiracy theories and tilt toward authoritarianism.

Schrier is the best candidate to advocate for the unique interests of the 8th District.

45th Legislative District, Senate: Ryika Hooshangi

Challenger Ryika Hooshangi makes a compelling case that voters should make a course correction in the 45th District, which includes parts of Kirkland, Cottage Lake, Sammamish and points in between. The Republican, who supports abortion rights, will help bring much-needed balance to the Legislature with a moderate, collaborative brand of politics that is progressive on social policies and conservative on fiscal issues.

Hooshangi’s impressive résumé shows the former diplomat has the chops to do so. An attorney by training, she worked for the U.S. State Department, traveling the world advising diplomats. She also was an adviser to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee for a few years. More recently, she chaired the board of The Borgen Project, the respected Seattle-based nonprofit that advocates for policies to combat global poverty. These days, she is in private legal practice and serves her community as an elected member of the Sammamish Plateau Water Board.

The incumbent Sen. Manka Dhingra has made strong contributions in the Senate, working on significant behavioral health issues, for example. However, she has staked out some positions that charitably might be called out of touch with where Washingtonians are and where many in her party are. For example, she was the main impediment to fixing the police pursuit reforms this year, even though the Senate had enough votes including in her caucus, for the revision.

She said she will sponsor a bill to decriminalize simple possession of drugs because, she says, she is obligated to do so as the chair of a work group that has made that recommendation. Yet, her well-known actions fighting such penalties in the Legislature’s 2021 response to the Supreme Court’s Blake decision belie stronger support for the idea.

31st Legislative District, Senate: Chris Vance

Another smart choice that could bring more balance to the state Senate is for the 31st District voters to replace the far-right Republican incumbent with a conservative, who is running as an independent.

Voters should elect former state Republican Party Chair Chris Vance, who previously represented this district as a Republican. He left the party after the 2016 election but remains the same pragmatic conservative who has been involved in public policy for more than 20 years.

Unlike incumbent Republican Sen. Phil Fortunato — who seems to be more engaged in fighting the culture war than in effectively legislating — Vance has proved he is a thoughtful lawmaker. He served as a state representative from 1991 to 1993 and Metropolitan King County Council member from 1994 to 2001.

In addition to public safety and transportation, Vance said he will focus on public education, an issue on which his passion is evident and where he believes the Legislature has fallen short.

47th Legislative District, Senate: Bill Boyce

In the open seat for state Senate, Kent City Council President Bill Boyce has a civic résumé and depth of experience at the local level that will well serve the district including Kent, Auburn and Covington.

The Republican also served on the school board for 12 years, nuts-and-bolts experience that should help as the Legislature continues to grapple with inequitable education among school districts in the state and persistent underfunding of special education.

A testament to his past service and commitment to regional solutions, all five mayors in his district have endorsed his candidacy.