by Antonio Foster (updated Aug 5 at 5:40pm)
Tuesday night’s primaries saw both 37th District State Senator Pramila Jayapal and sitting 9th Congressional District Congressman Adam Smith emerge at the top of their respective races and advance to the general election held in November.
Jayapal, a Columbia City resident, announced her bid for the 7th Congressional District seat in January, after Congressman Jim McDermott decided he would not seek re-election after serving in the position since 1989.
Jayapal, who has served as the 37th District State Senator since January of 2015, took 38 percent of last night’s vote to have plenty of breathing room between her and the other candidates in the race.
After Friday’s ballot count State Representative Brady Walkinshaw ended up prevailing over King County Councilmember Joe McDermott to take second place in the primary, and challenge Jayapal in the general election.
In another congressional primary of interest to South Seattlites, Congressman Adam Smith of the 9th District easily topped his race with 57 percent of the vote. He will face Republican Doug Basler in the general election. The 9th congressional district includes most of South Seattle, parts of Tacoma, in additions to Bellevue and Mercer Island.
In another notable result from Tuesday night, Seattle voters approved a $290 million property-tax levy for low-income housing.
Full results of Tuesday’s election can be viewed here.