Democrat Schrier wins reelection to Washington’s 8th

By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep Kim Schrier has won a third term in Washington’s 8th U.S. House district, fending off a challenge from Republicans who targeted the seat as part of their efforts to flip the chamber.

Schrier, a pediatrician, is the only Democrat to have held the seat since the district was created in the early 1980s. She defeated Matt Larkin, a lawyer, abortion rights opponent and former Washington attorney general candidate who painted her as too far left.

Schrier stressed the results she’s achieved in office, including helping win road money for the agricultural town of Wenatchee, which will help bring the region’s apples, pears and cherries to market, and getting the city of Roslyn, best known as the setting for the TV show “Northern Exposure,” support for projects to reduce the risk of wildfire.

Wenatchee’s Republican mayor, Frank Kuntz, endorsed her in a campaign commercial, helping blunt Larkin’s assertion that Schrier was an extreme liberal out of step with voters.

“I am thrilled that our work to bring down costs, protect a woman’s right to choose, and support local police resonated with people across the 8th district,” Schrier said in a written statement Thursday night.

Washington’s 8th Congressional District stretches across the Cascade Mountains, encompassing wealthy Seattle exurbs populated by tech workers and central Washington farmland.

Washington’s other closely watched U.S. House race, in the 3rd District in the southwestern part of the state, remained too early to call.

Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez was up against Donald Trump-endorsed Republican Joe Kent, who edged out incumbent Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in the state’s top two primary.

Herrera Beutler was among those targeted by Trump for her impeachment vote following the attack on the U.S. Capitol.