The 2010 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 2, 2010 alongside other elections to the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
in other states as well as elections to the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator
Patty Murray
Patricia Lynn Murray (; born October 11, 1950) is an American politician and educator who is the senior United States senator from Washington since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, Murray was in the Washington State Senate from 1988 to ...
won re-election to a fourth term by a margin of 52.1% – 47.4% over Republican
Dino Rossi
Dino John Rossi (born October 15, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served as a Washington State Senator thrice, from 1997 to 2003, in 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017. A Republican, he is a former Chair of the Washington Stat ...
, who had twice run for governor in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
and
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. , this was the last U.S. Senate election in Washington in which the margin of victory was within single digits.
Top-two primary election
Candidates
Democrats
*
Patty Murray
Patricia Lynn Murray (; born October 11, 1950) is an American politician and educator who is the senior United States senator from Washington since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, Murray was in the Washington State Senate from 1988 to ...
, incumbent U.S. Senator
* Charles Allen
* Bob Burr
Republicans
*
Dino Rossi
Dino John Rossi (born October 15, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served as a Washington State Senator thrice, from 1997 to 2003, in 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017. A Republican, he is a former Chair of the Washington Stat ...
, former
State Senator
A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature.
Description
A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...
and gubernatorial candidate
*
Paul Akers, salesman
* William Chovil
*
Clint Didier
Clinton Bradley Didier (born April 4, 1959) is a professional American football player and politician. He played for the Washington Redskins and Green Bay Packers, and later sought elected office on four occasions. Didier was finally elected to ...
, former
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player
* Norma Gruber
* Michael Latimer
Others
* Will Baker (Reform Party)
* Schalk Leonard
* Skip Mercer, professor
* Mohammad Said (Centrist Party)
Polling
Results
General election
Candidates
The top 2 candidates from the
blanket primary The blanket primary is a system used for selecting political party candidates in a primary election, used in Argentina and historically in the United States. In a blanket primary, voters may pick one candidate for each office without regard to par ...
advanced to the general election.
*
Patty Murray
Patricia Lynn Murray (; born October 11, 1950) is an American politician and educator who is the senior United States senator from Washington since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, Murray was in the Washington State Senate from 1988 to ...
(D), incumbent U.S. Senator
*
Dino Rossi
Dino John Rossi (born October 15, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served as a Washington State Senator thrice, from 1997 to 2003, in 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017. A Republican, he is a former Chair of the Washington Stat ...
(R), former State Senator and gubernatorial candidate
Campaign
Rossi heavily criticized Murray for her support of the
2009 economic stimulus package; however, Rossi's economic promises are nearly identical to those of President Bush who asked for the stimulus. Rossi supports repealing the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...
and the
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He also criticized Murray for her support for
earmarks. In response, Murray said, "You bet that seniority and leadership has a big thing to do with it, but the other part of it is, I get up every day and I work hard and I believe in this and I am going to continue fighting for the community I represent."
The National Rifle Association spent $414,100 supporting Rossi and opposing Murray in the 2010 senatorial contest.
Debates
Rossi offered six debates, five of which would be in-state and one nationally. Murray agreed to two debates, and only two debates were held.
*
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
on
KOMO-TV
KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue-licensed Univision a ...
.
*
Spokane
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
on
KSPS-TV
KSPS-TV (channel 7) is a PBS member television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, owned by KSPS Public Television. The station's studios are located on South Regal Street in the Southgate neighborhood of Spokane, and its transmitter i ...
and
KXLY-TV
KXLY-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Morgan Murphy Media. Its studios are located on West Boone Avenue in Spokane, and its transmitter is located on Mount Spokane. Th ...
.
Predictions
Polling
;Aggregate polls
Results
Murray defeated Rossi by about 114,000 votes. King County, the home of Seattle, likely gave Murray a victory.
Fundraising
Notes
References
External links
Elections and Votingat the Washington Secretary of State
U.S. Congress candidates for Washingtonat
Project Vote Smart
Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...
Campaign contributionsfrom
Open Secrets
''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short story, short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994 in literature, 1994. It was nominated for the 1994 Governor General's Awards, 1994 Governor General's Award for English Fiction ...
2010 Washington Senate General Election: All Head-to-Head Matchupsgraph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Washington Senatefrom
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...
2010 Washington Senate Racefrom
Real Clear Politics
RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political ...
2010 Washington Senate Racefrom
CQ Politics
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...
Race profilefrom
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
Editorial board endorsement interview: Senate 2010from
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...
;Official campaign websites (Archived)
Patty Murray for U.S. Senateincumbent
Dino Rossi for U.S. Senate
{{Washington elections
2010 Washington (state) elections
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...