The United States House of Representatives elections in Washington were held on November 2, 2004.

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 ...

has nine members in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, as apportioned during the 2000 Census, and all nine seats were up for re-election. There were two open seats in the 5th and 8th districts when Republicans

George Nethercutt George Rector Nethercutt Jr. (born October 7, 1944) is an American lawyer, author, and politician. Nethercutt is the founder and chairman of The George Nethercutt Foundation. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representative ...

and

Jennifer Dunn Jennifer Jill Dunn (née Blackburn; July 29, 1941 – September 5, 2007) was an American politician and engineer who served six terms as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2005, representing . Early li ...

, respectively, retired. No seats changed party this year.

Overview

District 1

In this liberal-leaning district based in the northern suburbs of

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 ...

and parts of the

Kitsap Peninsula The Kitsap Peninsula () lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of Kit ...

, incumbent Democratic Congressman

Jay Inslee Jay Robert Inslee (; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Represent ...

did not face a serious challenge from Republican candidate Randy Eastwood and Libertarian Charles Moore. Congressman Inslee was able to crush both candidates in the general election to win his fifth nonconsecutive term in Congress.

District 2

Incumbent Congressman

Rick Larsen Richard Ray Larsen (born June 15, 1965) is an American politician and lobbyist serving as the United States representative for since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Larsen is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House ...

has represented this

Western Washington Western Washington is a region of the United States defined as the area of Washington state west of the Cascade Mountains. This region is home to the state's largest city, Seattle, the state capital, Olympia, and most of the state's residents. T ...

district, which extends from the northern and western suburbs of

to the Canada–US border in the north since he was first elected in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. This year, he was challenge by Republican Suzanne Sinclair and Libertarian Bruce Guthrie, but he was easily able to win a third term due to the liberal nature of his constituency.

District 3

This

district, which spans from Olympia to the

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

border, has a moderate profile and has been represented by Democratic Congressman

Brian Baird Brian Norton Baird (born March 7, 1956) is an American psychologist and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2011. After leaving the U.S. House of Representatives, he served as the ...

since 1999. Seeking a fourth term, Baird was opposed by Republican Thomas Crowson, but the Congressman’s popularity allowed him to crush his opponent in a landslide.

District 4

Incumbent Republican Congressman

Doc Hastings Richard Norman Hastings (born February 7, 1941) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the U.S. representative for from 1995 until his retirement in 2015. The district includes much of central Washington inc ...

, who won his first term in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

by defeating fellow Congressman

, ran for a sixth term in this conservative,

central Washington Central Washington is a region of the U.S. state of Washington between the western and eastern parts of the state extending from the border with the Canadian province of British Columbia in the north to the border with the U.S. state of Oregon i ...

-based district. Hastings faced Democratic nominee Sandy Matheson in the general election, whom he was able to defeat convincingly.

District 5

When incumbent Republican Congressman

opted to run for Senate instead of seeking a sixth term, an open seat was created. The Minority Leader of the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

Cathy McMorris Cathy Anne McMorris Rodgers (born May 22, 1969) is an American politician who is the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. representative for , which encompasses the eastern third of the state and includes Spokane, the state's second-largest city. ...

, emerged as the Republican nominee, while Don Barbieri, a well-known developer based in

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 ...

became the Democratic nominee. McMorris was able to defeat Barbieri by a wide margin to win her first term in Congress.

District 6

Congressman

Norm Dicks Norman DeValois Dicks (born December 16, 1940) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for , between 1977 and 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district was located in the northwestern corner o ...

, the dean of the

congressional delegation, sought a fifteenth term in this liberal-leaning district based on the

. Dicks faced perennial candidate and conservative activist Doug Cloud in the general election, but he was able to trump Cloud to seal another term in Congress.

District 7

Incumbent Democratic Congressman

Jim McDermott James Adelbert McDermott (born December 28, 1936) is an American politician and psychiatrist who was the U.S. representative for from 1989 to 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The 7th District includes most of Seattle, Vashon I ...

, who has represented this solidly liberal district based in

since he was first elected in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, ran for an eighth term in 2004. Facing Republican candidate Carol Cassady, McDermott was able to easily take victory, winning by the largest margin out of any Congressman that year in his state.

District 8

Incumbent Republican Congresswoman

declined to seek a seventh term in this increasingly liberal district based in the eastern suburbs of

and encompassing much of King County. King County Sheriff

Dave Reichert David George Reichert (; born August 29, 1950) is an American politician, veteran, and former sheriff who served as the U.S. representative for Washington's 8th congressional district from 2005 to 2019. He is a Republican and is the former ele ...

became the Republican nominee. The Democratic primary attracted national attention with three major candidates: Heidi Behrens-Benedict, the Democratic nominee for the congressional seat in 1998, 2000, and 2002; former RealNetworks attorney

Alex Alben Alex Alben (born New York City, 1958), American technology executive, author and law professor, served as the first Chief Privacy Officer of Washington State from April 2015 to May 2019. Previously, he was a candidate for the United States House ...

; and

KIRO Kiro was a colonial post in what is now the Central Equatoria province of South Sudan on the west side of the Bahr al Jebel or White Nile river. It was in part of the Lado enclave. In 1900 there were said to be 1,500 troops from the Congo Free ...

radio host Dave Ross. Ross won the primary and ran as the Democratic nominee. Despite a grueling battle and the fact that the Democratic nominee for President,

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

, won the district that year, Reichert managed to pull out a thin victory and went to Congress for his first term.

District 9

This district has been represented by Democratic Congressman Adam Smith since he was first elected in 1996. Covering the densely populated area from the suburbs of

to the northern portion of Olympia, the district has a moderately liberal population with a tendency to support Democratic candidates. Congressman Smith did not face a serious challenge from Republican Paul Lord and Green Party candidate Robert Posey and was re-elected to a fifth term with ease.