Elections were held in

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

in 2006 for seats in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. Of the nine

congressional district Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional body. Countries with congressional districts includ ...

s, six were won by Democrats and three by Republicans, with the Democrats taking 64% of the vote.

Overview

District 1

Incumbent Democratic Congressman

Jay Inslee Jay Robert Inslee ( ; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician and lawyer who served from 2013 to 2025 as the 23rd governor of Washington. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1993 to 1995 and again from 1999 to 2012 as a ...

easily dispatched Republican challenger Larry Ishmael to win a sixth term.

Endorsements

District 2

Democratic incumbent Congressman

Rick Larsen Richard Ray Larsen (born June 15, 1965) is an American politician serving as the United States representative for since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Larsen is the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committ ...

defeated his Republican opponent,

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

veteran

Doug Roulstone Douglas R. Roulstone (born January 11, 1950) is a former United States Navy officer. He served for two months in the Washington House of Representatives. A Republican, he was appointed on September 26, 2014, by Governor Jay Inslee to serve out t ...

by a solid margin.

Endorsements

District 3

In a slight improvement over his 2004 performance, incumbent 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 ...

easily won a fifth term over Republican challenger Michael Messmore.

Endorsements

District 4

In his bid for a seventh term, Republican incumbent Congressman

Doc Hastings Richard Norman "Doc" Hastings (born February 7, 1941) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 1995 unti ...

beat back a spirited challenge from Democratic nominee Richard Wright. Though Hastings eventually beat Wright by a fairly solid margin, it was not the kind of landslide that Hastings usually experienced in this strongly conservative district based in

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 ...

District 5

Like neighboring Congressman

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, incumbent Republican Congresswoman

Cathy McMorris Rodgers Cathy Anne McMorris Rodgers (born May 22, 1969) is an American politician who served from 2005 to 2025 as the United States representative for , which encompasses the eastern third of the state and includes Spokane, the state's second-largest cit ...

faced a surprisingly strong challenge from Democratic nominee

Peter J. Goldmark Peter James Goldmark (born August 4, 1946) was the 15th Washington Department of Natural Resources#Commissioner of Public Lands, Commissioner of Public Lands of Washington (state), Washington, head of the Washington State Department of Natural Re ...

in her conservative,

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...

district. Though Rodgers ultimately edged Goldmark out by a comfortable margin, the race got close enough for

CQ Politics ''Congressional Quarterly'', or ''CQ'', is an American publication that is part of the privately owned publishing company CQ Roll Call, which covers the United States Congress. ''CQ'' was formerly acquired by the U.K.-based The Economist Group, ...

to change its rating on the race to Republican Favored from Safe Republican.

District 6

Long-serving Democratic incumbent Norm Dicks, a high-ranking member on the Appropriations Committee did not face a credible challenge to his bid for a sixteenth term from conservative activist Doug Cloud in this liberal,

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 Kits ...

-based district.

Endorsements

District 7

In his bid for a ninth term, 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 Is ...

easily beat out Republican nominee Steve Beren and independent Linnea S. Noreen in this very liberal,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

-based district.

Endorsements

District 8

In 2004, then- King County Sheriff

Dave Reichert David George Reichert ( ; born August 29, 1950) is an American retired police officer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2005 to 2019. A moderate member of the Republican Party, he served as the sheriff of King Count ...

won his first campaign for the

by a five-point margin. 2006 proved to be just as tough of a year for Reichert. Facing former

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

executive Darcy Burner for the first time, Reichert faced a grueling battle for re-election. Polls taken in October showed the two candidates to be about even and the two major newspapers in the area—the

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

and the

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

—split their endorsements: The Post-Intelligencer endorsed Burner while the Times supported Reichert. Ultimately, though, a few weeks after election day, it became evident that Reichert had beaten out Burner and had won a second term.

Endorsements

District 9

Incumbent Democratic Congressman

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

easily beat out Republican candidate Steven Cofchin for a sixth term in 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. ...

district based in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

Endorsements

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States House Of Representatives Elections In Washington, 2006 2006 Washington (state) elections

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...