Democrats in Washington state saw signs of a backlash to President Donald Trump last week that extended far beyond the nation's capital, reaching even rural counties and small city council races.
In Longview, two Democratic-backed city council candidates defeated more conservative opponents, including ousting the town's incumbent mayor. In Sunnyside, progressive and Democratic-aligned candidates flipped city council seats. And in Camas, a former Republican America First" congressional candidate lost her city council seat to a Democratic-endorsed challenger.
Those results capped a Democratic sweep in nine special legislative elections, including expensive contested senate races in Pierce and King counties. In Bellevue, longtime city Councilmember Conrad Lee, who donated $50,000 to Trump's inaugural committee, also lost to a 27-year-old Democratic challenger.
While local elections are officially nonpartisan, candidates typically garner endorsements and other support from one of the two major parties. And less than a year into Trump's second term, it's clear Democratic voters were more motivated to turn out.
"I think Democrats came roaring back," said Shasti Conrad, chair of the state Democratic Party. "We saw a surge of energy and excitement for folks wanting to send a message to the Trump administration that there has been an overreach."
State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh said the Democratic wave may not be all it's cracked up to be, noting local races often turn on specific local controversies that don't fit a national narrative.
He also touted some success in school board races, saying GOP-endorsed candidates won 50 of 84 races across the state this year.
Walsh pointed to dismal voter turnout — under 40% as of Friday — as a problem for Republicans. "We have to do more to convince people it is worth voting, especially in elections that don’t have high-profile races like president," he said.
The results in Longview and Sunnyside show how national trends mixed with local fights to sway the outcome of races that pitted more conservative candidates against liberal or moderate-leaning candidates.
In both cities, conservative council majorities fired their city managers without cause, leading to blowback and costly legal bills. In Longview, the council majority also flirted with removing fluoride from the drinking water system and floated naming a street after the assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Wayne Nichols, a longtime labor leader backed by Democrats, defeated Longview Mayor Spencer Boudreau, who was part of a conservative council majority that had run headlong into such controversies.
Nichols said his win showed many people "in the country and in my town" are "growing weary of the polarization."
He said he identifies as Democratic leaning but centrist and tapped into voters tired of "divisive culture war issues" that were a local manifestation of national fights.
"People on the council were pretty deep MAGA supporters and in my opinion they tried to run the city in that vein," he said.
Boudreau declined to comment on his loss.
Mike Claxton, another Democratic-endorsed candidate, also won a Longview council seat last week, beating a Republican-endorsed opponent. A third race remained too close to call, with the more conservative contender leading.
Randy Knox, chair of the Cowlitz County Republicans, said he doesn't view the results as "a repudiation of conservative values" but acknowledged Democrats and liberal groups were "far more organized and active" this year.
"They came out in force and they voted, and a lot of other people didn’t," he said.
Knox said some of the more controversial council agenda items pushed in recent months, including the Kirk street naming and fluoride plan, helped fire up liberals and other critics. "Maybe strategically that wasn’t the best time to bring all this up," he said.
Chris Carlson, chair of the Cowlitz County Democrats, said candidates like Nichols and Claxton won by appealing to a broad slice of the community. "The fact is, those candidates who won didn’t win with Democrats only," she said. "We are a purple city."
In Sunnyside, a small town in Central Washington, Democrats were touting wins in three of four council races, flipping the council majority.
Vicki Frausto, who won reelection as part of that slate, said the results reflect a growing influence of Latino voters and candidates in an area where they have been underrepresented. That, she said, is "inspiring our community to come out and vote — they saw themselves reflected in the potential election."
State Democrats hailed Sunnyside as a victory in a news release last week, but Frausto said the state party didn't do much to help.
"It would have been nice if they showed more presence over here," she said. "We are living in a county where the Democrats are unfortunately not very well organized."
Soneya Lund, chair of the Yakima County Democrats, said anger at the Trump administration played a role in elections locally.
"Some of these Trump policies are directly affecting people there in real visceral ways," she said. "Everybody knows somebody who is being illegally deported."
Lund said the results in Sunnyside have swung the pendulum back from years of effective conservative organizing in the area and should be a wake-up call for Democrats to fight harder even in Republican districts.
"Every other city in Yakima County should be able to look at Sunnyside and say 'We can do that too,'" she said.
Matt Brown, the chair of the Yakima County Republicans, said the off-year elections were "a turnout game" and saw Democrats likely "voting more this year because of Trump."
Like Walsh, Brown said low turnout has been an ongoing problem for Republicans — no matter who is in the White House. Yakima County consistently ranks among the lowest in voter turnout, and was at 27% of ballots returned as of Friday. Statewide, thousands of later arriving mail ballots are still being counted.
Brown, who won reelection to the Yakima City Council, said most of the GOP's endorsed candidates still won in the area, including Tom Dolan, a retired welding instructor who appeared headed for a win on the Sunnyside council. "Out of the candidates we endorsed out there, he was the candidate we felt strongest about," he said.
In another small-race win claimed by Democrats, challenger Mahsa Eshghi easily defeated incumbent Camas City Councilmember Leslie Lewallen.
Lewallen had some name recognition as a candidate for Congress last year, raising more than $840,000 for that campaign. She ran as an alternative to Joe Kent, the Trump-endorsed Republican, but lost in the primary. Kent went on to lose for a second time to U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal.
Eshghi ran a locally focused campaign, playing up her professional experience as a civil engineer and promising to bring "nonpartisan common sense, not political gamesmanship to the Camas council.
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