Preliminary results show Republican Amanda McKinney ahead in the race to be the new U.S. House representative for Central Washington. McKinney is leading the tally with 54% of the vote, as of 9 p.m. Tuesday night.
McKinney ran against John Duresky, a Democrat, to replace U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse. Newhouse is retiring after 12 years of serving Washington’s 4th Congressional District.
The 4th Congressional District includes some or all of eight counties: Adams, Benton, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Klickitat, Okanogan and Yakima.
Unofficial, preliminary results show McKinney received 54.13%, or 74,133 votes. Duresky received 45.68%, or 62,569 votes. Write-in candidates received 0.19%, or 259 votes.
The vote in Yakima County was particularly close in preliminary results, with McKinney taking 50.12% of the vote to Duresky’s 49.55%. Write-in candidates received 0.33% of the vote.
McKinney has served as a Yakima County Commissioner for the past six years. She defined herself as an “America First” candidate and received President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
During her campaign, McKinney said she wanted to continue the president’s energy policies in an effort to lower costs for people in Central Washington. She also said she wanted to enforce the president’s strong border and immigration policies and roll back regulations that affect farmers, dairies and ranches.
The Cook Political Report, which provides nonpartisan analysis, ranks it as the most conservative congressional district in the state. Republicans have represented the area since the 1990s. The last Democrat to hold the position was Jay Inslee, who served one term.
Official election results should be available Dec. 3.
