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2026 Washington State Senate election

The 2026 Washington State Senate election will be held on November 3, 2026, alongside the other 2026 United States elections. Voters will elect 24 of the 49 the members of the Washington State Senate in the U.S. state of Washington's legislative districts to serve a four-year term.

This will be the first electoral cycle for this cohort of State Senators using the new legislative district boundaries after the court ordered redistricting in 2024. The redistricting was triggered when U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Washington Robert Lasnik ruled that the 15th District as it was drawn in 2022 was in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The seats up for election in the State Senate in 2026 that had boundary changes due to this redistricting are District 7, District 8, District 13, District 15, and District 31.

Partisan background

Of the State Senate seats that are up for election in 2026, only the 35th District is held by a Republican in a legislative district that Kamala Harris won in 2024. In addition, of the districts with a Senator up for election in 2026, only the 26th District has a member of the State House from the same district who is of a different party than the incumbent State Senator.

All other districts up for election in 2026 are represented by the party whose presidential nominee carried the district in 2024 and are of the same political party as both members of the State House from their district.

Outgoing incumbents

Retirements

  1. District 8: Matt Boehnke (R) is retiring to run for Congress.
  2. District 13: Judy Warnick (R) is retiring
  3. District 29: Steve Conway (D) is retiring.
  4. District 37: Rebecca Saldaña (D) is retiring to run for the King County Council.
  5. District 42: Sharon Shewmake (D) is retiring.

Incumbents running in a new district

  1. District 15: Nikki Torres (R) is running in the 8th District.

Predictions

Summary of results by district

  • Districts not listed were not up for election in 2026.
  • † Incumbent did not seek re-election in that seat.

List of districts

District 6

The 6th district is represented by Republican Jeff Holy, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if he will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

  • Jeff Holy (Republican), incumbent state senator

District 7

The 7th district is represented by Republican Shelly Short, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 8

The 8th district is represented by Republican Matt Boehnke, who is retiring to run for U.S. House in Washington's 4th congressional district to replace retiring incumbent Dan Newhouse (R-Sunnyside).

Candidates

Declared

Declined

Endorsements

State legislators

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District 13

The 13th district is represented by Republican Judy Warnick who is retiring.

Candidates

Declined

District 15

The 15th district is represented by Republican Nikki Torres, who initially was going to run for re-election in this seat, but decided to run for the 8th district's open state senate seat vacated by Matt Boehnke.

Sen. Torres was first elected to this seat in 2022, but was drawn out of the district by court ordered redistricting in 2024. She continued to represent the district in the Senate despite no longer residing in it.

Candidates

Declared

Declined

Endorsements

State legislators

Local officials

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District 21

The 21st district is represented by Democrat Marko Liias, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if he will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 26

The 26th district is represented by Democrat Deborah Krishnadasan, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Declared

  • Gary Parker (Republican), restaurant owner

Filed paperwork

District 29

The 29th district is represented by Democrat Steve Conway, who is retiring. Sharlett Mena confirmed she would run for the seat and Melanie Morgan, the other state representative for the district, stated she would support Mena for the state senate seat.

Candidates

Declared

Declined

District 30

The 30th district is represented by Democrat Claire Wilson, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 31

The 31st district is represented by Republican Phil Fortunato, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if he will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

  • Phil Fortunato (Republican), incumbent state senator
  • Tamara Stramel (Democratic)

District 32

The 32nd district is represented by Democrat Jesse Salomon, who is running for re-election.

Candidates

Declared

District 33

The 33rd district is represented by Democrat Tina Orwall, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Potential

District 34

The 34th district is represented by Democrat Emily Alvarado, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 35

The 35th district is represented by Republican Drew MacEwen, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if he will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 36

The 36th district is represented by Democrat Noel Frame, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

  • Noel Frame (Democratic), incumbent state senator

District 37

The 37th district is represented by Democrat Rebecca Saldaña, who will not run for re-election. She will run for the King County Council District 2 seat that was vacated by Girmay Zahilay when he won election to become King County Executive in November 2025. The two representatives for the district Chipalo Street and Sharon Tomiko Santos stated that they discussed who should run for her vacant seat and decided that Rep. Street would.

Candidates

Declared

Declined

District 38

The 38th district is represented by Democrat June Robinson, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 42

The 42nd district is represented by Democrat Sharon Shewmake, who will not seek re-election. Both Democratic State Representatives for the district have also declined to seek the Senate seat.

Candidates

Declared

Filed paperwork

  • Ryan Bowman (No party preference)

Publicly expressed interest

Potential

Declined

Endorsements

Local officials

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District 43

The 43rd district is represented by Democrat and incumbent Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if he will do so.

Candidates

Declared

  • Hannah Sabio-Howell (Democratic), former state senate staffer

Filed paperwork

Endorsements

Local officials

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District 44

The 44th district is represented by Democrat John Lovick, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if he will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 45

The 45th district is represented by Democrat Manka Dhingra, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 46

The 46th district is represented by Democrat Javier Valdez, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if he will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 47

The 47th district is represented by Democrat Claudia Kauffman, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

District 48

The 48th district is represented by Democrat Vandana Slatter, who is eligible to run for re-election but has not yet stated if she will do so.

Candidates

Filed paperwork

See also

References