Certified results set U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Nirav Sheth for a Nov. 3 contest in Washington’s 7th Congressional District, a Seattle-area seat, after both advanced from the Aug. 4 top-two primary.
The Washington Secretary of State’s certified canvass recorded 182,844 votes for Jayapal and 21,282 for Sheth, the two largest totals in the district contest. Gwen Kirkland received 7,519 votes and David W. Blomstrom received 4,294. The district includes most of Seattle and nearby communities. The general election will determine who represents it for the next two-year House term.
Washington does not hold separate primaries to select a party nominee for each general-election slot. Candidates with different party preferences compete in one primary, and the two with the highest vote totals advance, even if they share a preference or represent different parties. The Secretary of State’s office says Washington voters approved the top-two system in 2004 and the state held the country’s first top-two primary in 2008. State election records list Jayapal with a Democratic preference and Sheth with a Republican preference.
Jayapal won election to the House in 2016 and is serving her fifth term, her official biography says. If re-elected, she would begin a sixth term. The biography says she was born in India and came to the United States at 16; it also describes her as the first South Asian American woman elected to the House. At a July 4, 2023, naturalization ceremony, Jayapal said, “Born in India, I came to America when I was 16 years old, by myself.”
Sheth’s campaign biography says he was born and raised in India and moved to the United States in 2008. His campaign lists public safety, education, infrastructure, small-business support and immigration among its issues. Jayapal’s House biography lists immigration, health care and workers’ rights among the issues she has championed.
The general election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3.
