2010 United States Senate election in Washington

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2010 United States Senate election in Washington
Flag of Washington.svg
  2004 November 2, 2010 2016  
  Patty Murray, official portrait, 113th Congress (cropped).jpg Dino Rossi (cropped).jpg
Nominee Patty Murray Dino Rossi
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote1,314,9301,196,164
Percentage52.08%47.37%

2010 United States Senate election in Washington results map by county.svg
County results
Murray:      50–60%     60–70%
Rossi:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

U.S. senator before election

Patty Murray
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Patty Murray
Democratic

The 2010 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 2, 2010 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Patty Murray won re-election to a fourth term by a margin of 52.1% – 47.4% over Republican Dino Rossi, who had twice run for governor in 2004 and 2008. As of 2023, this was the last U.S. Senate election in Washington in which the margin of victory was within single digits.

Contents

Top-two primary election

Candidates

Democrats

Republicans

Others

  • Will Baker (Reform Party) [3]
  • Schalk Leonard [3]
  • Skip Mercer, professor [9]
  • Mohammad Said (Centrist Party) [3]

Polling

Poll sourceDates administeredPatty Murray (D)Dino Rossi (R)Clint Didier (R)Paul Akers (R)Undecided
Elway Research April 29 – May 2, 201048%––4%8%36%
Elway Research June 13, 201043%31%5%2%17%
Survey USA June 30, 201037%33%5%3%19%
Public Policy Polling July 27 – August 1, 201047%33%10%4%6%
Survey USA August 6–9, 201041%33%11%5%4%

Results

Blanket primary election results [10] [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Patty Murray (incumbent) 670,284 46.22%
Republican Dino Rossi 483,305 33.33%
Republican Clint Didier185,03412.76%
Republican Paul Akers37,2312.57%
Independent Skip Mercer12,1220.84%
Democratic Charles Allen11,5250.79%
Democratic Bob Burr11,3440.78%
Republican Norma Gruber9,1620.63%
Republican Michael Latimer6,5450.45%
Democratic Mike the Mover6,0190.42%
Democratic Goodspaceguy4,7180.33%
Reform William Baker4,5930.32%
Independent Mohammad Said3,3870.23%
Independent Schalk Leonard2,8180.19%
Republican William Chovil2,0390.14%
Total votes1,450,126 100.00%

General election

Candidates

The top 2 candidates from the blanket primary advanced to the general election.

Campaign

Rossi heavily criticized Murray for her support of the 2009 economic stimulus package; however, Rossi's economic promises are nearly identical to those of President Bush who asked for the stimulus. [12] Rossi supports repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He also criticized Murray for her support for earmarks. In response, Murray said, "You bet that seniority and leadership has a big thing to do with it, but the other part of it is, I get up every day and I work hard and I believe in this and I am going to continue fighting for the community I represent." [13]

The National Rifle Association spent $414,100 supporting Rossi and opposing Murray in the 2010 senatorial contest. [14]

Debates

Rossi offered six debates, five of which would be in-state and one nationally. [15] Murray agreed to two debates, and only two debates were held. [16]

Fundraising

Candidate (party)ReceiptsDisbursementsCash on handDebt
Patty Murray (D)$10,951,403$12,438,133$1,032,034$0
Dino Rossi (R)$7,365,098$4,331,414$2,960,039$0
Source: Federal Election Commission [17]

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Cook Political Report [18] TossupOctober 26, 2010
Rothenberg [19] TossupNovember 1, 2010
RealClearPolitics [20] TossupOctober 26, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball [21] Lean DOctober 21, 2010
CQ Politics [22] TossupOctober 26, 2010

Polling

Aggregate polls
Source of poll
aggregation
Dates
administered
Dates
updated
Patty
Murray (D)
Dino
Rossi (R)
Other/Undecided
[lower-alpha 1]
Margin
Real Clear Politics October 24–31, 2010October 31, 201048.3%48.0%3.7%Murray +0.3%
Poll sourceDate(s) administeredSample
size
Margin
of error
Patty
Murray (D)
Dino
Rossi (R)
OtherUndecided
Moore Information January 23–24, 2010500± 4.4%43%45%––––
Rasmussen Reports February 11, 2010500± 4.5%46%48%1%5%
Rasmussen Reports March 9, 2010500± 4.5%46%49%3%2%
Research 2000 March 22–24, 2010600± 4.0%52%41%––7%
Rasmussen Reports April 6, 2010500± 4.5%48%46%3%4%
Survey USA April 22, 2010517± 4.4%42%52%––7%
The Washington Poll May 3–23, 2010626± 3.9%44%40%––16%
Rasmussen Reports May 4, 2010500± 4.5%48%46%2%3%
Rasmussen Reports May 25, 2010500± 4.5%48%47%2%4%
The Washington Poll May 24–28, 2010221± 6.6%39%42%5%13%
The Washington Poll May 28 – June 7, 2010848± 3.3%42%40%––12%
Elway Research June 13, 2010405± 5.0%47%40%––13%
Rasmussen Reports June 22, 2010500± 4.5%47%47%3%3%
Rasmussen Reports July 14, 2010750± 4.0%45%48%3%3%
Rasmussen Reports July 30, 2010750± 4.0%49%47%2%2%
Public Policy Polling July 27 – August 1, 20101,204± 2.8%49%46%––5%
Rasmussen Reports August 18, 2010750± 4.0%48%44%4%4%
Survey USA August 18, 2010618± 4.0%45%52%––––
Rasmussen Reports August 31, 2010750± 4.0%46%48%3%3%
Elway Research September 9–12, 2010500± 4.5%50%41%3%7%
CNN/Time September 10–14, 2010906± 3.5%53%44%2%1%
Rasmussen Reports September 16, 2010750± 4.0%51%46%1%2%
SurveyUSA September 22, 2010609± 4.1%50%48%––3%
Fox News September 25, 20101,000± 3.0%48%47%2%3%
Rasmussen Reports September 28, 2010750± 4.0%47%48%2%3%
Rasmussen Reports October 6, 2010750± 4.0%46%49%3%2%
Fox News October 9, 20101,000± 3.0%46%47%7%0%
Elway [ permanent dead link ]October 7–11, 2010450± 4.6%55%40%0%5%
CNN/Opinion Research October 8–12, 2010850± 3.5%51%43%2%0%
The Washington Poll October 4–14, 2010500± 4.3%50%42%––8%
SurveyUSA October 11–14, 2010606± 4.1%50%47%0%3%
Public Policy Polling October 14–16, 20101,873± 2.3%49%47%––4%
McClatchy/Marist October 14–17, 2010589± 4.0%48%47%1%5%
Rasmussen Reports October 17, 2010750± 4.0%49%46%2%3%
Rasmussen Reports October 27, 2010750± 4.0%47%48%3%2%
SurveyUSA October 24–27, 2010678± 3.8%47%47%––6%
The Washington Poll October 18–28, 2010500± 4.3%51%45%––4%
Marist College October 26–28, 2010838± 3.5%49%48%2%1%
Fox News/Pulse Opinion Research October 30, 20101,000± 3.0%49%47%4%0%
YouGov October 25–30, 2010850± 4.1%50%48%0%2%
Public Policy Polling October 29–31, 20102,055± 2.2%48%50%0%2%

Results

Murray defeated Rossi by about 114,000 votes. King County, the home of Seattle, likely gave Murray a victory. [23]

General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Patty Murray (incumbent) 1,314,930 52.08%
Republican Dino Rossi 1,196,16447.37%
Write-in 13,9390.55%
Total votes2,525,033 100.00%
Turnout 71.24
Democratic hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Notes

  1. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.

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