Democratic Gov.-elect Jay Inslee can thank overwhelming support in Seattle for his victory over Republican Rob McKenna in the 2012 gubernatorial race. A Seattle Times analysis of precinct vote returns shows Inslee carried Seattle by 78.4 to 21.4 percent over McKenna — his strongest showing of any city in King and Snohomish counties. (See map below…

Democrat Jay Inslee isn’t waiting for all the votes to be counted in the governor’s race:  He’s starting to assemble a transition team for his administration. In a news conference at his campaign headquarters in South Seattle, Inslee said he is “very confident that we will be in a position to lead the…

With heavy support in King County, Democrat Jay Inslee moved to an early lead over Republican Rob McKenna in Washington’s gubernatorial contest as early vote counts were released Tuesday night. Inslee led with nearly 52 percent of the statewide vote, compared with 48% for McKenna, according to statewide and King County figures posted after 8 p.m. The…

Making some final Seattle campaign stops Tuesday, Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna each sounded confident they’ll win their hard-fought gubernatorial race — even if they are behind in votes tallied tonight. Inslee appeared at the combined Democratic campaign office on Rainier Avenue South around noon to encourage phone-bank volunteers and place a few get-out-the-vote…

A new poll for KING 5 finds the governor’s race a dead heat as Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna enter their final days of campaigning. With just five days to go until votes are counted, the poll found Inslee with 47 percent support and McKenna with 46 percent, with 7 percent undecided. That’s well within the survey’s…

Post updated at 1:20 p.m. with comments from journalism and political experts. The Seattle Times Co. jumped directly into two of the state’s hottest political contests Wednesday, launching an $80,000 independent-expenditure campaign promoting Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna and announcing a similar effort in support of the referendum to legalize gay marriage. The company’s move — which…

UPDATED: Includes comment from Washington State Democrats Judging by a new mailer hitting Washington households, the Washington State Democratic Party has developed quite a disdain for those Olympia politicians. The mailer attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna refers pejoratively to “Olympia” or “Olympia politician” seven times. It hits McKenna, the two-term Attorney General, for…

Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna met in their fourth debate Thursday night. You can read our story here, watch a replay here. And just for fun, here are two visual representations – word clouds – of what each candidate said. The bigger the word, the more often it was said. (Click on…

One of the most newsworthy moments of Thursday night’s gubernatorial debate came after  the debate was over. In a post-debate news conference, Democrat Jay Inslee was pressed on whether he’d veto any tax increases sent to him by the Legislature. It was a logical follow-up for Inslee, who has repeatedly said he does not favor…

A new poll shows Democrat Jay Inslee with a lead over Republican Rob McKenna in the gubernatorial race as the two prepare for a televised debate Tuesday night in Yakima. The KING 5 poll, conducted by Survey USA, found 48 percent of those surveyed support Inslee, compared with 42 percent for McKenna. The statewide poll…