From Eric Dondero:

Washington State held its multi-party primaries yesterday. The 3rd Congressional district had a multitude of Republicans, many libertarian-leaning and affiliated with the Tea Party. The winner on the Republican side was Jaime Herrera.

Pundits see this seat as the absolute best shot the GOP has of picking up a Congressional seat in WA. The seat is currently held by retiring Democrat Rep. Brian Baird. The district which includes Olympia and Vancouver, in southwestern Washington, leans conservative.

Back in December of last year, when Baird announced his retirement, we wrote here at LR, "Yet another bigtime incumbent Dem calls it quits; Rep. Brian Baird (WA) faced increasingly tough Reelection":

Already announced for the seat is Republican State Rep. Jaime Herrera of Battle Ground. She's been known as a "Jobs First" legislator, and a staunch fiscal conservative. Back in April she criticized Gov. Gregoire's budget (Vancouver Business Journal):

"The only thing I'm proud of with this budget is that Republicans fought against tax increases on working families and employers, and won. However, this budget does not fix the fundamental problem that got us here -- overspending.

Herrera is now the overwhelming favorite to win in November. Here's a breakdown of last night's vote totals. The combined Republican total is far ahead of the lone Democrat. From The Olympian:

With 69 percent of the expected vote counted Tuesday night, Democrat Denny Heck led with 31 percent of the vote. Coming in a close second in early returns was Herrera, who had 27 percent. Republicans David Hedrick and David Castillo trailed with 14 percent 12 percent, respectively. The top two vote getters in the primary advance to the general election, regardless of party.

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