House returns thus far

Similarly to the Senate, many House races surprisingly tilted hard to the Democrats that were supposed to be close, and a handful of races have tight margins that weren't on the radar. As I did with the Senate, here's what's happening in some of the House races at the moment.

Apparently Won
John Ahern [R-6th]
Sherry Appleton [D-23rd]
Tom Campbell [R-2nd]
Bruce Chandler [R-15th]
Judy Clibborn [D-41st]
Hans Dunshee [D-44th]
Deb Eddy [D-48th]
Bill Eickmeyer [D-35th]
Mark Ericks [D-1st]
Bill Grant [D-16th]
Kathy Haigh [D-35th]
Steve Hailey [R-9th]
Ross Hunter [D-48th]
Pat Lantz [D-26th]
Kelli Linville [D-42nd]
John Lovick [D-44th]
Joyce McDonald [R-25th]
Mark Miloscia [D-30th]
Dawn Morrell [D-25th]
Dan Newhouse [R-15th]
Charles Ross [R-14th]
Lynn Schindler [R-4th]
Geoff Simpson [D-47th]
Mary Skinner [R-14th]
Larry Springer [D-45th]
Pat Sullivan [D-47th]
Bob Sump [R-7th]
Deb Wallace [D-17th]
Maureen Walsh [R-16th]

Leading
Barbara Bailey [R-10th] -- by 5 votes at the moment
Don Barlow [D-6th]
Pat Campbell [D-17th]
Richard Curtis [R-18th]
Richard DeBolt [R-20th]
Doug Ericksen [R-42nd]
Roger Goodman [D-45th]
Tami Green [D-28th]
Christopher Hurst [D-31st]
Fred Jarrett [R-41st]
Troy Kelley [D-28th]
Dan Kristiansen [R-39th] -- by 19 votes at the moment
Jim McCune [R-2nd]
Ed Orcutt [R-18th]
Skip Priest [R-30th]
Dan Roach [R-31st]
Christine Rolfes [D-23rd]
Larry Seaquist [D-26th]
Kevin Van de Wege [D-24th]

I think it's pretty obvious that the Washington Republican Party has hit rock bottom. Aside from their handful of strong candidates in statewide offices, they have absolutely no bench and Democrats are going to have a huge majority in both houses. This will be a key test for Gregoire and her party. They must resist temptation to continue to hike taxes and spending or risk this becoming another 1992. Even though they won't have to, working in a bipartisan manner and trying to govern from the centre can keep them in power a long time, but it's a challenge when your party has the numbers to do whatever you want. Gregoire will still have a challenging reelection campaign, and we know Republicans will be chomping at the bit to enact Dino's Revenge, but in the short-term at least, we will have solid one-party rule at the statehouse.