The Wednesday after Election Day always feels like a kind of settling. Like taking another look at the liquid measure after eyeballing it; you were more or less right the first time, but now it's time to figure out just how much more or just how much less right you were.

As always, the big trends won't really start showing until tomorrow, but today King County Elections (KCE) added 47,000 ballots to their count. Mail-in ballots and some drop box ballots continue to stream in, but right now KCE has another 125,000 accepted ballot on hand. Local turnout currently sits at 32%, according to an elections department spokesperson, but we're on track to hit the predicted 40% turnout. In fact, as of this morning, the county held about 1% more ballots than they expected. 

Statewide, as of press time, over half a million ballots remain to be tallied, according to the Secretary of State. (Some counties will continue reporting after this post, so please pardon any discrepancies.)

Though there's still plenty left to count, let's take a look at how it's all shaking out so far! 

At the federal level, the race in southwest Washington's 3rd Congressional District remains the only real interesting contest at the moment. Incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez currently "leads" with 46% of the vote, but if you add the 39.5% from election-denier and Republican Joe Kent to the 12.5% from Republican Leslie Lewallen, the GOP leads with 52%. 

The race for distant second to longtime Congressman Adam Smith is also worth keeping an eye on. Even with a few thousand more votes in her corner, pro-Palestine challenger Melissa Chaudhry continues to trail Republican transphobe Paul Martin, 18% to 19%. Smith sits at the top with 55%. Since this whole district exists within King County, I bet Chaudhry frog-hops Martin tomorrow, which will help maintain some public pressure on Smith re: Gaza. 

It's worth noting that Democrat Carmela Conroy made it out of the primary over in the 5th Congressional District with 19.5% of the vote. She'll take on Republican Michael Baumgartner for Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers's old seat. So far, Baumgartner leads with 28%. It'll take a lot for Dems to flip that eastern Washington district, but it's fun to dream. 

Though the 6th Congressional District, which covers the peninsula, sits just outside of the SECB's field of vision, it's also worth noting that Democratic state Senator Emily Randall will progress to the general against Republican state Senator Drew MacEwen, pushing out outgoing Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz. That's a nominal win for progressives. 

Speaking of the Public Lands Commissioner, King County Council Member Dave Upthegrove cut Trumpy Washington State GOP-backed Sue Pederson's lead a little. Upthegrove now only trails her by roughly 3,000 votes, down from 4,000 yesterday. If that trend continues, he could squeak by and give voters a real shot at putting an environmentalist in charge of the Department of Natural Resources. 

In terms of the state legislative contests generally, a spokesperson for the Washington State Democratic Party feels "very happy" and thinks there's "a chance" for the party to win a supermajority this cycle, but they feel more confident in the prospect of simply expanding their majorities in both the House and the Senate. One place where they see the most promise is the newly drawn 14th Legislative District. Though all the Democratic candidates look way behind now, the spokesperson said they expect the general electorate to swing 30% to 40% in favor of the Democrats because "folks just don't vote in the primaries out there." I'll do a fuller analysis tomorrow, but this one from comms guy Aaron Sherman tells you pretty much all you need to know: 

Here in Seattle, 43rd Legislative District Democrat Shaun Scott slightly increased his lead over Florida Man Daniel Carusello and We Heart Seattle Founder Andrea Suarez. Scott now leads 55% to Suarez's 23% and Carusello's 17%. Just total dominance there. 

Meanwhile, Stranger-endorsed citywide city council candidate extended her lead over Seattle City Council Member Tanya Woo by about half a point. Rinck now leads Woo 47 to 41, an absolutely humiliating showing for an incumbent. That said, Woo actually lost her city council race in District 2 and only took her seat on the dais after big business interests told the rest of the council to appoint her, so it's not like she's actually won anything before.