The close contest for the Senate in Washington state is now officially over and pro-abortion Sen. Patty Murray is headed back to Congress.
The Seattle Times called the race Thursday night for Murray, who compiled a lead and who would likely stand to benefit from the votes that remain to be counter, many of which comes from her stronghold in the heavily Democratic Seattle area.
Dino Rossi, the pro-life candidate who had sought statewide office for the third time, conceded the race, saying: “This evening, I called Senator Murray to offer my congratulations on her re-election to the U.S. Senate.”
Murray had a lead of about 14,000 voters on Election Day, but that total increased to more than 50,000 as more votes from liberal King County were counted. Republican leaning Spokane and Clark counties gave Rossi additional votes but not enough to make up for the King County ones.
The Times indicated Rossi would need 54 percent of the remaining uncounted votes to overtake Murray’s lead but with most of the rest coming from the Seattle area, Rossi would very likely fall further behind.
According to Politico, Rossi tried to put his best face on the defeat, saying there were other gains in Washington state.
“We’re sending at least one new person, maybe two, to Congress to represent Washington state,” he said. “We elected a host of new people to the state Legislature — all on the message of controlling spending and helping the private sector grow, saying no to government overreach and confronting some very difficult challenges in front of us.”
The last polls had shown a close race with one showing Rossi winning and another showing Murray ahead.
In October, the Susan B. Anthony List endorsed Rossi because he is pro-life and because Murray is endorsed by Emily’s List, which funds candidates and politicians who support abortion and forcing taxpayers to fund it.
“The Susan B. Anthony List is proud to support Dino Rossi in his bid to defeat Senator Patty Murray,” said SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement to LifeNews.com.
“Patty Murray has voted repeatedly in favor of taxpayer funding of abortion and has been rewarded with more than $538,000 in campaign contributions from the pro-abortion lobby,” Dannenfelser explained. “Washington taxpayers deserve better than Patty Murray. They can count on Dino Rossi to keep their hard-earned tax dollars from paying for abortions. He is the better candidate for women and all Washingtonians.”
Murray received a zero percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee in the 111th Congress — including votes against the Nelson-Hatch Amendment to prevent tax dollars from paying for abortions through the health care bill and a vote against the Mexico City Policy to prevent federal dollars from paying for abortions and promoting abortion policies overseas.
Republicans picked up six seats in the Senate in the midterm elections and had hoped Washington and others, like California, Colorado and West Virginia, would be enough to put them over the top to take control of the chamber from pro-abortion Democrats.
That means the new Senate will have 53 Democrats and 47 Republicans and will be run by pro-abortion Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid.
With the Washington race called, the only Senate race left to determine a winner is in Alaska where pro-life Republican nominee trails pro-abortion Senator and write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski with many ballots remaining to be counted.
The outcome may not be determined for weeks as legal challenges are expected.
