Mona Das widens her lead on Sen. Fain to a full point.
Mona Das widens her lead on Sen. Fain to a full point. Courtesy of Mona Das

The big news: Democrat Mona Das has doubled her lead from yesterday over Republican Sen. Joe Fain in the 47th LD. Das now leads Fain by a point, pushing the race out of automatic recount territory for now. She's now up 548 votes after being up by 206 votes yesterday and down by 90 votes the day before. A representative from King County elections guesses there is about 400 to 500 votes left to count, with about 580 outstanding signature challenges. But if the count keeps trending her way, it looks like she could win this.

Candace Faber, a former technology advocate for the City of Seattle, accused Fain of raping her in a hotel room in Washington D.C. after she graduated from Georgetown in 2007. Fain continues to deny the allegation, and yesterday a bipartisan state Senate committee approved funding to hire an investigator to look into Faber's account. If he loses, the Seattle Times reports it's "unclear" if they'd continue the investigation.

Up in Whatcom, Democrat candidate Pinky Vargas narrowed Republican state senator Doug Ericksen's lead to 72 votes. Whatcom county elections shows 34 ballots left to count, and they won't do another drop until November 26, which, hah. Looks like this will go to a recount, which is kinda fun. DSA member Justin Boneau also reduced the gap between him and two-term state House Rep. Luanne Van Werven. He now only trails by 131. Sharon Shewmake increased her lead over Rep. Vincent Buys, so he's probably a goner.

Emily Randall, a first-time Democratic candidate running for state Senate over in the 26th LD, increased her lead over Pierce County Republican chair Marty McClendon to 510. She's just shy of a point ahead of him is now losing to Pierce County Republican chair Marty McClendon by more than 200 votes, which sucks.

Down in the 17th LD, Republican Vicki Kraft is now nearly two points up on Democratic hopeful Tanisha Harris, which is bad, while Rep. Jim Walsh maintains his lead over Democrat Erin Frasier by 536 votes in the 19th LD, which is also bad.

In the 6th District, Democrat Dave Wilson was hoping to overcome Republican Jenny Graham, but the votes aren't trending his way. Yesterday he was down 300 votes, and today he's down 409.

Today Democrats seem more certain of picking up 8 seats in the House, and if Das's lead holds, it looks like they might pick up 2 seats in the Senate. If Randal regains her lead and if Vargas can find some more votes in a recount they could pick up 4.

And just because it's Friday: Kim Schrier is now just a touch more than 6 points ahead of Republican Dino Rossi, who conceded his bid for Congress in Washington's 8th CD on Wednesday before I got to eat dinner.

*Update* On Friday night Fain conceded to Das. Fain posted a civility-focused update on Facebook, congratulating Das and saying "we must start listening to one another with open minds and open hearts" if our "State and Country" is to thrive. On Sunday, Das expressed her excitement to start her new job as senator-elect and added a long list of "life lessons" she learned from running a failed Congressional campaign and a successful campaign for state senate. "I’ve been dreaming of this moment for more than 12 years....tomorrow I am bringing the voices of our wonderful community of the 47th district to the table," she wrote.