(The Center Square) – The closely-watched race for the 8th Congressional District has ended with incumbent Kim Schrier retaining her position.
Schrier’s opponent, Republican Matt Larkin, announced his concession from the race on Nov. 11, with polls so far having Schrier in the lead with 159,131 votes, for 53%, to Larkin’s 139,766, for 47% of the vote.
“I just called Congresswoman Schrier to congratulate her on her victory and wish her success in representing the 8th Congressional District,” Larkin said in a Facebook post. “This was a competitive race and even though we didn’t get the desired result, I’m proud of our campaign’s hopeful message.”
Schrier will now continue her initiatives as representative of the district that spans from Eastern King and Pierce County across the Cascade Mountains. When Schrier won in the 2018 general election, she became the first Democrat to win the district since its establishment in 1983.
Prior to Larkin’s concession, Schrier announced she had won following the Seattle Times calling the race in favor of the incumbent representative on Nov. 10.
Schrier, a former pediatrician, had focused her campaign on defending access to abortion. She had previously stated that she was the only pro-choice woman doctor in Congress.
Schrier and Larkin deemed each other too radical, with Schrier calling out Larkin for previously stating that he supported anti-abortion. Larkin responded during a debate in October that he had other things to worry about than restricting access to abortion in Washington state and nationwide.
Larkin had said Schrier previously supported the defunding of the police movement. Her rebuttal to Larkin’s claim during a debate last month was that she had participated in ride-alongs with law enforcement to understand what departments needed and that since she took office, she increased funding for policing at state, county and local levels by $200 million.
Schrier’s win gives the Democratic party eight of Washington’s 10 congressional seats now.
