SEATTLE, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Voters in Washington State want Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi to face off against each other in November's gubernatorial race.
The two centrists advanced into the general election after winning Tuesday's party primaries. Gregoire, who is giving up a secure hold on the state's attorney general's office, defeated her closest competitor, King County Executive Ron Sims by more than 175,000 votes, taking 67 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary.
On the Republican side, former state Sen. Dino Rossi, who resigned from the Legislature in order to run for governor, took 82 percent of the vote in the GOP primary and finished more than 200,000 votes ahead of his closest competitor.
The state, which is considered a swing state at the presidential level, leans Democrat in state elections, with the Democrat winning every gubernatorial election since 1984. In the 2000 presidential race, Vice President Al Gore took the state with 50 percent of the more than 2.3 million votes cast against 45 percent for George W. Bush.
