Will voters in the new 14th swing left for the first time in 30 years?

Plus more union money to protect the capital gains tax and a recommended reading.

The upcoming general election will test whether the new boundaries of the 14th Legislative District, designed to unite Latino communities from eastern Yakima to Pasco into a single district, will give Democrats an electoral victory in Central Washington for the first time in more than a decade. 

The new electoral map imposed by U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in March was designed to increase the voting power of a Latino bloc divided between the 14th and 15th LDs on the map adopted in 2021 by the Washington Redistricting Commission. The new map also pushed all three incumbent Republicans out of the 14th and into nearby districts, but that didn’t stop the Republican candidates from largely dominating the primary in the new 14th. 

The new boundaries of the 14th LD drew out three incumbent Republicans and united Latino communities from eastern Yakima to Pasco, along the Yakima River.

But at the same time, the new map created a seemingly new political landscape for Central Washington where a Democratic ticket led by young Latina women with political acumen just might prevail—if the primary results showing a Republican sweep were a fluke.  

There are reasons to think it could be. Historically, Latino voter turnout is lower in non-presidential elections than in the years when the president is on the ballot. This is one reason Lasnik approved a map that moved the prominently Latino communities along the Yakima River into the 14th LD, where the four-year election cycle for state Senator coincides with the presidential. It’s an expectation that will be tested next month in the general election.