Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed sent a letter to congressional officials declaring that 1st Congressional District candidate Suzan DelBene unofficially received 60 percent of the vote against Republican John Koster to fill the seat until the end of the current term ending in January.

The lame-duck session begins on Tuesday.

The letter clears the way for DelBene to be sworn into the United States House of Representatives.

“It would appear from these unofficial results that Suzan DelBene was elected as Representative in Congress from the First Congressional District of Washington,” wrote Reed to U.S. House of Representative’s Clerk Karen L. Haas. “To the best of our knowledge and belief at this time, there is no contest to this election.”

The seat was on the ballot twice for voters from the Canadian border to I-90, once to fill the rest of former Representative Jay Inslee’s term, and a second time to fill the next four-year term. DelBene holds a 60-39 percent lead for the lame-duck term. DelBene has a 53-46 percent lead against Koster for the term beginning in January.

“In the alternative, the House, controlled by the Republicans, had indicated it would accept a Secretary of State letter stating confidence that she had been elected to the short unexpired term,” said State Elections co-director Katie Blinn.

Winning the lame-duck term is significant, as it gives DelBene more seniority in the House of Representatives and a normal freshman representative.

The election results won’t be complete and official until confirmed by the counties in the district on Nov. 27 and by the state on Dec. 6.

The seat was vacated by Democrat Jay Inslee last spring as he ran for Washington State Governor.