Jay Inslee has announced he will resign from his U.S. House seat, effective March 20, and will devote full time to his bid for Washington governor, according to a press release. State Elections Co-Director Katie Blinn said that under the state law dealing with congressional vacancies, there will be no special election, since Inslee’s departure comes after the March 6 deadline for that to occur.
The 1st District seat will be vacant until the winner of the regularly scheduled election is certified on Dec. 6. Filing week will begin on May 14; a number of candidates already have lined up to run and will face off in a Top 2 Primary with a postmark or ballot dropoff deadline of Aug. 7. The General Election has a postmark or ballot dropoff deadline of Nov. 6. The returns will be certified one month later.