OLYMPIA, Wash. — Sen. Maria Cantwell is projected to continue serving in the US Senate.
Cantwell led Republican challenger Raul Garcia following an initial round of ballot returns Nov. 5. She continues to hold her lead.
Counties will release additional results in the days after the election as more ballots are counted. Additional results are typically released daily.
Cantwell, a Democrat, was first elected to the Washington state House in 1986. She served one term in Congress as a representative from 1993-1995 before being elected to the Senate in 2000.
This will be Cantwell's fifth term in the U.S. Senate.
KING 5 political analyst and former state Democratic Gov. Gary Locke said that while Garcia is an "excellent candidate," Cantwell had the money and "flooded the air waves," emphasizing her "record and affinity for working class individuals and families."
“The last four years we worked on the most successful policy agenda that affects our state,” she previously said.
Cantwell said the federal infrastructure package is bringing billions of dollars in federal funding to projects in Washington state, including $2 billion towards a new interstate bridge between Washington and Oregon.