They Thought Rural Washington Was Theirs

State House seats flipped. Duresky humiliates opponent. And in Texas, Latino voters showed up in force.

Latino Voting Power in the 2026 Midterms

Democrats Chelsea Dimas and Ezequiel “Zeke” Morfin led both State House races in Washington State’s 14th Legislative District in the November 5 returns. Dimas had 55.91% against Gloria Mendoza, up from 45.52% in 2024, a gain of 10.39 percentage points. Morfin had 56.25%. Washington election update

A group of Latino voters in the Yakima Valley organized and went to court to defend their right to fair representation. In 2023, a federal judge found that Washington State’s legislative map diluted Latino voting power in the Valley. New boundaries took effect for the 2024 election, when Republicans won both seats. This year, under those same boundaries, voters flipped both. Federal court ruling

What the turnout numbers tell us

Chelsea’s rematch shows how much support shifted among people who voted. At Rural Americans United, turnout is our primary measure. We want to know whether a greater share of our neighbors are casting ballots. For that, we’ll compare this election with the last midterm, in 2022.

Yakima County added 10,666 registered voters since the 2022 midterms, an increase of 8.4%. If the county’s estimate of 65,000 ballots holds, it will have counted about 1,500 more ballots, an increase of 2.4%. Registration grew faster than ballots cast, so turnout is projected to fall from 49.78% to about 47.04%, a drop of 2.74 percentage points.

Yakima County is one example. We’ll compare turnout across Washington State, across whole districts, and within counties to see where participation kept pace with registration and where it fell behind.

Texas shows how far the shift can go

In Texas, Latino voters helped flip statewide offices in a Republican stronghold. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) estimates that about 700,000 more Latino Texans voted than in the 2022 midterms. AP found that roughly six in ten Hispanic voters in Texas backed Democrat James Talarico for Senate. LULAC estimate via CBS Texas · AP Voter Poll reporting

Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton for Senate, and Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Democrats won all four Texas Supreme Court seats on the ballot, cutting the Republican majority to five to four, and took all three seats on the 15th Court of Appeals. In Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth, Alisa Simmons won the county judge race and Democrats gained a four to one majority on the county’s governing body. Power changed hands from the governor’s office down to the Tarrant County Commissioners Court. Statewide races · Judicial races · Tarrant County

Reuters reported that Talarico reached out to Latino voters throughout his campaign and that Hinojosa spoke about the same issues in English and Spanish. Voters talked about high prices and deportations affecting people they knew. One Fort Worth voter said a friend had been deported just a week before he cast his ballot. Reuters reporting

We watch, we act and we see change

This year, our Make Rural Voices Count campaign placed billboards in 25 locations across rural Washington State. Radio and digital ads carried our messages further. Texts, fliers, and yard signs reached people closer to home. Through community sessions like Can We Talk, neighbors had a place to ask questions and talk through what mattered to them.

That work continues between elections. Before ballots arrive, we’ll keep explaining what elected officials decide and how those decisions affect rural communities. Afterward, we’ll report back on what officials did with the power voters gave them. We’ll use turnout to see where more neighbors are taking part and where we need to spend more time reaching people.

How John Duresky Humiliated Amanda McKinney

President Donald Trump endorsed Amanda McKinney. Millions of dollars backed her in Washington State’s reddest congressional district. Yet the November 4 returns put her in the closest contest between a Republican and a Democrat that CD 4 had seen in 30 years.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Turning Point Action backed McKinney, too. By October 14, her campaign had spent $1.23 million to John Duresky’s $375,329. Outside groups spent another $2.2 million backing her.

Washington Rising, a super PAC with a Tennessee mailing address, filed the day after McKinney announced her run. Three donors with Central Washington ties gave it $1 million. Fuel wholesaler Robert Ramsey gave $500,000. Janie and Peter Plath gave $250,000 each. The PAC spent about $701,000 backing McKinney.

In January, we traced the money behind Washington Rising in “The Evil Has Landed: PAC Money in Rural Washington”.

What did all that buy her? The November 4 count put her lead at 8.45 percentage points. Republicans carried the district by 36 points in the previous midterm. On her own turf in Yakima County, John Duresky came within 235 votes of beating her. In Klickitat County, the gap was 254 votes.

John Duresky is the hero of this story. He, his staff and his volunteers made Republicans fight for a seat they thought was safe.

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