The hottest topic among Republicans from Washington State to Washington, D.C., the past 48 hours has been the just-completed Elway Poll of the 8th District (which has been in Republican hands since it was created in 1982).
Despite the suburban Seattle district's Republican history and the popularity of retiring GOP Rep. Dave Reichert, a string of polls have given a small but consistent lead to Democratic hopeful and pediatrician Dr. Kim Schrier.
Two days ago, the much-respected Crosscut/Elway Research poll showed a dramatic shift: Dino Rossi, former state senator and almost-successful Republican candidate for governor and U.S. Senator, had a lead of 49-39 percent district-wide (with 12 percent undecided).
The survey was conducted from Oct. 4-9 and had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
Most interesting was the poll was conducted just as the Senate was voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. As senators moved toward confirming the controversial Kavanaugh over the weekend, Elway's tracking showed the moderate-conservative Rossi had not only pulled ahead of Schrier but was in the lead by 24 percentage points.
By Monday and Tuesday, Rossi's margin had "cooled" to 10 points. But, as pollster Stuart Elway told reporters, "the Kavanaugh hearings have erased [the Democrats'] advantage."
"Dino Rossi has always been a credible and strong candidate but Republican enthusiasm has lagged behind the Democrats," popular Seattle-area radio talk show host and former State GOP Chairman Kirby Wilbur told Newsmax. "But they overreached on Judge Kavanaugh and have now energized the Republican base in the 8th District and across the country. Republicans everywhere should thank them."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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