Democratic Party

§1Ballot status

✎ Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

It is on the list of Washington's parties that we assembled from state law and official candidate lists, ballots or results^1,2, because we couldn't read a single official list. A list built that way can miss a party that has status but no 2026 candidates. The state's class for it: major political party.^1,2

Its 2024 presidential nominees received 57.23 percent of the Washington vote, above the 5 percent needed for major party status.^1,2

How a party qualifies in Washington

A party becomes a major political party when its candidates for president and vice president receive at least 5 percent of the total vote in Washington at a presidential election.¹ Where in the source: RCW 29A.04.086 Any other political organization is a minor political party; in a presidential year, a minor party or independent candidates may hold a convention to nominate candidates for president and vice president and their electors.^3,4 Where in the source: RCW 29A.04.097; RCW 29A.56.320, 29A.56.360

How a party keeps its status

A major political party keeps that status until a presidential election at which its candidates for president and vice president receive less than 5 percent of the vote.¹ Where in the source: RCW 29A.04.086

§2How it picks nominees

✎ Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Another method. Under the top-two primary the party does not nominate candidates for state or congressional office; any candidate may state a preference for the party, and the two candidates with the most primary votes advance regardless of preference.^5,6 Where in the source: RCW 29A.52.112(2), (4)

Washington's rules for nominating

For every partisan office except president and vice president, candidates file on their own and may state a party preference; the preference is for voters' information only and does not mean the party nominated or endorsed them.^5,6 Where in the source: RCW 29A.52.112(4) For president, major parties pick their nominees under party rules and certify them to the Secretary of State, while minor parties and independent candidates are nominated by convention.^4,7 Where in the source: RCW 29A.56.360

§3On the 2026 ballot

10 Candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House or governor whose label on Washington's November 3 ballot names this party, from the state's official candidate list. Labels are shown exactly as the ballot prints them. Other offices aren't covered yet. Washington holds a top-two primary for these offices, so a label shows the Candidate's own party registration or preference, not a nomination by the party.^8,9

§4Notes on Washington’s party research

What the research couldn’t find or confirm about Washington’s parties, in its own plain words. Nothing is left out silently.

• The Secretary of State publishes no list of parties with ballot status that we could find. We applied RCW 29A.04.086 to the Secretary of State's official 2024 presidential results, where only the Democratic Party and Republican Party nominees passed 5 percent; every other party's nominees received under 1.5 percent.
• Because of the top-two primary, the November 3, 2026 ballot shows each candidate's own stated party preference rather than a party nomination, so no party, major or minor, has nominees on the 2026 state or congressional ballot in the sense used elsewhere.