The Aug. 17 primary election has been run and won. As of midday on Wednesday, 967,648 ballots had been counted, and while the votes are still being tallied and the results aren’t expected to be certified until Sept. 1, the current top two candidates in each race are now preparing for the general election.

The much publicized race for the U.S. Senate seat will be between Democratic incumbent Patty Murray and Republican challenger Dino Rossi. Senator Murray garnered 46 percent of the votes in the primary election, with Rossi taking 34 percent.

Republican incumbent Dave Reichert received nearly 50 percent of the primary votes in his bid to retain the position of U.S. Representative for Congressional District No. 8. He will face Democrat Suzan DelBene, who received 26 percent of the ballots.

With only two candidates running for the State Representative Legislative District No. 5 – Position 1 seat, both will move on to the general election, though incumbent Republican Jay Rodne had a clear lead over Democrat Gregory Hoover, with more than 61 percent of the votes.

Sammamish resident Dean Willard will not be in the running for State Representative Legislative Dist No. 5 – Position 2. He placed third in the voting behind Democrat David Spring and Republican Glenn Anderson.

While the races have been split down party lines, Washington’s top two primary election is not a party nomination election, and candidates are not required to declare a party affiliation. While most other states use the primary election to select political party nominees, Washington allows candidates of any affiliation to run and the top two vote getters will move on to the general election, irrespective of their party preference.

The general election will be held on Nov. 2, 2010.