Don't worry if you don't have a choice

Seattle Times:

"I wouldn't say people should worry," he said. "I think in Washington state, Democrats and Republicans are competing on the issues and are posing viable alternatives to the people."

But he speaks from a position of comfort. Most of the unopposed candidates are Democrats, and the party already controls the state House, Senate and governor's office.

...

There's no consensus whether the trend will continue.

"All of this is speculation on all of our parts," said Diane Tebelius, chairwoman of the state Republican Party.

Of course they don't mind, not having an opponent is good for political parties, not so good for democracy though.

The lack of competition in many legislative districts throughout the state is one of the few reasons that I disagreed with the Democratic Parties choice to sue to overturn the Top Two primary. Unlike closed primary apologists like Andrew, I think having only one choice in November is bad. Even if the competition comes from inside your own party, it is better than not having a vote at all.

It is only slightly better to have a very underfunded opponent running a token campaign, which is the case in even more LDs, including my own.

An even better idea than opening up competition by opening the elections, would be erasing the financial advantage many incumbents enjoy by passing a statewide public financing law, like in Maine or Arizona.