1980Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1980 election for Washington Legislative District 23-2
Washington House of Representatives · Washington
Karen Schmidt (R) won with 52.8% of the vote, defeating Rick Smith (D) by 5.6 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Karen SchmidtRepublican · winner
52.8%21,941
Rick SmithDemocrat · incumbent
47.2%19,602
41,543 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1980
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET