Democrat Gary Locke, son of Chinese immigrants and head of Washington's largest county, faces Republican Ellen Craswell, leader of the state's Christian conservatives, in the race to become governor.
Locke was the top vote-getter Tuesday in a crowded primary in which voters, regardless of party, could choose any of the 15 candidates on the ballot.Locke won the Democratic nomination with 24 percent of the vote to defeat Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, who finished second with 18 percent.
The GOP nomination went to Craswell, who got 15 percent of the vote, edging out state House Majority Leader Dale Foreman, who received 14 percent.
The winner in November succeeds Gov. Mike Lowry, who abandoned his re-election bid after a female aide accused him of sexual harassment.
Locke, 46, is seeking to become the country's first Asian-American governor outside of Hawaii. After growing up poor in a Seattle housing project, he went to Yale University on a scholarship and then spent 11 years in the state Legislature before taking over leadership of King County, which covers Seattle and its suburbs, three years ago.
He drew headlines for demanding that the owners of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks honor their long-term Kingdome lease.
Washington state, which is 89 percent white and has an Asian population of about 6 percent, has never elected a minority to statewide office. Rice was seeking to become the state's first black governor.
Craswell, 64, is bidding to become the state's second woman governor. The first was Dixy Lee Ray in 1976; Ray lost a bid for a second term four years later.