RACE OF THE DAY: Washington-03

Washington state Democrat Denny Heck will join Vice President Joe Biden at a fundraiser in Seattle on Friday as the party fights to retain retiring Rep. Brian Baird’s seat.

Heck faces Republican Jaime Herrera in the 3rd district open-seat race, one of the most competitive in the Pacific Northwest.

Herrera ran into a snag last week during the release of her latest TV ad. In the ad, Herrera knocks the “other Washington” and Heck for being a “career politician” who spent “30 years in politics.”

“Here in Southwest Washington, we know what they don’t in the other Washington,” Herrera says in the ad. “We’re against bailouts, reckless spending and more debt. It’s costing us jobs. And we’ve had it with career politicians.”

The snag: Herrera herself was in that “other Washington” for a major fundraiser the same day the ad was released. 

The coincidence may have prompted reporters to delve deeper into Herrera’s travel schedule. The Longview Daily News requested accounts of where both candidates have been campaigning since the August primary.

The Herrera campaign outright refused, arguing Heck could use it against her. The Heck campaign, meanwhile, supplied a list of about 30 events attended by the candidate in last month, and said Herrera had all but disappeared from the campaign trail. Herrera’s camp called the accusation “absolutely untrue.”

Both Herrera and Heck have served in the State Legislature, which makes it harder for Republicans to tie Heck to national Democrats and the unpopular stimulus bill. 

Baird announced last December he wouldn’t seek a seventh term.