Latinos and Asian-American Deciding Factors in Washington Governor’s Race

SEATTLE (AP) — Pollster Matt Barreto says Latino and Asian-American voters were the deciding factors in Governor-elect Jay Inslee's win over Republican candidate Rob McKenna.

Barreto estimates that about 140,000 Latinos voted in these past elections. While there were no wide ranging exit polls conducted here, by pooling polls Barreto roughly projects that Latinos in Washington broke similarly — about 3 to 1 — for Inslee as they did for President Barack Obama.

That would be about 105,000 votes. Inslee beat McKenna by more than 90,000 votes at last count.

Asian voters, which at 7 percent of the voting pool have a bigger share than Latinos, are also thought to have broken for Inslee similarly in this state.