Democrats were winning up and down the ballot in Washington state in early results from yesterday's election, while three Republican-backed ballot measures failed.

Why it matters: The initial returns reinforce Washington's deep-blue reputation at the state level, even as the Associated Press reported that Republicans would retake the U.S. Senate and the White House.

The big picture: In the presidential race, Vice President Harris won the state, capturing 58.6% of the first ballot count, compared to 39.1% for former President Trump.

Zoom in: Democrats were also leading in all nine races for statewide elected positions in Washington.

• Democrat Bob Ferguson won the governor's race, per AP, continuing Democrats' 40-year winning streak for that office.
• And Democrat Nick Brown, a former U.S. attorney for western Washington, defeated Republican Pete Serrano in the race to succeed Ferguson as state attorney general, AP reported.
• Brown will be the first Black person to serve as Washington state's top lawyer.

In races for Congress, Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell won a fifth term, fending off a challenge from Republican Raul Garcia.

• U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier led Republican Carmen Goers by about 8 percentage points in the 8th Congressional District, one of two Washington races considered important in deciding control of the U.S. House.

Yes, but: In southwest Washington, the rematch between state Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican Joe Kent in the 3rd Congressional District — one of only about two dozen toss-up House races in the country — remained too close to call as of early this morning.

• Gluesenkamp Perez held a lead of four percentage points after initial ballot counts.

Locally, in Seattle's sole City Council race, Alexis Mercedes Rinck was leading incumbent Tanya Woo by about 15 percentage points.

• A citywide transportation levy also appeared to be passing easily.

What we're watching: The next batch of election results in King County is expected to be released at 4pm today.

• Additional results from all of Washington's 39 counties will come in throughout the week.

Tell a voter

Washington voters rejected a ballot measure that would have repealed the state's cap-and-trade law, leaving intact a central part of the state's strategy to fight climate change, the Associated Press reported.

Why it matters: The law, called the Climate Commitment Act, puts a price on greenhouse gas emissions and also requires some of the state's biggest polluters to reduce their carbon footprint over time.

Zoom in: Initiative 2117, which would have repealed the antipollution law, was being rejected by more than 60% of Washington voters last night.

Zoom out: Washington voters also rejected Initiative 2109, which would repeal the state's tax on capital gains.

• That tax, which applies to profits from selling assets such as stocks and bonds, raises money to pay for child care and other education programs.

A third ballot measure, Initiative 2124, also failed. It would have made participation in the state's long-term care program optional.

• Opponents of the initiative said it would have bankrupted the long-term care program, which helps people pay for services they may need as they age.

The only statewide ballot measure that was ahead last night was Initiative 2066, which deals with natural gas.

• The measure, which was being approved with 51.2% of the vote in the first batch of returns, would block state and local policies that discourage the use of natural gas in homes and buildings.
• Among other things, it would force a rollback of Washington's new building code rules that promote the use of electric heat pumps over natural gas heating systems.

The big picture: All four initiatives were backed by a committee called Let's Go Washington and had significant support from conservatives.

What we're watching: Although the natural gas initiative remains too close to call, its opponents and backers each expressed optimism their side would prevail in the end.

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🏀 The UW women's basketball team opened its season with a 95-53 blowout win against Seattle University this week, with four Huskies scoring in the double digits. (Go Huskies)

☕️ New Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol says moving the company's headquarters from Seattle "is not on the list of things to do," as he implements a turnaround strategy for the coffee giant.

• Investors have speculated about a potential relocation similar to what Niccol did as CEO of Chipotle. (Yahoo Finance)

Roughly one-fifth of people in the West say local and national politics strongly influence their decision on where to live, according to a recent survey from Realtor.com.

By the numbers: Among people living in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, 22% said local politics are "extremely" or "very" influential in their choice of residence.

• 20% said the same of national politics, according to the September survey of 2,203 adults.
• That's lower, though, than residents of the Northeast, Midwest and South, where about 24% said national politics has a strong influence on their location preferences, per the survey.

Our Axios Local colleagues around the country made a compilation of their favorite "I voted" stickers from different jurisdictions.

Zoom in: Personally, we're partial to the new "I voted" stickers that King County is sending around, which include the Seattle skyline and a rural landscape that includes Snoqualmie Falls (see above).

Yes, but: We have to admit that Lousiana's stickers, which feature a dapper cartoon crawfish named Mark de Ballot, are pretty cool.

See the sticker gallery