Three Washington state legislators and one judicial candidate advanced in their primary elections last night.

Judicial candidate Jean Rietschel (right), Sen. Joe McDermott and Reps. Jamie Pedersen and Marko Liias all finished in the top two of their non-partisan primaries. Two of the candidates, McDermott and Pedersen, ran unopposed.

The candidates:

• Jean Rietschel has served as a municipal judge for 12 years, but now seeks a seat on the King County Superior Court. She has long supported HIV/AIDS activism and education by providing pro-bono representation work as an attorney under a program from the King County Bar Association with people affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Joe McDermott won an appointment to his Senate seat in October of last year after serving in the state House for six years. He helped pass the Domestic Partnership Registry in 2007, giving state-registered domestic partners some basic protections for their families, such the right to visit a partner in the hospital, the right to make health care decisions and the right to make funeral arrangements.
• Jamie Pedersen first won a seat in the Washington House in 2006. In his short time in the House he was the prime sponsor for the passage of the Washington State Domestic Partner Registry. He also served on Lambda Legal’s national board for seven years and worked as Lambda Legal’s lead volunteer lawyer on the state’s same-sex marriage case, Andersen v. King County in 2006.
• Marko Liias won an appointment to the state House after serving on the Mukilteo City Council since 2005. Born in 1981, Marko serves on the national board for the National Association of Homebuilders and is a member of Built Green of King and Snohomish Counties.

As Washington state’s newly passed domestic partnership rights bill goes to Gov. Christine Gregoire’s desk, openly gay members of the legislature are praising the law’s impact on gay couples.

“There has been a profound shift in public understanding. It’s important for us to do as much as we can to protect our families,” said Rep. Jamie Pedersen (right), a member of the Legislature’s unofficial gay caucus and the bill’s sponsor.

Newly appointed state representative Marko Liias contended that the bill was not a direct precursor to gay marriage, as the bill’s opponents have stated.

“I think it’s just a way to distract us from the specific issue we have this year. This bill is not about marriage. It’s about financial security,” Liias said. “People are excited that there is another voice for gay and lesbian families. It made me feel happy and proud of being here.”

However, Pedersen hopes that marriage equality will be possible in the near future for his state.

“We’ve been very clear since we announced our plans last year that our ultimate goal is marriage,” said Pedersen. “There’s some chance — depending on how things go in November — that we could have a real conversation next year.”

Out state Sen. Ed Murray added that the rancor during the debate on the Senate floor was markedly diminished from the high emotions expressed during the passage of the initial domestic partnership bill.

“To paraphrase Bill Clinton, I think (Republicans) realized ‘That dog don’t hunt,’ ” Murray said. “I think Republicans know that when they come out strongly against this, it costs them at the polls with moderate urban Republicans.”