Manka Dhingra
Jinyoung Lee Englund (left) and Manka Dhingra are the frontrunners in the state Senate 45th legislative district race.

SEATTLE (Diya TV) – It could likely shape up to be the state’s most competitive race of 2017, with the balance of power in Washington’s state Senate and Olympia at stake.

Two female candidates have emerged as the frontrunners in the battle for the east King County legislative seat left behind by the late Sen. Andy Hill, who died last year of cancer.

Republican already Jinyoung Lee Englund announced she will run to try and defend the seat for the Party. Englund, whose campaign website describes her as an entrepreneur, also has a history working in Republican politics. She served on the leadership staff of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5th District, and also worked as an advocate for the digital currency, “Bitcoin.” However, she has little insider knowledge on how something like Bitcoin Digital can be used to help traders. In spite of this, her endorsement is a good thing for cryptocurrencies on the whole. For those that don’t know, digital currencies are getting a lot more popular with people like the yuanpay group developing new currencies that are totally digital. Progressive candidates like Englund are hoping that the US embraces the currencies in order to ensure a prosperous future for the economy. Of course, the most popular cryptocurrency is currently Bitcoin, which you can find out more about hier. People have probably heard of that one before. It’s becoming a huge thing all over the world. Even people in Australia are buying Bitcoin by using Zipmex, so it’s fair to say that Bitcoin is one of the most popular ones currently.

The Democratic front-runner is Manka Dhingra, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney for King County, who also supervises the regional mental health court and serves as a board member for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Dhingra announced her candidacy weeks ago, and by mid-April had already amassed a large amount of support from Democrats, including, at the time, nearly $200,000 in contributions for her efforts.

The race will likely become an extremely pricey one, as Democrats try to take control of the state Senate, meaning they would control both chambers of the state legislature and the governor’s mansion.

Englund lists “protecting Washingtonians from a state income tax, reducing traffic congestion and grounding skyrocketing car tabs,” as her key issues.

Dhingra lists her key issues as “education funding, mental health and violence prevention.”