Election results: Wash state's long-term care program and 5 insurance commissioner races

Voters in Washington state decided Tuesday to keep a closely watched public long-term care benefits program in place, and voters there and in four other states chose insurance commissioners.

Here’s a look at the Nov. 5 election results, based on preliminary state tallies.

Washington state: Washington state residents voted 44.5% for and 55% against Initiative Measure 2124, a ballot measure that could have made participation in the WA Cares Fund, a public long-term care benefits program for the state’s workers, optional.

Related: Washington state puts public long-term care program change on ballot

The program is using a mandatory 0.58% payroll tax to fund a $36,000 lifetime LTC benefit for the covered workers.

The failure of the measure means that the program is still in place. Opponents of the measure argued that making participation voluntary would have killed the program by causing lower-risk workers to flee and causing the average risk level of the remaining participants to soar.

Voters in Washington state also picked a successor to Mike Kreidler, a Democrat who has been serving as the state’s insurance commissioner since 2001.

Kreidler has been known for taking an aggressive approach to defending Affordable Care Act programs and rules.

Patty Kuderer, a Democrat, defeated Phil Fortunato, a Republican. She won 57.2% of the votes cast.

Kuderer is a lawyer who has been serving in the Washington Senate.

She attended the National Council of Insurance Legislators’ summer meeting.

In 2017, she was the author of a Washington Senate bill that would have blocked health carriers and pharmacy benefit managers from using contract provisions to keep pharmacists from telling customers about cheaper ways to buy drugs. The bill received a public hearing but died in committee.

She also has sponsored bills that would let state residents sign up for a “public option” health insurance program provided by the state.

Delaware: Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro, a Democrat, defeated a Republican challenger, Ralph Taylor, by a 58.5% to 41.6% vote.

Montana: In Montana, the state auditor is also the state insurance commissioner.

Troy Downing, the Republican who is now the commissioner, ran for a U.S. House seat and won.

In the commissioner race, James Brown, a Republican, defeated a Democrat, John Repke, by a 62% to 38% vote.

James Brown is a fourth-generation Montanan and attorney who emphasized his efforts to serve the state’s farmers, ranchers and small businesses.

“You can count me to reduce red tape for Montana businesses, enforce the law, protect consumers, and safeguard Montana seniors from financial abuse,” Brown said on his campaign website.

North Carolina: North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, a Republican, overcame a challenge by a Democrat, Natasha Marcus, by a 52.2% to 47.8% vote.

North Dakota: North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread is a Republican, the president-elect of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and a man who has been declared to be the tallest elected official in the world by Guinness World Records.

He ran for re-election unopposed and received 98.2% of the votes cast.