In this primary, incumbent Sen. Henry Jackson faced a tough in-party challenge from Spokane attorney Carl Maxey, a liberal Vietnam war opponent. Maxey largely agreed with Jackson's domestic policy, and had worked on Jackson's three previous Senate campaigns. However, as a Vietnam war opponent since the mid-1960s, Maxey sought to topple Jackson first as leader of the Washington Democratic Council (WDC), an organization of anti-war Democrats, and upon finding no suitable anti-war opponent he jumped in the race himself.

Maxey quickly grabbed news headlines through his rough-edged critique of Senator Jackson. He referred to Jackson as "a Napoleonic little senator" and claimed "leaving peace in the hands of Henry Jackson is like leaving a lion to guard the Sunday roast." His campaign began to take off after being endorsed by the King County Democratic Party, the most populous county in the state, and after the 1970 state convention held in Spokane enacted a left-wing anti-war, anti-draft platform.

Despite Maxey's support amongst the anti-war left and gaining notoriety for his campaign's public attacks, Jackson easily defeated him for the Democratic nomination in the September blanket primary. The primary format likely favoured Jackson, due to his strong support amongst crossover Republicans, but the wide margin clearly shows he won large majorities of both parties. Maxey's second place finish would not find him in the general election due to the blanket system of cho

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In this primary, incumbent Sen. Henry Jackson faced a tough in-party challenge from Spokane attorney Carl Maxey, a liberal Vietnam war opponent. Maxey largely agreed with Jackson's domestic policy, and had worked on Jackson's three previous Senate campaigns. However, as a Vietnam war opponent since the mid-1960s, Maxey sought to topple Jackson first as leader of the Washington Democratic Council (WDC), an organization of anti-war Democrats, and upon finding no suitable anti-war opponent he jumped in the race himself.

Maxey quickly grabbed news headlines through his rough-edged critique of Senator Jackson. He referred to Jackson as "a Napoleonic little senator" and claimed "leaving peace in the hands of Henry Jackson is like leaving a lion to guard the Sunday roast." His campaign began to take off after being endorsed by the King County Democratic Party, the most populous county in the state, and after the 1970 state convention held in Spokane enacted a left-wing anti-war, anti-draft platform.

Despite Maxey's support amongst the anti-war left and gaining notoriety for his campaign's public attacks, Jackson easily defeated him for the Democratic nomination in the September blanket primary. The primary format likely favoured Jackson, due to his strong support amongst crossover Republicans, but the wide margin clearly shows he won large majorities of both parties. Maxey's second place finish would not find him in the general election due to the blanket system of choosing each party's top vote-getter. Senator Jackson won every county in both the primary and the general election against Republican state Sen. Charles Elicker.

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