LD 10 Senate, Pos 1 state representative winners uncertain

CORRECTION - The LD 10 state representative Position 1 and Position 2 seats are correctly identified with the candidates in this update at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The position numbers were incorrect in the story posted Friday. The editor regrets the mistake. - ken stern

Aug. 8, 2024 -- After vote count from election night, Aug. 6, and Thursday, Aug. 8 in the contested legislative district 10 (LD 10) elections Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair was ahead in Skagit County with 1,633 votes to State Senator Ron Muzzall's (R-Oak Harbor) 1,398 votes. Camano Island resident Denny Sandberg had 276 votes.

Muzzall leads with 16,928 votes overall in the three-county district, 1,293 votes ahead of St. Clair.

In the LD 10 Pos. 1 contest, State Rep. Clyde Shavers (D-Oak Harbor) has 1,978 in-county votes and 17,916 districtwide, well ahead of Republican challengers, Oak Harbor resident Carrie Kennedy's 682 in-county votes and 9,140 districtwide votes. Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam, an Arlington city council member, had 627 Skagit County votes and 7,317 votes overall, trailing Kennedy by 1,823 votes.

State Rep Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor) sent out an email Thursday "Thanks to you, we did it!" after gaining 55% of the vote count over Republican challenger Island County resident Gary Wray for LD 10 Pos. 2. In Skagit County, Paul has 2,074 votes and 19,067 districtwide.

Incumbent Skagit County Commissioner Ron Wesen (R-Bow) is comfortably ahead of Hope Island challenger Rylee Fleury, with 67.3% of District 1 votes. In November these candidates will run countrywide.

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Everett), will be on the November ballot, gaining 46.9% of the vote to date. Sedro-Woolley resident Cody Hart, a MAGA Republican Party candidate with 21.9% of the vote, will be his opponent. Republican Party candidate Leif Johnsaon, from Whidbey Island, has 11.2% of the vote and Burlington resident Edwin Stickle, a Democrat with 6% of the vote, is a distant fourth.

Counties will update their vote counts by 5 p.m. Friday. Island County, entirely within LD 10, has approximately 7,400 ballots uncounted. The district includes parts of Skagit and Snohomish counties. It is not known how many LD 10 precinct ballots are part of the estimated 16,000 uncounted in Skagit County and similarly with Snohomish County’s estimated 35,000 ballots.

Skagit County election staff counted 16,872 ballots Tuesday and 5,004 by Thursday. Officials are predicting about 38,000 votes, 44% of the 86,514 residents registered to vote.

About 50% of LD 10 votes are from Island County, some 40% are in Snohomish County and perhaps 10% are from Skagit County.

What is certain is that advancing to the November election are Muzzall, St. Clair, Shavers and probably Kennedy.

In the race for governor to exceed the retiring Jay Inslee, it will be Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, with 45.3% of the tally so far, against Republican Dave Reichert, with 27.7%. Republican Semi Bird is the only other candidate with 10% of the vote.

For Commissioner of Public Lands, the top three vote getters are Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, with 22.2% against Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson, 20.6% and Democrat Dave Upthegrove, with 20.53% of the vote.

Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, with 39.5% of the vote, is about 115,000 votes ahead of David Olson. The race is nonpartisan, with no party affiliation.

Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell has 57.7% of the votes tallied. She will face Raul Garcia of the GOP Party. His 21.8% of the vote was the only other candidate above 10%.

The Washington Secretary of State’s office will certify the elections Aug. 20.

Election results and voter turnout: https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20240806/default.htm.