Muzzall likely victor in LD 10 Senate race

State Sen. Ron Muzzall’s (R-Oak Harbor) lead in state Legislative District 10 increased by 104 votes as Snohomish County election office staff worked Monday. His margin over Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair is 2%, 51.3% to 49.3%, and 1,562 votes.

Island County’s approximately 10,000 ballots being counted are all in LD 10. If St. Claire’s ratio of 54% to 46% in the counting holds, she will gain 800 votes. To win, she must win by 800 votes in the Skagit County LD 10 precincts. There are probably not enough votes in the pool of some 10,000 ballots being counted in Mount Vernon.

Some 750 Snohomish County ballots remain. It is not known how many are from LD 10 precincts.

Monday, Muzzall increased his lead by almost 1,000 tallies since going out in front by 571 votes Thursday out of 76,876 ballots counted.

Other LD 10 and Skagit County commissioner incumbents are on their way to re-election.

First-term State Rep. Clyde Shavers (D-Oak Harbor) claimed victory for his LD 10 Pos. 1 seat in an email to supporters Saturday, writing “my heart is filled with gratitude as we celebrate our election win.” He has 53.6% of the ballots and a 4,985-vote lead over his Republican challenger from Whidbey Island, Carrie Kennedy.

LD 10 Pos. 2 State Rep. Dave Paul has a slightly larger lead of 5,177 votes and an 8.1% margin, 54.0% to 45.9%, against Republican challenger Island County resident Gary Wray. The senior member of the LD 10 delegation will return to Olympia for a fourth term.

Incumbent Skagit County Commissioners Ron Wesen (R-Bow) and Peter Browning (I-Mount Vernon) will win re-election.

Wesen has a 14,268-vote lead and 63.5% of the vote to Hope Island resident Rylee Fleury’s 36.2%. First elected in 2008, this will be Wesen’s fifth term.

Browning has won a second term, leading Mount Vernon City Councilmember Richard Brocksmith 60.1% to 39.6%. Browning has a 10,825-vote lead after Saturday’s tallies. Almost 800 more votes, a total of 52,985 were cast in the Browning-Brocksmith contest.

In Skagit County, Vice President Kamala Harris has 31,323 and 53.43%of the vote.

Voter turnout statewide is estimated to be over 77%, some 3.9 million citizens out of just over 5 million registered voters. Skagit County election staff estimate over 69,000, 78% of the county’s 88,818 registered voters, have cast ballots. Staff were going through the last 10,000 Tuesday.

The Weekly News estimates that 79.9% of Island County citizens will vote and that 78.5% of Snohomish County citizens cast ballots.

All three counties posted vote tally updates at the end of the work day Tuesday.

The Secretary of State’s office will certify all elections by Dec. 5.