Carolyn Long is met with cheers from her supporters at The Thirsty Sasquatch in Vancouver Tuesday night. Photo by Jonathan Haukaas
Preliminary results released the day after the Aug. 7 primary election show Democrats doing well locally with the front-runner challenger for the 3rd Congressional District taking first place among Clark County voters.
The second round of results show Democrat Carolyn Long as the candidate with the most votes in Clark County at 40.4 percent. Incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, was in second place with about 37.8 percent of the vote.
In a distant third was David McDevitt, also a Democrat, with 7.8 percent of the vote. Fellow Democrat Dorothy Gasque picked up 5.2 percent of the vote, with Republican Earl Bowerman receiving just more than 5 percent. Republican Michael Cortney received 2.2 percent of the vote and Democrat Martin Hash received just over 1 percent.
Districtwide, however, Herrera Beutler still had the lead, taking about 41.4 percent of 3rd Congressional District voters’ ballots. Long trailed at 36.1 percent.
The U.S. Senate race looks like a lock for the presumptive front-runners of both parties as incumbent Democrat Maria Cantwell and Republican challenger Susan Hutchinson have secured the top-two spots in the statewide contest. Cantwell had about 55.3 percent of the vote while Hutchinson took in 24.1 percent.
Locally, Cantwell had just less than half of the vote in Clark County at about 49.9 percent while Hutchinson was trailing, taking in about 20.6 percent of the vote. Vancouver resident and right-wing activist Joey Gibson was third in Clark County with about 5.1 percent of the vote.
Local races
If preliminary results are any sign, it’s looking like the current County Council Chair might be on his way out.
Current District 4 Councilor Eileen Quiring had close to 37.8 percent of the vote as of the second count, with Democratic challenger Eric Holt in second place with roughly 24.2 percent.
Incumbent Marc Boldt, no party preference, trailed Holt by only about 1300 votes, taking 22.6 percent. Though she had since suspended her campaign to support Holt, fellow Democrat Christy Stanley did pick up some votes, netting about 15.4 percent as of the second count.
Holt was excited by the initial results, thanking his supporters for their hard work on his campaign. He said that he expected the gap between him and Quiring to to get closer as subsequent results came in.
Holt pointed at the percentage Stanley was able to pull in the race, reasoning it was a good sign for how he would fair come November.
“You add that (percentage) onto me, we’re actually in first place right now,” Holt remarked. He added that he wasn’t surprised at Quiring’s numbers as she had the most in campaign funds for the contest.
“I think the people of Clark County have spoken, and they want a Democrat to win the race,” Holt remarked.
The three-way race for Clark County Council District 1 was a close one based on the second round of numbers.
Democrat Temple Lentz secured close to 33.7 percent of the vote as the front-runner, with incumbent Republican Jeanne Stewart in a close second with 33.1 percent, exactly 100 votes behind. Jim Moeller, also a Democrat, looks to be out of the contest with 31.9 percent, though the positions could change with an estimated 17,000 ballots left to count in Clark County.
The race for Legislative District 17 Position 1 had three candidates though one, James Tolson, suspended his campaign in June. He still picked up about 7.4 percent of the vote. Incumbent Republican Vicki Kraft and challenger Democrat Tanisha Harris will likely advance, netting 48.7 and 43.8 percent respectively.
In another State Legislature race, Clark County votes were similar to the multi-county district-wide contest. Incumbent Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, led both locally and across District 20, receiving 57.7 percent in Clark County and 56.6 percent overall. In both cases Democrat Brennan Bailey was second, receiving 35.4 locally and 34.7 percent district-wide, leaving independent candidate Mark Smith in third in both cases.
The race for Clark Public Utilities District commissioner has the incumbent with a majority vote as current District 1 seatholder Jim Malinowski had about 56.6 percent of the vote as of the second count. In second was Sherry Erickson with 27 percent, making Judy Chipman the odd one out with 16.4 percent.
The race for Clark County Assessor has the incumbent on top as Republican Peter Van Nortwick took 43.1 percent of the first county’s votes. Fellow Republican challenger Darren Wertz took 31.7 percent with Norbert Schlecht, no party, trailing in third with 25.2 percent.
Outside of top-two contests, a levy lid lift for Clark County Fire Protection District 13 looked to be passing at greater than a two-to-one lead. The measure would lift the district levy rate from 84 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to $1.25 per $1,000 and would be used to replace aging equipment for the fire department that covers about 37 square miles of northeastern Clark County. As of the first count it had about 67.7 percent approval.
Editor’s note: Races with only two candidates have been omitted from the preliminary reports.