Here’s how key races affecting Thurston County stand after Monday’s primary vote tallies

Nearly a week after the primary, some races are still too close call. But here is how key races affecting Thurston County stand after Monday’s tally.

So far, 73,873 votes have been counted in Thurston County, and about 7,000 are still to be counted.

A reminder that in Washington, the top two voter-getters move on to the general election, regardless of their party affiliations.

3rd Congressional District

Republican challenger Joe Kent has pulled ahead of incumbent U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, also a Republican, in the 3rd Congressional District race. Kent now has 1,000 votes more than Herrera Beutler, with them vying for the second spot on the general election ballot. The tally is 47,623 to 46,663.

Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez already has earned a spot on the Nov. 8 ballot, with 64,718 votes, or about 31 percent of the vote. However, that isn’t likely to turn into victory in the general election since three strong Republicans split the primary vote: Kent, Herrera Beutler and Heidi St. John, who has 33,525 votes so far.

Herrera Beutler was one of two Republicans from Washington state to vote to impeach President Donald Trump. The other, Rep. Dan Newhouse from the 4th Congressional District in Eastern Washington, has survived his primary challenge from Loren Culp and will face Democrat Doug White in November.

The 3rd Congressional District reaches from Vancouver to southern Thurston County, and from Long Beach into Eastern Washington along the Oregon border.

Secretary of State

Incumbent Democrat Steve Hobbs was the clear winner of the Secretary of State primary as early as the first tally, but a cluster of candidates were vying for the second spot on the general election ballot.

It now looks as if independent candidate Julie Anderson, who has been Pierce County’s nonpartisan auditor since 2009, will move on to the November election. Anderson now has 233,268 votes, about 15,000 votes more than her closest competitor, Republican Keith L. Wagoner.

Republicans Bob Hagglund and Mark Miloscia are in fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Hobbs, a former state Senator, was appointed to the position by Gov. Jay Inslee, after Republican Kim Wyman left to take a position with President Joe Biden’s administration as a senior election security lead of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Secretary of State elections are typically held every four years, but the candidate elected in November will only hold the seat until 2024, when the term Wyman was elected to in 2020 ends.

Anderson is running on the platform that the Secretary of State position shouldn’t be partisan. Among other responsibilities, the Secretary of State is responsible for the supervision of state and local elections, and certifying primary and general election results. Additionally, they handle the filing and verification process for initiatives and referendums.

35th Legislative District

The field didn’t need to be narrowed in the race to replace Sen. Tim Sheldon, who announced early this year that he wouldn’t run for re-election to his 35th Legislative District seat. But the results indicate the two candidates will be in a somewhat competitive race come November.

Republican Drew MacEwen, who gave up his seat in the state House to run for Senate, has 54.7 percent of the votes to Democrat Julianne Gale’s 45.1 percent. The competitive race might make sense since Sheldon was a Democrat who had been caucusing and voting with Republicans for the last decade or so.

Meanwhile, Democrat Sandy Kaiser has almost half the votes cast — 45.5 percent — in the race for MacEwen’s seat. She will face Republican Travis Couture, who right now has 26.9 percent of the votes cast. Republicans Tiffany Sevruk and Patti Case will not advance to the general election.

The 35th District covers all of Mason County, and parts of Thurston and Kitsap counties.

Thurston County Sheriff

Derek Sanders’ lead over incumbent Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza has widened since the initial vote tallies. Sanders, a current deputy who formerly worked for the Lacey Police Department, now has 35,567 votes, more than 3,300 more than Snaza.

Both Snaza and Sanders identify as independents. Snaza has served as sheriff since 2011 and won reelection in 2014 and 2018 without facing any challengers.

Both will advance to the Nov. 8 ballot.

West Thurston fire levy

While more Rochester and Littlerock area voters have voted in favor of the West Thurston Fire Authority’s levy proposal than have voted against it, the two ballot measures haven’t received the required 60% supermajority needed for passage.

The levy proposal itself is split into two ballot items, one for each district encompassed by West Thurston, but both proposals ask for the same rates: approximately $1.71 for 2023, $1.63 for 2024, $1.55 for 2025 and $1.48 for 2026.

As of Monday, 55.5% of Rochester voters approved the levy. In Littlerock, 52.9% were in favor of the levy.

“The consequence of the levy ultimately failing is that we will end up closing 50% of our stations and laying off 50% of our staff. But we will make another attempt at it for the general election in November to get this passed, and it’s going to require a community effort to do this,” West Thurston Fire Chief Rob Smith told the Chronicle newspaper on Aug. 3.

The results of the August primary election will be certified Aug. 16.

The Chronicle in Centralia contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 9, 2022 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Here’s how key races affecting Thurston County stand after Monday’s primary vote tallies."