King County posts final candidate filings

The filing period for elected office in King County officially closed a few hours ago and the elections division has posted final candidate filings to its site.

Items of note:

• The Port Commission races have gotten very crowded. Bob Edwards has five challengers for his seat (Position #2), including Gael Tarleton and Jack Block, Jr. who declared their candidacies earlier this year. Joining them: The-Anh Nguyen, Wen Wu Lee, and Thom McCann. Alec Fisken now has three challengers: Stephen Symms, Bill Bryant, and Catherine J. Perkins.
• Keith Scully and Bill Sherman are the Democratic candidates for county prosecutor. Dan Satterberg is the only Republican who filed.
• Jim Nobles, a perennial Republican candidate, filed to run as Assessor against incumbent Scott Noble, a Democrat. It's somewhat of a clever move on Jim Nobles' part, because voters may be confused by the last names. However, the race is partisan, and incumbent Scott will have a D next to his name.
• Richard Pope, another perennial candidate and ostracized Republican gadfly, has filed to run for King County Council...as a Democrat. No one else filed to challenge Republican Jane Hague.
• Democratic councilmembers Larry Phillips and Larry Gossett (of the 4th and 2nd Districts, respectively) are unopposed in their reelection bids.

In the city of Redmond, where NPI is headquartered, three candidates have filed to run for mayor and all the city council races have only two contenders each, which means none of those races will appear on the primary election ballot.

The complete list is here, but not all the elected offices attracted candidates.

21 positions remain where no candidates filed at all. To encourage participation in the electoral process and to comply with Washington election laws, King County Elections will hold a special, three-day filing period next week beginning Wednesday, June 13 and ending at 4:30 p.m. Friday, June 15 for these positions.

In the event no candidates files at the conclusion of the three-day filing period, election officials will declare an election lapse for those positions and the incumbent will remain in the position until the next odd-year election cycle. If the position is vacant, the jurisdiction may appoint someone to serve until the next election.