Drawing primary conclusions from last night's late numbers
After last night’s second report during the 10 PM hour, I wrote a post summarizing the major results of the night, but unfortunately, Blogger ate that post as I hit the publish button just after 1 AM, and to my dismay, it seems it wasn’t auto-saved, so there’s no way to bring it back. So here’s what I meant to say late last night.
The August 21st primary was a good night for Democrats and progressives across the Puget Sound region. Turnout could have been higher, but it’s an off year election and the first time the primary has not been held in September in a long while. There were a lot of victories, amid a few losses.
First, the local propositions, whether they were the King County parks levies or municipal levies such as Redmond’s twin proposals to put more revenue into public services, fared well. Some fire district levies were even passing with over 70% approval. Contrary to what the right wing says, we the people like to have a government that is properly funded and responsive to our needs. We only hurt ourselves with tax cuts.
Second, Bill Sherman will be the Democratic Party’s nominee for prosecutor. He’ll face Republican Dan Satterberg in the general election this November. His support stayed solid all night at around 61% and he picked up more votes than his future GOP opponent even with competition in the Democratic primary. Bill is ready to work hard to win again, and we’re fully behind him.
Third, the Port Commission races look surprisingly good. Both progressive champions, Gael Tarleton and Alec Fisken, lead all of their opponents in their respective races. (Gael is running for Position #2, Alec for Position #5).
Gael will face entrenched incumbent and Republican Bob Edwards in November. Alec will face a well funded challenger in Republican Bill Bryant, who dropped below 30% of the vote as the night wore on while Alec steadily increased to 43.5% of the vote for Position #5. Gael held steady all night at 31%, while Bob Edwards trailed with about 27% of the vote for Position #2.
Fourth, in perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night for us, Holly Plackett’s bid to become mayor of Redmond is over. At the beginning the race was closer, but the late numbers broke heavily for Jim Robinson, and he climbed at the expense of both Holly and John Marchione, the other candidate.
Marchione’s lead diminished only slightly, while Holly dropped several percentage points. Barring a huge flood of mail in ballots for Holly, it’ll be Jim Robinson vs. John Marchione for Mayor of Redmond this November. Again, we’re disappointed, but you can’t win everything, and we’re proud of Holly’s civic involvement and concern for our community.
Fifth, we know that Bruce Harrell and Venus Velazquez will square off against each other in a couple months for Seattle City Council Position #3 (the open seat). Both far outpaced their opponents and will undoubtedly have vigorous campaigns, which we look forward to watching.
Sixth, congratulations are in order to…Richard Pope, who enjoyed the advantage of being the only name on the ballot for the Democratic nomination in the 6th County Council District. Brad Larssen’s write in candidacy wasn’t successful, and that’s too bad, but in the late numbers, he did climb four points from 16% to 20% which was very encouraging to see. Even though he won’t overtake Pope, we’re happy that he put so much effort into his campaign.
Write ins are incredibly difficult to win. Interestingly, if you combine Pope and Larssen’s total votes, it’s not too far off from Jane Hague’s total.
Unfortunately for Richard, the electorate will probably break for the incumbent this fall (which won’t be a partisan primary) but we’re curious to see what kind of campaign he’ll put together.
Seventh, we know that progressive champion Brian Sullivan will be the Democratic nominee for County Council Position #2. Brian won a huge victory, claiming almost 60% of the vote, in the primary. We’re delighted and we are hopeful that both he and fellow Democrat Mike Cooper will win this November. If they do, they will ensure a progressive majority on the Snohomish County Council for years to come.
We’re also pleased that John Lovick is in the lead for Snohomish County Sheriff.
Finally, if you want more results and information, check out Pacific Northwest Portal, which is still featuring primary elections coverage on the front page.
The August 21st primary was a good night for Democrats and progressives across the Puget Sound region. Turnout could have been higher, but it’s an off year election and the first time the primary has not been held in September in a long while. There were a lot of victories, amid a few losses.
First, the local propositions, whether they were the King County parks levies or municipal levies such as Redmond’s twin proposals to put more revenue into public services, fared well. Some fire district levies were even passing with over 70% approval. Contrary to what the right wing says, we the people like to have a government that is properly funded and responsive to our needs. We only hurt ourselves with tax cuts.
Second, Bill Sherman will be the Democratic Party’s nominee for prosecutor. He’ll face Republican Dan Satterberg in the general election this November. His support stayed solid all night at around 61% and he picked up more votes than his future GOP opponent even with competition in the Democratic primary. Bill is ready to work hard to win again, and we’re fully behind him.
Third, the Port Commission races look surprisingly good. Both progressive champions, Gael Tarleton and Alec Fisken, lead all of their opponents in their respective races. (Gael is running for Position #2, Alec for Position #5).
Gael will face entrenched incumbent and Republican Bob Edwards in November. Alec will face a well funded challenger in Republican Bill Bryant, who dropped below 30% of the vote as the night wore on while Alec steadily increased to 43.5% of the vote for Position #5. Gael held steady all night at 31%, while Bob Edwards trailed with about 27% of the vote for Position #2.
Fourth, in perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night for us, Holly Plackett’s bid to become mayor of Redmond is over. At the beginning the race was closer, but the late numbers broke heavily for Jim Robinson, and he climbed at the expense of both Holly and John Marchione, the other candidate.
Marchione’s lead diminished only slightly, while Holly dropped several percentage points. Barring a huge flood of mail in ballots for Holly, it’ll be Jim Robinson vs. John Marchione for Mayor of Redmond this November. Again, we’re disappointed, but you can’t win everything, and we’re proud of Holly’s civic involvement and concern for our community.
Fifth, we know that Bruce Harrell and Venus Velazquez will square off against each other in a couple months for Seattle City Council Position #3 (the open seat). Both far outpaced their opponents and will undoubtedly have vigorous campaigns, which we look forward to watching.
Sixth, congratulations are in order to…Richard Pope, who enjoyed the advantage of being the only name on the ballot for the Democratic nomination in the 6th County Council District. Brad Larssen’s write in candidacy wasn’t successful, and that’s too bad, but in the late numbers, he did climb four points from 16% to 20% which was very encouraging to see. Even though he won’t overtake Pope, we’re happy that he put so much effort into his campaign.
Write ins are incredibly difficult to win. Interestingly, if you combine Pope and Larssen’s total votes, it’s not too far off from Jane Hague’s total.
Unfortunately for Richard, the electorate will probably break for the incumbent this fall (which won’t be a partisan primary) but we’re curious to see what kind of campaign he’ll put together.
Seventh, we know that progressive champion Brian Sullivan will be the Democratic nominee for County Council Position #2. Brian won a huge victory, claiming almost 60% of the vote, in the primary. We’re delighted and we are hopeful that both he and fellow Democrat Mike Cooper will win this November. If they do, they will ensure a progressive majority on the Snohomish County Council for years to come.
We’re also pleased that John Lovick is in the lead for Snohomish County Sheriff.
Finally, if you want more results and information, check out Pacific Northwest Portal, which is still featuring primary elections coverage on the front page.
