Elections roundup - Thurston County

With the election results from Thurston County coming in, even with 20,000 votes yet to be counted, it's shaping up to be a great night for Democrats.

Change is coming to the City of Lacey, where the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are being blown out by Democrats Ron Lawson and Andy Ryder respectively, and Cynthia Pratt is defeating another incumbent councilmember. All of the incumbents are longtime city councilmembers. The vote is further complicated by an effort by the City to form its own fire department. Of late, Lacey has been represented by more conservative elected officials, compared to its neighbors Olympia and Tumwater, due to the presence of a large number of military voters, who as a voting block, tend to be conservative.

Ron Lawson 3,646 votes 55.55%
Graeme Sackrison 2,918 votes 44.45%

Andy Ryder 3,642 votes 55.72%
John Darby 2,894 votes 44.27%

Cynthia Pratt 3,935 votes 59.44%
Ann Burgman 2,685 votes 40.56%

As for the Thurston County Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Karen Valenzuela has comfortably won against Republican Pat Beehler. Valenzuela was appointed to her post by Governor Chris Gregoire, after the other two commissioners were unable to come to agreement after receiving a list of 3 candidates from Democratic party precinct committee officers to fill the vacant District 3 seat. Despite being a nonpartisan office, the Valenzuela win means all of the incumbent commissioners are Democrats.

Karen Valenzuela 27,161 votes 55.82%
Patrick Beehler 21,497 votes 44.18%

In addition, voters in Thurston County have done their part for defeating I-1033 by voting against the measure by a margin of 58.57% to 41.43%. R-71 is also on track in the county, with voters approving the referendum by a margin of 56.38% to 43.62%. Of course, these totals are only a small part of the statewide numbers.