Richard Mitchell solidifies lead over John Creighton, will move on to general election

Moments ago, King Coun­ty Elec­tions updat­ed last night’s returns to reflect new­ly tab­u­lat­ed bal­lots. The updat­ed fig­ures show Demo­c­rat Richard Mitchell gain­ing ground in the con­test for King Coun­ty Coun­cil Dis­trict #6, with all of his rivals — incum­bent Repub­li­can Jane Hague includ­ed — los­ing ground.

Mitchel­l’s per­cent­age of the vote went from 27.87% to 29.06% in less than twen­ty-four hours. His lead over John Creighton, the third-place fin­ish­er, is near­ly twice what it was last night in actu­al votes (1,225 instead of 625).

The com­plete numbers:

Bal­lots Cast/Registered Vot­ers: * ²⁹⁴³²⁄₁₂₁₁₃₉ (24.30%)
Pat­sy Bon­in­con­tri: 7.16% (1,986 votes)
Richard E. Mitchell: 29.06% (8,059 votes)
Jane Hague: 38.78% (10,754 votes)
John Creighton: 24.64% (6,834 votes)
Write-in: 0.36% (100 votes)

Creighton’s cam­paign had held out hope that they would be able to over­come Mitchell and cap­ture the sec­ond place spot. In a state­ment post­ed to his web­site ear­li­er today, Creighton described the race as “vir­tu­al­ly tied”, and added:

It is my belief that the swing vot­ers that cast their bal­lot in the final week­end of the elec­tion will break strong­ly in my favor and we will advance to defeat Jane Hague in Novem­ber. Our goal has always been to dethrone the 17-year incum­bent. It is my belief that I am the only can­di­date that can achieve this goal – I expect the returns in the next 48 hours will give me that opportunity.

So far, the oppo­site is hap­pen­ing: Lat­er bal­lots are break­ing even more strong­ly in favor of Richard Mitchell than ear­li­er bal­lots, putting Mitchell clos­er to incum­bent Jane Hague and fur­ther ahead of John Creighton.

Giv­en the trend we’re see­ing, it’s a safe bet that Mitchell is head­ed to the gen­er­al elec­tion. If Mitchell con­tin­ues to improve his show­ing at today’s pace, he should crack 30% of the vote tomorrow.