30th Legislative District celebrates Democratic swing

Ten­sion was high at the joint elec­tion night par­ty for state House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives can­di­dates Kris­tine Reeves and Mike Pellicciotti.

Democ­rats gath­ered as con­cern­ing pres­i­den­tial elec­tion results poured in pri­or to Wash­ing­ton poll clo­sure. Just before 8 PM, 30th LD Demo­c­ra­t­ic Chair Tim Burns round­ed up the 60 or so vol­un­teers and guests in a cir­cle as the can­di­dates gave thanks and con­grat­u­la­tions to their teams regard­less of the races’ outcomes.

The pro­fes­sion­al chem­istry between Reeves and Pel­lic­ci­oti was evi­dent. They ran a large­ly joint cam­paign and will undoubt­ed­ly work well togeth­er in Olympia if results hold. Ini­tial num­bers show strong leads for both.

For­mer King Coun­ty pros­e­cu­tor Pel­lic­ciot­ti leads incum­bent Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lin­da Kochmar by 3,006 votes (55.5% to 44.7%) while state Depart­ment of Com­merce employ­ee Kris­tine Reeves leads first-year Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Teri Hick­el by 1,251 votes (52.21% to 47.79%).

Despite lin­ger­ing anx­i­ety at the top of the tick­et, South King Coun­ty Democ­rats gath­ered were able to breathe a col­lec­tive sigh of relief and take a brief moment to cel­e­brate their months of tire­less work turn­ing this impor­tant swing dis­trict blue.

Work con­tin­ues in the 30th with “bal­lot chas­ing” con­test­ed returns pri­or to cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of elec­tion results by Decem­ber 8.