Race tightest amongst Spokane County legislative districts
Incumbent Republicans Mike Volz and Jenny Graham held leads in the 6th Legislative District after Tuesday's initial results were posted. Both leads were slim, making the district the most hotly contested in the county.
DISTRICT 6--Incumbent Republicans Mike Volz and Jenny Graham had slim leads in the 6th Legislative District after Tuesday's initial election results. The district was the most heavily contested of any legislative district in Spokane County.
Volz led challenger Zack Zappone for Position 1 by a vote of 51% to 48.89%, totaling 38,742 to 37,146. Graham's lead was slightly more comfortable, as she led challenger Tom McGarry for Position 2 by a vote of 52.83% to 47.04%, totaling 39,847 to 35,482.
The twice-incumbent Volz didn't immediately return multiple calls for comment Tuesday night.
Volz's lead of roughly 1,600 votes wasn't enough for the Democratic challenger in the Position 1 race. Zappone said his rigorous campaigning has put him in position to flip the position blue for the first time since 2008.
"We got into this race on the last day of filing week, virtually unknown to most people, and now we have put ourselves in position to flip this seat for the first time in 12 years," Zappone said.
He added that his team will work to ensure every vote is properly accounted for.
"I am confident that the Spokane County Elections Office will count the remaining ballots in a timely, but more importantly, accurate manner," Zappone said.
Volz held a larger lead after August's primaries, with a certified victory of 54.90% (27,620) to Zappone's 44.91% (22,598).
Graham said her early indication of probable victory felt "good, especially when I'm not feeling so good right now." Graham is currently recovering after contracting COVID-19.
"I am very happy and excited to have hopefully earned the people's trust again," Graham said. "I know there's a lot of hard work ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to including them in decisions that are being made and looking forward to better days coming. It has to be better than 2020."
She added that after a hopeful recovery from COVID-19, her next steps will be to prepare for legislative session, either live in Olympia or remotely.
"(Next steps are) going to be get through this and figure out what they're doing for the session and pick up and take what is going on, hopefully sooner than later," Graham said.
McGarry wasn't ready to concede victory Tuesday night.
"We have a lot of different votes that have yet to be counted, and we're not giving up yet," he said.
When asked for next steps if Graham holds on and is declared the victor, McGarry said "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
Initial results showed McGarry slightly narrowing Graham's margin of victory over Democratic challengers from August's primary. Then, Graham drew 54.80% of the vote (27,341), while McGarry pulled in 29.31% (14,624). Third candidate Christian McLachlan garnered 15.64% of the vote (7,806) and failed to advance.
83 write-in votes were reported Tuesday in the race for Position 1, while 93 were reported for Position 2.
The county elections website reported a 73.50% voter turnout through 8 p.m. Tuesday in District 6 and 71.19% turnout county-wide. Earlier in the day, county elections auditor Vicky Dalton said the county was expecting upwards of a 90% voter turnout. Many mail-in ballots have yet to be counted, but will be over the next few days.
The election will be certified Nov. 24.
Investigating local precincts
A look into results from West Plains precincts shows close races in Airway Heights, Democratic edges in Cheney city limits and Republican advantages in Medical Lake and unincorporated areas.
Cheney city limits, which include precincts 6700, 6701, 6702, 6703 and 6704, give Zappone the early edge over Volz 2,048 to 1,631 and McGarry the narrow advantage over Graham 1,924 to 1,731.
Airway Heights city limits, including precincts 6400, 6401, 6402 and 6403, show a hotly contested race for Position 1, with Volz's votes tallying 1,255 and Zappone's 1,210. Graham's advantage over McGarry is slightly larger, but not by much: Graham has 1,395 counted votes so far, and McGarry 1,113.
The incumbents have a more comfortable advantage in Medical Lake city limits, which include precincts 6600, 6601 and 6602. Volz has 1,218 tallied votes to Zappone's 812, and Graham has 1,311 tallied votes to McGarry's 700.
Republicans also pulled ahead in Precinct 6500, which is Fairchild Air Force Base. Volz has tallied 231 on-base votes to Zappone's 140. Graham has 244 votes to McGarry's 125.
City outshirts and unincorporated areas lean heavily right so far.
Precincts bordering Cheney city limits include 6025 (Tyler area), 6027 (Four Lakes area), 6029 and 6030 (Cheney-Spokane Road area and Marshall). These precincts favor Volz 1,899 to Zappone's 981 thus far and Graham 1,894 to McGarry's 967.
Bordering Airway Heights city limits are precincts 6012 (west), 6013 (north), 6014 (east) and 6226 (Spokane International Airport area). Volz holds a 1,186-751 lead over Zappone, while Graham leads McGarry 1,207-720. However, both Democratic challengers have slight leads in Precinct 6226.
Bordering Medical Lake city limits are precincts 6026 (Clear Lake and south Silver Lake area) and 6011 (West Medical Lake and Espanola area). Incumbents lead convincingly here; Volz is ahead 1,026-553 and Graham leads 1,073-498.
This is an ongoing story and will be updated.
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