OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee declared victory in the general election Tuesday night, Nov. 3, over Republican challenger Loren Culp.
“I cannot express the honor I feel to be elected to a third term as governor,” Inslee said, celebrating victory even more than a million ballots have yet to be counted statewide. “The people of Washington have given my administration a unique place in history, and I will work hard for you every day, just as I have for the past eight years.”
As of press time, Inslee had received 1,958,787 votes, or 59.37% of the initial statewide tally. Culp, the police chief of Republic, had received 1,330,647 votes, or 40.33%.
A majority of Spokane County voters, however, were backing Culp.
As of press time, Culp had received 156,439 votes in Spokane County while Inslee had received 118,696.
All of the remaining 19 Eastern Washington counties, except Whitman, also backed Culp.
In Whitman County, Inslee was leading Culp 7,608 votes to 7,002.
Statewide, officials also tallied 9,677 write-in votes in the gubernatorial race.
While Gov. Inslee has a very comfortable margin, more than 1.5 million ballots have yet to be counted statewide.
State officials said they mailed out 4,888,773 ballots last month, but only 3,341,819 have been counted.
Roger Harnack can be reached at [email protected].
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, columnist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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