Bird a distant third in gubernatorial race
OLYMPIA - Given Washington's recent political history, it's no surprise that Democrat Bob Ferguson is leading all candidates in the gubernatorial race to replace outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee.
But former King County deputy-turned-politician Dave Reichert's apparent second-place finish, may be a surprise.
Earlier this year, the Republican Party rejected Reichert and instead endorsed Semi Bird of Richland for governor.
In the initial count of ballots in the Tuesday, Aug. 6, primary election voters appeared to have overruled the county.
Ferguson finished the night with 459,407 votes.
Reichert was second with 281,993 votes; Bird was a distant third with 94,938.
Only the Top 2 candidates will advance to the general election.
And while the state reports 1,009,996 have already been tallied, there were 4,876,622 ballots mailed to registered voters. Officials estimate they have 402,962 ballots yet to be counted, with more late-arriving ballots expected over the next couple days.
As of the end of the first night of counting, here are the unnofficial tallies:
Jim Daniel 18,217
Cassondra M. Hanson 14,478
Jeff Curry 3,045
Alex Tsimerman 922
Mark Mullet 58,934
Martin Lee Wheeler 4,428
Jennifer Hoover 8,782
Andre Stackhouse 5,053
El'ona Kearney 11,212
Ricky Anthony 3,456
Bob Ferguson 459,407
Chaytan Inman 3,040
Michael DePaula 1,903
Dave Reichert 281,993
Don L. Rivers 4,428
Jim Clark 1,377
Gred Grant 2,804
Leon A. Lawson 20,489
Edward Cale IV 1,063
Frank Dare 599
Williams Combs 627
Alan Makayev 539
Brian Bogen 2,008
A.L. Brown 2,369
Brad Mjelde 511
Bill Hirt 1,059
Rosetta Marshall-Williams 1,645
Semi Bird 94,938
More ballots are expected to be counted Tuesday and over the next two weeks. Results will be certified Aug. 20.
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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