With the exception of one race, Tuesday’s primary election yielded few surprises and no upsets locally.
Among the contested local state Legislature races, after Tuesday’s opening night returns, the District 2 state representative position 2 candidates are shaping up to be Republicans Matt Marshall and former Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza, who is trailing behind Marshall by a little over 1,000 votes. They are seeking to replace state Rep. J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, after the long-time legislator opted to retire from office. Meanwhile, Democratic candidates Yanah G. Cook and Michael Holloman are set to be edged out, although Cook has less than a 1,000 vote deficit behind Snaza after Tuesday’s results.
As well, Erasmo Ruiz Gonzalez, a Democrat, is set to take on Republican incumbent Jim McCune in the District 2 state senate race, based on opening night results. McCune led the race Tuesday night, amassing 7,134 votes, or 38.64%, to Gonzalez’s 6,356 votes and Republican Ronda Litzenberger's 4,952.
On the state level, despite a campaign stop by gubernatorial candidate Semi Bird in Yelm this summer, the candidate endorsed by the state Republican Party is unlikely to advance to the general election in November after trailing Republican opponent and former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert and current Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who are leading the crowded race after Tuesday night. Ferguson pulled in 459,407 opening-night votes to Reichert’s 281,993. Bird rounded out the top three candidates with 94,938 votes. The governor’s race was hotly contested with the winner of November’s general election replacing outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee.
At the U.S. legislative level, in District 3, which includes Yelm, incumbent Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, is set to take on second-time challenger and Clark County Republican Joe Kent, this November.
Despite Kent pulling in the majority of the votes in Thurston County, in total, Gluesenkamp led Kent 56,534-46,302 after opening-night returns from all the counties in the district: Skamania, Clark, Thurston, Lewis, Pacific, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum. Meanwhile, in the heavily contested District 10 race, Rep. Marilyn Strickland will advance to the general election with Republican Don Hewitt set to take on the incumbent Democrat.
To see daily updates to the Aug. 6 primary election, visit either https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20240806/thurston/ or https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20240806/pierce/.
Thurston County
Thurston County Commissioner, District No. 1
Carolina Mejia, D: (unopposed)
Thurston County Commissioner, District No. 2
JW Foster, I: 3,384 votes, 57.25%
Rachel Dreon, D: 2,487, 42.07%
Thurston County Commissioner, District No. 4
Wayne Fournier, D: 3,802 votes, 51.58%
Rob Laymon, No party preference: 3,503, 47.52%
State
Legislative District 2 State Senator
Erasmo Ruiz Gonzalez, D: 6,356 votes, 34.435%
Ronda Litzenberger, R: 4,952, 26.82%
Jim McCune, R: 7,134, 38.64%
Legislative District 2, State Representative Pos. 2
Yanah G. Cook, D: 4,245 votes, 23.17%
Matt Marshall, R: 6,382, 34.83%
Michael Holloman, D: 2,435, 13.29%
John Snaza, R: 5,241, 28.6%
Legislative District 2, State Representative Pos. 1
Andrew Barkis (unopposed)
Legislative District 20, State Senator
John Braun (unopposed)
Legislative District 20, State Representative Position 1
Peter Abbarno, R: 12,821 votes, 87.5%
Melvin Kaleolani Apana, Culture Republican Party: 1,274, 8.7%
Legislative District 20, State Representative Position 2
Ed Orcutt (unopposed)
Supreme Court, Justice Position No. 2
Todd A. Bloom: 153,514 votes, 16.92%
Sal Mungia: 379,711, 41.86%
David R. Shelvey: 33,258, 3.67%
Dave Larson: 336,618, 37.11%
Governor Top 4 candidate results
Mark Mullet, D: 58,934 votes, 5.84%
Bob Ferguson, D: 459,407, 45.49%
Dave Reichert, R: 281,993, 27.92%
Semi Bird, R: 94,938, 9.4%
Lt. Governor
Patrick “Pat” Harmon, Liberal Republican party: 27,440 votes, 2.8%
David Griffin, D: 90,325, 9.2%
Bog Hagglund, R: 163,861, 16.69%
Dan Matthews, R: 220,912, 22.5%
Danny Heck, D: 477,731, 48.57%
Secretary of State
Marquez Tiggs, D: 93,926, 9.49%
Dale Whitaker, R: 364,132, 36.8%
Damon Townsend, No Labels Party: 45,760, 4.62%
Steve Hobbs - D: 484,861, 49%
State Treasurer
Mike Pellicciotti, D: 579,517 votes, 58.65%
Sharon Hanek, R: 407,637, 41.26%
State Auditor
Matt Hawkins, R: 402,016 votes, 40.75%
Pat (Patrice) McCarthy, D: 583,607, 59.16%
Attorney General
Pete Serrano, R: 416,064 votes, 41.85%
Nick Brown, D: 356,851, 35.9%
Manka Dhingra, D: 220,485, 22.18%
Commissioner of Public Lands
Allen Lebovitz, D: 105,696 votes, 10.79%
Jaime Herrera Beutler, R: 221,678, 22.64%
Dave Upthegrove, D: 194,412, 19.85%
Sue Kuehl Pederson, R: 198,343, 20.26%
Patrick DePoe, D: 129,467, 13.22%
Jeralee Anderson, D: 28,521, 4.96%
Kevin De Wege, D: 80,189, 8.19%
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Reid Saaris: 215,298 votes, 23.39%
Chris Reykdal: 364,059, 39.55%
John Patterson Blair: 51,197, 5.556%
David Olson:3,994, 0.43%
U.S.
U.S. Senator
Mel Ram, R: 50,958 votes, 5.09%
Dr. Raul Garcia, GOP party: 212,439, 21.23%
David Tilton, Non-Partisan: 8,014, 0.8%
Maria Cantwell, D: 578,629, 57.83%
Chuck Jackson, I: 10,125, 1.01%
Isaac A. Holyk, R: 53,639, 5.36%
Henry Clay Dennison, Socialist Workers Party: 3,678, 0.37%
Scott Nazarino, R: 58,473, 5.84%
Paul Lawrence Giesick, D: 9,141, 0.91%
Thor Amundson, I: 5,355, 0.54%
Goodspaceguy, R: 8,906, 0.89%
U.S. Representative District No. 3
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D: 56,634 votes, 46.87%
Joe Kent, R: 46,302, 38.32%
John Saulie-Rohman, I: 2,770, 2.29%
Leslie Lewallen, R: 15,023, 12.43%
U.S. Representative District No. 10
Marilyn Strickland, D: 46,196 votes, 54.33%
Eric Mahaffy, D: 1,779, 2.09%
Richard Boyce, Congress Sucks Party: 1,050, 1.23%
Nirav Sheth, R: 9,569, 11.25%
Kurtis Engle, Union Party: 278, 0.33%
Desiree C. Toliver, D: 2,405, 2.83%
Don Hewett, R: 23,645, 27.81%
U.S. Representative District No. 8
Kim Schrier, D: 57,518 votes, 51.5%
Carmen Goers, R: 49,445, 44.27%
Keith Arnold, D: 1,447, 1.3%
Imraan Siddiqi, D: 3,111, 2.79%
