As of Monday morning, the Lewis County Auditor’s Office Elections Department had nearly 400 more ballots to count and verify following the Aug. 4 primary election.
That’s a relatively small number, but not insignificant considering the close races in some of the county’s elections.
Another update to ballot counts is expected by Monday evening. As of press time Monday afternoon, the results of the highest profile primary elections affecting Lewis County had stayed the same since the end of last week, with some leads growing or shrinking by small numbers.
In the race for a seat as representative of Washington state’s Third Congressional District, Republican challenger and state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, has earned a small lead over incumbent Democrat Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania.
While initial counts showed the two candidates within half a percentage point of each other — with Gluesenkamp Perez up by a few hundred votes — Braun has pulled ahead by roughly three percentage points.
As of Monday afternoon, Braun recorded 39.6% of the vote, representing 83,761 votes, to Gluesenkamp Perez’s 36.5%, representing 77,185 votes. The two candidates will advance to the general election in November.
Third-place Democrat challenger Brent Hennrich held 16.75% of the vote, representing more than 35,000 votes.
In the closest of the state legislative races across the state's 19th and 20th legislative districts, Democrat Terry Carlson of Longview has held onto his lead over incumbent Republican state Rep. Joel McEntire, R-Cathlamet.
All three other incumbent state Reps. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen; Peter Abbarno, R-Chehalis; and Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, held significant leads of 10% or more over their challengers.
The closest of the county elections remains tight with Mitchell Merrill maintaining a slim lead over Mitch Townsend in the race for Lewis County auditor. As of Monday afternoon, Merrill had received 7,500 votes compared to 7,407 cast for Townsend. With more than 400 ballots to be counted and verified, both candidates will advance to the general election, but the leader of this contest could still change.
The higher profile county races for Lewis County sheriff and Lewis County District 3 commissioner each clearly advanced two candidates who significantly outperformed the rest of the field but came in within a few percentage points of one another.
In the race for Lewis County sheriff, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Special Services Chief Gabriel Frase had 36.1% of the vote Monday afternoon, representing 8,013 votes. Close behind, former Centralia police Sgt. Tracy Murphy held 34.1% of the vote, representing 7,568 votes.
In the race for Lewis County commissioner, the incumbent Scott Brummer still holds the lead with 33.6% of the vote, representing 3,008 votes, and Lewis County Public Utility District Commissioner Mike Hadaller wasn’t far behind with 31.58% of the vote representing 2,828 votes.
As previously reported by The Chronicle, incumbent Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod cemented his spot in the general election in the initial ballot count, reporting more than 50% of the vote — more than 12,000 votes — in the three-person primary. Challenger Jessica Stickley will also advance to the general election with 27.58% of the vote, representing just over 6,300 votes.
To see full results of the election, visit https://tinyurl.com/4vcfc7ty.
