Julie Watts and Sarah Overbay will face each other in the general election for the Tumwater School District Board of Directors, District No. 1 position, while incumbent Ty Kuehl and Daniel Mies will move on to compete for the District No. 3 seat, according to first results from Tuesday’s election.
Voter turnout was at 17.78%, according to preliminary results, with 27,506 votes cast. Tumwater School District Board of Directors, District No. 1 As the Tumwater School District grapples with ongoing budget shortfalls and the question of whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in school sports, three candidates vied for the No. 1 position in the Tumwater school board race: retired soldier, teacher and counseler Dean Mings, Deputy Director for Government Affairs at the Department of Children, Youth and Families, Watts and concerned parent, Overbay.
Preliminary election results show that Watts will be challenging Overbay in the general election come November.
Watts leads the race for the No. 1 position with 51.87% of the vote followed by Overbay with 30.21% of the vote. Watts, who campaigned in support of student learning, anti-discrimination and gender-inclusive policies, extended her gratitude to her supporters.
“I’m just super grateful tonight for all of my supporters,” she said. “There were a lot of people who were out knocking on doors for me and supporting me in this election.”
Entering the general election season, Watts said she looks forward to transforming Tumwater schools into a place where all students feel safety and belonging.
“I’m just excited to keep the campaign going, keep talking about what matters to Tumwater families about the school system, to keep standing up for public education and making sure that we’re making our schools a place for all our students feel safe and where they know that they belong.”
The Olympian reached out to candidate Sarah Overbay but did not receive a response.
Tumwater School District Board of Directors, District No. 3
Three candidates ran for the No. 3 position in the T.S.D. board of directors including incumbent Ty Kuehl, district parent and Department of Social and Health Services Support Enforcement Officer, Daniel Mies and Jeff “Cowboy” Curry. The unofficial results showed that incumbent Ty Kuehl and Daniel Mies will be advancing to the general election ballot. Campaigning for equity, access and common sense, Kuehl, received 45.14% of the vote followed by Mies with 33.82% of the vote. Kuehl, said he was surprised by the low voter turnout with under 6,000 votes cast for the No. 3 position in the T.S.D. School Board of Directors.
“I’m excited with the results. I wasn’t really sure what to expect… You know, I think I was surprised how low the turnout was, and I would anticipate the general election will have a lot more turnout,” Kuehl said. Kuehl, who supported a policy to bar trans girls from competing in school sports, said he looks forward to attending school board meetings once they reopen. Several recent meetings were shut down by demonstrators protesting the district’s handling of trans students’ participation in school sports.
“As you know, some of the board meetings have been a little bit hectic… I think we’re looking forward to getting back to an open meeting here in the next meeting or two,” he said. Mies, who advocated for curriculum alignment between schools, anti-discrimination and preservation of staff positions said his main reaction to advancing in the race surrounds raising the voter turnout.
“The main thing is just get the message out and try to get a bigger voter turnout,” he said. Mies also said he looks forward to challenging Kuehl in the general election. “Ty is a great guy. I’m sure he’ll want to debate with me with the Women’s League, and we’ll have a chance to show our differences. I really look forward to it,” he said.
