Dave Upthegrove emerges victorious from hand recount in tight Lands Commissioner race
The just-certified results of a manual recount of ballots show that Democratic hopeful Dave Upthegrove has successfully maintained his slim lead over Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson in the extremely tight race to determine Hilary Franz’s successor as Commissioner of Public Lands, setting up a November general election in which voters will have a choice between a Democrat and a Republican rather than two Republicans.
Upthegrove, who currently chairs the King County Council, will face Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, a former United States Representative from Southwest Washington who was ousted from Congress two years ago by Republican voters upset with her vote to impeach Donald Trump. Herrera Beutler’s name had been floated as a possible challenger to Senator Maria Cantwell, but she decided to pursue a position in the state’s executive department instead. The last Republican to be elected Commissioner of Public Lands was Doug Sutherland in 2004; Democrats won the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 races for the position with Peter Goldmark and Franz, respectively.
Upthegrove was one of five Democratic candidates who filed to run for the position this year, along with Republicans Herrera Beutler and Kuehl Pedersen. With four rivals from his own party, Upthegrove faced the problem that vote-splitting among Democrats could lead to no Democratic candidate getting through the Top Two election.
For four consecutive seasons — last fall, this winter, this spring, and this summer — NPI’s polling demonstrated this scenario could come to pass.
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2024/09/dave-upthegrove-emerges-victorious-from-hand-recount-in-tight-lands-commissioner-race.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
