Jean Berkey trails Nick Harper; Steve Hobbs leads Dave Schmidt

EVERETT -- A coalition of powerful labor unions knocked down but do not appear to have knocked out two moderate Democratic senators in Snohomish County.

Democrat Nick Harper led state Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett, by 225 votes in initial returns in the 38th Legislative District. Harper received 4,530 votes Tuesday and Berkey garnered 4,305. Self-described conservative Rod Rieger of Marysville was in third with 3,985 votes.

"I am thrilled to be ahead. It's better than being behind but there's a lot of votes to count," said Harper, 31, who is making his first run for elected office.

The top two vote-getters will continue to the November general election regardless of party affiliation.

Harper conducted an aggressive campaign, knocking on 15,000 doors and raising $55,000.

As he campaigned, unions representing state employees, teachers and health care workers spent nearly $300,000 on an independent effort to oust Berkey and help position Harper to capture the seat.

They ran television commercials, sent out more than a dozen mailers and paid people to call and knock on doors of voters. And last week the consultant for the group, Moxie Media, produced a mailer urging voters to support Rieger, describing him as a Republican even though he lists his affiliation with the Conservative Party. It was an apparent attempt to push Berkey out in the primary so the November race would be between Rieger and Harper in the Democratic leaning district. It is still not clear if any unions funded that piece.

While Harper declined to comment on the effect of the effort, the senator said she withstood the blow pretty well.

"When you have wave after wave of material sent out against you, it has an impact," Berkey said. "I think we're pretty close to where we expected to be. I think we're well-positioned for the general election."

State Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, another moderate under fire in the primary, had a 303-vote edge on Republican Dave Schmidt, the man he unseated in 2006. Hobbs received 6,379 votes to Schmidt's 6,076.

Democrat Lillian Kaufer had 2,587 votes followed by Republican Ryan Ferrie with 2,087.

Hobbs helped found a group of moderate Democrats known as the Roadkill Caucus. Union leaders blamed the caucus for hobbling their legislative priorities while protecting the interests of major banks, insurance firms and corporations.

Hobbs found himself the target of a similar but smaller-scale campaign than faced by Berkey.

"Despite the fact that close to $100,000 was spent against me, I still came out ahead. I thank the voters of the district for seeing through all the information," he said.

Hobbs said he is looking forward to a rematch with Schmidt.