Northshore School Board member is Republican challenger to McAuliffe

Published 7:43 pm Monday, May 14, 2012

The Republican challenger to state Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe is Northshore School Board member Dawn McCravey.

McCravey, who is in her second term on the Northshore Board, said Monday that she is running to protect education in Washington and to help the state come to budget agreements without multiple special sessions.

Incumbent McAuliffe, the chairwoman of the state Senate committee on education, was a member of the Northshore School Board before she first ran for the legislature 20 years ago.

McCravey’s entry into the race sets up a three-way primary among McAuliffe, McCravey and Guy Palumbo who has been raising money as an independent but now has filed as a Democrat.

Palumbo is the only candidate who had filed for the position in the 1st Legislative District on Monday.

The filing period continues through Friday at 5 p.m.

The top two vote getters in the Aug. 7 primary advance to the Nov. 6 general election regardless of party.

McCravey starts the race with a fundraising disadvantage. As of Monday afternoon, she had raised $300 compared to $59,317 for Palumbo and $15,023 for McAuliffe.

McCravey’s entry marks another change in the field for the position. Democrat Jacob Bond declared his intent to run in December before redistricting put his home into a different district, Republican Brian Travis declared his intent to run in January, but switched to a challenge to state Rep. Derek Stanford after Palumbo entered the race in March. Palumbo changed his party preference recently after he found that the independent status was confusing voters. McCravey made it a three-way race last week.

The 1st Legislative District includes Brier, Bothell, most of Mountlake Terrace, part of Kirkland, unincorporated areas of King County between Bothell and Kirkland, and unincorporated areas of Snohomish County north and east of Bothell.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.