EVERETT — Despite nearly 100,000 ballots on hand still to be counted in Snohomish County, the election results Tuesday night provided some clarity about the direction local voters want to go.
Voters had an array of decisions to make this year, from top line races for federal and state government, to state legislative contests, school funding measures, a minimum wage hike, a sales tax for public safety and more.
As of Tuesday, over 68% of Snohomish County voters had returned their ballots, according to the county auditor’s office. Nearly 50% of registered voters had their ballots counted in Tuesday’s batch of results. More were expected to come via mail in the coming days.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s results.
Staying consistent
Vice President Kamala Harris lost ground just about everywhere across the country compared to President Joe Biden in 2020.
But, so far, that’s not the case in Snohomish County. In 2020, Biden got 58.5% of the vote compared to then-President Donald Trump’s 37.9%.
As of Tuesday, she had received 58.6% of the county’s nearly 263,000 votes counted so far. Trump had 38.5%. Nearly 1.2%, meanwhile, voted for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now a close Trump ally.
The county’s numbers were just about in line with the statewide count, where Harris had 58.3%.
Snohomish County also hued similar to the rest of the state in the race for governor, with 55.9% of the initial tally supporting Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s bid to take over for Gov. Jay Inslee.
And the county’s voters were within a couple percentage points of the state average on each of the four statewide ballot initiatives. They supported the natural gas initiative, while voting to preserve the Climate Commitment Act, capital gains tax and long-term care program.
Tired of taxes
All three school funding measures were failing after Tuesday’s results.
A capital levy in Arlington to build a new middle school was trailing by 1,190 votes after Tuesday. Just over 11,000 had been counted. The levy needs a simple majority to pass.
Meanwhile, two school bonds, in Lake Stevens and Sultan, need 60% support to pass.
In Lake Stevens, a 20-year, $314 million bond would build a new elementary school and modernize other buildings. But only 56.2% of voters had approved, as of Tuesday.
And in Sultan, voters staunchly rejected the district’s bond measure, with 53.3% opposed Tuesday. The district planned to use the $79 million bond to build a new elementary school, while also expanding Gold Bar Elementary and improving Sultan Elementary.
Meanwhile, at the county level, a sales tax specifically to fund public safety efforts was also failing. The additional two-tenths of 1% would have equaled about 2 cents for every $10 spent on retail in the county.
With nearly 250,000 ballots counted, the countywide measure had garnered just 43.6% of ballots.
And in Monroe, a levy lid lift for parks and public safety was losing by over 6% in the initial tally Tuesday. The voters’ pamphlet didn’t even include a statement against the measure.
The affluent town of Woodway was the exception to the rule, with 388 of its 583 votes counted so far approving a levy lid lift for public safety services.
Everett workers rejoice
While tax measures had little luck this time around, an initiative to raise Everett’s minimum wage to $20.24 per hour was sailing Tuesday.
Initiative 24-01 had nearly 58% of the almost 27,000 votes counted in the city. The vote would put Everett in a rare class among cities breaking from the state’s $16.28 minimum wage.
The wage increase in Everett would go into effect July 1, 2025, for businesses with over 500 employees, and by July 1, 2027, for businesses with 15 to 500 workers.
Meanwhile, a similar measure pushed by the Washington Hospitality Association was struggling, with less than 41% support.
Incumbents reign supreme …
Throughout the county’s legislative and congressional districts, just about all incumbents were sailing to re-election.
In the 39th Legislative District, all three Republicans were leading, even against a couple of intra-party challengers. Democrats were cruising in the 21st, 32nd, 38th and 44th districts. Some incumbents didn’t even have challengers.
And some with challengers had expanded on their margins from two years ago.
Even in the competitive 10th Legislative District, state Reps. Clyde Shavers and Dave Paul had sizable leads. In 2022, Shavers beat then-Rep. Greg Gilday, the incumbent Republican, by just 211 votes. On Tuesday, he was up over 3,500 on Carrie Kennedy, a Republican who has espoused conspiracy theories and promoted political violence.
The district’s other Democratic incumbent, Rep. Dave Paul, was leading Gary Wray, a Republican, by a margin of 54.25% to 45.65%. In 2022, Paul won 52.1% to 47.8%.
The 10th District covers all of Island County, as well as parts of Snohomish and Skagit counties. The Snohomish County portion of the district favored both Republicans.
… except (maybe) this one
Speaking of, the biggest local race to watch in the coming days will be the state Senate contest in the 10th District.
The race between state Sen. Ron Muzzall, a Republican, and Janet St. Clair, a Democratic Island County commissioner, was by far the most expensive in the state. Democrats saw it as one of their few opportunities to expand their majorities, while Republicans saw it as a much-needed hold in a purple county where Washington conservatives have floundered in recent years.
Democrats currently outnumber Republicans 29-20 in the state Senate and 58-40 in the state House.
The money was spent for a reason.
As of Tuesday night, St. Clair led Muzzall by just 153 votes, with nearly 44,000 counted. The next batch of votes will be released around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; X: @GoldsteinStreet.
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