Restaurant owner Steve Dana readied himself to face Snohomish County Councilman Dave Somers after his nearest rival on Thursday conceded in the primary.
Dana received a phone call from Lake Stevens Mayor Vern Little congratulating him for securing the second and final spot in the Nov. 3 general election.
“He’s very gracious, and I appreciated that,” Dana said.
Somers, a Democrat, grabbed more than half the votes cast in Tuesday’s primary for the council’s 5th District, which covers eastern Snohomish County. That left the rest of the field to vie for second place. Under state law, the top two advance to the general election.
The first primary results showed Dana in a near dead heat with Little. By Thursday, Dana pulled ahead by 254 votes.
Little said he congratulated Dana on running a good campaign. He said he left Somers a message to the same effect, but would support his fellow Republican in the general election.
Little said some of his messages are similar to Dana’s and he was hampered by getting into the race late.
“We worked at it,” he said. “A lot of volunteers got together really fast. It just wasn’t quite good enough.”
In another close race, former Monroe City Councilman Robert Zimmerman widened his lead over Councilman Mitch Ruth for the second spot in the race for Monroe mayor. Zimmerman led Ruth by just four votes on Wednesday, but went up by 39 votes on by Thursday’s count. Zimmerman had 610 votes and Ruth had 571. The candidate with the most votes will face the incumbent in the general election, Monroe Mayor Donnetta Walser, who had 710 votes so far.
In Edmonds, Councilman Ron Wambolt saw his lead for the second spot in the general election shrink to just eight votes over challenger Lora Petso. As of Thursday afternoon, Wambolt had 2,803 votes in the race and Petso had 2,795. The leader in that race is Adrienne Fraley-Monillas with 2,989 votes.
For the 5th District county council race, Somers had 10,117 votes as of Thursday afternoon, giving him 51.53 percent of the 19,632 votes counted so far, according to the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office. Dana had 3,984 votes or 20.29 percent and Little 3,730 or 19 percent.
Maltby activist Greg Stephens had 1,542 votes or 7.85 percent of the total. His name remained on the ballot even though he said earlier this month that he wanted to withdraw after a past felony charge surfaced.
There were 259 write-ins, or 1.32 percent of the total.
The Auditor’s Office is expected to certify the primary results Sept. 2.
Somers, 56, who lives near Monroe, is seeking a second straight term in the 5th District.
He first won the seat in 1997, but lost re-election to Republican Jeff Sax in 2001. Somers beat Sax in a rematch in 2005.
Dana, 59, owns The Hub restaurant in Snohomish. It has been in his family since 1960. He has served as mayor and city councilman in Snohomish.
In the months ahead, Dana said wants to talk about issues, such as how to help businesses grow, protect property rights and make county government more efficient.
“I look forward to the campaign in the fall,” he said. “There’s a clear choice between the direction that Dave Somers has been taking the county and where I would like to take (it).”
The district includes Lake Stevens, Snohomish, Monroe, Gold Bar, Sultan and unincorporated areas down to the King County line.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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