Republican Jeff Sax and Democrat Dave Somers are arming for their anticipated brawl for the 5th District seat on the Snohomish County Council.
Sax holds it now and is looking for a second term. Somers held it before and lost it to Sax in 2001. The candidates are braced for a bloody and brutal rematch.
Their slugfest may well be decided by the performance of Maltby resident Greg Stephens, the politics of County Executive Aaron Reardon and the participation of Republican conservatives.
Stephens, on the ballot as an independent candidate, is the third wheel who is unlikely to win but lurks as a spoiler by siphoning votes from the other two.
This poses more of a threat to Sax than Somers, because Stephens is an avowed Republican. He carbon-dates his GOP roots to the early 1960s, when as a teenager he volunteered for Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in Southern California.
Stephens tried to challenge Sax for the county Republican Party nomination this year, only to be locked out of the GOP convention by officials who questioned his political pedigree.
They said the fact that Stephens put a Somers campaign sign on his lawn in the 2001 race made dubious his claim to be a true Republican. The spurning is what inspired Stephens to run.
Reardon backed Somers’ primary opponent, Steve Hobbs. But once Tuesday’s outcome became clear, he telephoned to offer Somers his endorsement and assistance.
It will be welcome, because Reardon possesses political talents that Somers lacks and vitally needs.
First, Reardon can raise money by tapping a larger bank of financially endowed contributors.
Second, his moderate politics offset Somers’ liberalism. Reardon’s friends in the business and development community recall that Somers’ environmentalism led to rules and regulations that they staunchly opposed. Many have given money to Sax’s campaign.
Somers insists he has muted the color of his green stripes, but his detractors are wary. Reardon will be counted on to provide them with a degree of assurance that it’s true. The payoff could be fewer anti-Somers missives launched by development-minded interests in the course of the campaign.
A third factor is whether the bedrock conservatives of the Republican Party will turn out to vote.
These are people more concerned with a candidate’s purity than policy. They will want to know his stand on issues such as abortion, not mitigation fees. These are voters with litmus tests on a short list of social issues.
In this race, Sax is closer to their pure choice. They’ll be happy to know he’s anti-abortion, compared with Somers’ pro-choice stance. They may not care much that he’s more pro-growth than his opponent.
The challenge for Sax will be to arouse their passion so they don’t stay home in November.
He’s got seven weeks to campaign. So do Somers and Stephens.
And no one is wearing gloves.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield’s column on politics runs every Sunday. He can be reached at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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