Republican state Rep. Barbara Bailey padded her narrow lead over Democrat Tim Knue in her bid for a third term in office after more ballots were counted Saturday.
Bailey, an Oak Harbor resident, trailed Democrat Tim Knue of Mount Vernon on election night. But counts later in the week gave her a 172-vote lead by Friday and a 348-vote lead Saturday afternoon.
Bailey is seeking re-election in the district that encompasses parts of Island, Skagit and Snohomish counties. As of Saturday she has 17,306 votes, about 50.5 percent of the vote, to Knue’s 16,958 votes, about 49.5 percent of the vote.
“We ran a good campaign, we ran a very strong campaign, and my hope was that we would win,” Bailey said. “Until all the ballots are counted, I’m still optimistic, but I’m also waiting until we count more votes.”
Likewise, Knue did not concede the race.
“We knew it was going to be a tight race, and we’re going to hang in there until they get them all counted and see where this takes us,” he said Saturday night.
In another close race, Republican state Rep. Dan Kristiansen widened his lead Saturday over Democratic challenger Scott Olson in the race for the 39th District seat.
Kristiansen, of Snohomish, has 15,244 votes, about 52.1 percent of the vote. Olson, of Monroe, has 14,006 votes, about 47.9 percent of the vote.
Kristiansen’s lead grew from 719 votes Thursday to 1,238 votes Saturday.
The 39th District includes parts of Snohomish, Skagit, King and Whatcom counties.
Snohomish County elections workers on Saturday tabulated about 18,000 mail ballots and 392 electronic ballots. About 54,000 ballots remain uncounted, Elections Manager Carolyn Diepenbrock said.
The counting will resume Monday, she said.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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