It was a tough day to be a challenger.
Although people may complain about what’s being done – or not being done – in Olympia, voters in Tuesday’s election overwhelmingly preferred incumbent state legislators.
38th District
Incumbent state Sen. Jean Berkey held a hefty lead Tuesday night over her challenger, businessman Tim Hanley, for the 38th Legislative District Senate seat.
Rep. John McCoy maintained a solid lead over Republican challenger Kim Halvorson in the 38th District House of Representatives Position 1 seat.
For House Position 2, it appears Mike Sells will be representing more than unions in the future. He appeared well ahead of opponent Erv Hoglund in his run for the state Legislature.
The district includes Everett, the Tulalip Indian Reservation and part of Marysville.
Berkey said she was elated at her lead and impressed at the voter turnout.
“There was good response in the district, and the public, I hope, is coming to know me,” Berkey said. “You run as a partisan, but when you get to Olympia, you represent your whole district.”
She said education is one of her top priorities, and she supported Initiative 884, which would have increased the sales tax by a penny to fund education. It was failing in early returns Tuesday.
While McCoy was confident of the early returns, he was waiting for later results because in the primary election the late results cut into his lead, he said.
McCoy said a spate of negative campaign literature that appeared recently and criticized him worked in his favor.
“A number of people I talked to were not happy with those, and they told me they voted for me because of the negativism, so it shows that it doesn’t help,” he said.
McCoy, 60, general manager of the Tulalip Tribes’ Quil Ceda Village, focused his campaign on the need for jobs, an improved economy, better access to and lower-cost health care, and fixing the region’s transportation problems.
Halvorson, 41, is a Marysville businesswoman. She contended that McCoy’s full-time job was a conflict of interest with his job as a legislator.
Sells, secretary-treasurer of the Snohomish County Labor Council, said he was thrilled at the results. He said he and his team worked harder than his opponent and zeroed in on more key issues, including jobs.
“I’m happy to be ahead at this point,” Sells said. “Jobs are the biggest issue – people are concerned about work, and I have a history in that arena. “
Erv Hoglund, a retired airline pilot, had criticized Sells as a “long-term union boss” who would not represent all district residents.
39th District
Three Republican incumbents were leading their Democratic opponents in the 39th District after early election returns.
Sen. Val Stevens, R-Arlington, appeared to be winning over Susanne Olson, D-Monroe.
“I will try to be worthy of the faith that they have placed on me,” said Stevens, who has held the position for two four-year terms.
Stevens, 64, and Olson, 58, a Sultan High School teacher, both cited education as a top issue. Stevens said allocating less money to bureaucrats and giving local schools more spending power would improve education, while Olson said the state, facing a budget shortfall, needed more money.
In the two House races, Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, was leading Joel Selling, D-Monroe, for Position 1, and Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, seemed to have a healthy lead over Pedro Gonzales, D-Arlington, for Position 2.
Kristiansen, 41, said Tuesday night that he will work to expand business opportunities in the district. First elected to the Legislature in 2002, he said he would work to target money to ease highway congestion in the district. Selling, 54, a vice president of marketing for a consulting firm, said the state should improve safety before thinking of widening roads.
Pearson, 46, has held the position since 2000. “I really appreciate the faith people put in me,” he said, adding that his experience would allow him to make changes in Olympia.
The district includes the Arlington, Snohomish and Monroe areas.
44th District
The race for Position 1 in the 44th District pitted incumbent Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, against Mike Hope, a Republican making his first run for elective office. As in most of the other races, the incumbent was winning in early returns.
“People know me, and I went around and chatted with them on their doorsteps,” said Dunshee, adding that his largest-ever pool of volunteers helped make the difference in the race.
Dunshee said his top priorities in the next session would include addressing teacher strikes and a shortage of ball fields available for youth sports.
Hope, 29, a Seattle police officer who lives in Snohomish, argued that Dunshee had accomplished too little during his 10 years in Olympia.
In the race for Position 2, Rep. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, was challenged by Stephen West, a Republican from Marysville, but the incumbent also was winning there.
“I think the difference this time is we had a tremendous ground attack. We just worked and worked. We had over 200 high-school kids helping,” Lovick said.
In the next session, Lovick said he would focus on high-school dropout rates. “We as taxpayers are ultimately paying for their lack of education,” he said.
Lovick, 51, a trooper with the Washington State Patrol, has served the district since 1998. He is House speaker pro tempore.
West, 45, a Boeing engineer, was crimped by an extended business assignment to Russia. West said he decided to seek office out of concerns for the state’s moral climate and the lack of civility in public discourse.
The 44th District cuts through the heart of suburban Snohomish County, from Mill Creek to Marysville.
21st District
Edmonds Democrat Mary Helen Roberts had a substantial early lead in the race for the state’s 21st District Position 1 House of Representatives seat, and Democratic Rep. Brian Sullivan appeared heading back to Olympia for a second term in the Position 2 seat.
“It’s very exciting to enter into a race and work hard and have it come out successful,” Roberts said.
Roberts, 57, focused her campaign on the need to improve health care, education and programs for seniors and children.
The Position 1 seat, vacated by Democrat Mike Cooper, who ran for state commissioner of public lands, also was sought by Roger “Cowboy” Wilson, 77, of Edmonds, and Stephen Cornell, 57, of Lynnwood.
Sullivan, 46, of Mukilteo campaigned on working to create more jobs and reform the state’s tax structure, fix transportation problems, and clean up the environment.
Alan Tagle, 22, of Lynnwood challenged Sullivan.
The district represents Edmonds, Mukilteo and portions of Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace.
10th District
Incumbent Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, a Camano Island Democrat, held a slight lead Tuesday night over Mount Vernon Republican April Axthelm.
Haugen’s home turf, Island County, appeared to be boosting her lead.
“That’s where 70 percent of the district is,” Haugen said. “The district has Republican leanings. It’s always a challenge.”
Haugen’s 10 years in the Legislature and 12 years in the state Senate appeared to be enough experience to give her an edge over Axthelm, a former Mount Vernon city councilwoman.
Axthelm said, “I figured it probably would be very close.,”
The other 10th District incumbent, Position 2 Rep. Barbara Bailey, an Oak Harbor Republican, appeared to be winning her battle against Mark Norton, a Camano Island Democrat.
During the campaign, Norton said the difference between them was that his first thought was about how policy affects people, while Bailey first thought of affects on business.
Bailey countered that Norton favored tax increases and state-subsidized health care.
In the House race, Rep. Barry Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor, vacated his position, setting up a showdown between Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard, a Democrat, and Chris Strow, a Clinton Republican and former aide to U.S. Rep. Jack Metcalf.
Early returns showed a tight race that was too close to call.
Strow said it was important to have a pro-business candidate such as himself replace Sehlin.
“My reason for running was trying to make the state more business-friendly,” he said. “The Legislature doesn’t create jobs. It creates the climate to create jobs.”
1st District
Democrat Mark Ericks was headed toward a victory that would give him the Position 2 House seat being vacated by Rep. Jeanne Edwards, D-Bothell. Ericks had a solid lead over Republican Joshua Freed in early returns.
Ericks, 53, is Bothell city administrator and has served as Bothell police chief. Edwards served on the Bothell City Council before being elected in 1998.
“People are recognizing my long record of service for the community,” Ericks said Tuesday night, adding that his priority for the next two years would be education funding.
Freed, 31, is a counselor of children and families who ran unsuccessfully in 2002.
In the Senate race, 12-year incumbent Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, was beating her challenger, Republican Jason Bontrager.
McAuliffe, 64, was first elected to the Senate in 1992. She has made education her specialty, chairing the Senate Education Committee for eight of her 12 years in Olympia.
Bontrager, 33, owns a commercial real estate company and was running for public office for the first time.
In the Position 1 House race, incumbent Al O’Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace, was headed for a fifth term with an early lead over Republican challenger Jeff Merrill.
“I worked myself half to death,” he said Tuesday night. “I doorbelled like a fiend.”
O’Brien said his priorities in the next two years would be education funding and health care.
The race was a battle of career police officers. O’Brien, 60, is a retired, 29-year veteran of the Seattle police force, and Merrill, 44, has been a trooper with the State Patrol for 19 years. O’Brien was first elected to the Legislature in 1996, while Merrill, a Bothell city councilman, was running for the first time.
32nd District
Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, appeared headed to a fourth term in the Legislature representing the 32nd District.
Kagi was leading Republican Margaret Wiggins of Bothell in the Position 2 House race by a large margin. Kagi defeated Wiggins two years ago for the same seat.Kagi, 59, has specialized in reforms in criminal justice and social programs in her six years in the House.
“I greatly appreciate the vote of confidence from the voters of the 32nd District,” she said.
In the Position 1 race, Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds, ran unopposed to keep the seat to which she was appointed in 2001 and elected in 2002.
The 32nd District includes part of Edmonds, Shoreline and Lake Forest Park and part of Kenmore.
Reporters Jennifer Warnick, Cathy Logg, Scott Morris, Lukas Velush, Yoshi Nohara, Melissa Slager and Bill Sheets contributed to this report.
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