SEATTLE — Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert maintained a slim lead over Democratic challenger Darcy Burner as more votes were tallied Wednesday in Washington’s 8th Congressional District race.
With roughly 50 percent of the expected vote counted from Tuesday’s election, Reichert’s lead was less than 700 votes. In early Tuesday results, Burner came out with a strong lead.
The re-election bid of Reichert, a former King County sheriff, was bolstered by his sizable margin in Pierce County, where he led Burner by nearly 10 percentage points.
However, the bulk of the district’s votes are in King County, where thousands of ballots are yet to be counted. Burner was leading in King by just over 1 percentage point Wednesday afternoon.
The campaigns don’t expect final results until later in the week.
“This is a dead heat race right now,” said Sandeep Kaushik, Burner’s spokesman. “We knew going into Election Day this was going to be a close race. That’s exactly what we have on our hands now. We’re optimistic that when all the ballots are counted, we’re going to be ahead.”
Reichert is again trying to hold off a strong challenge from Burner, who as a political neophyte two years ago lost to him by just 3 percentage points.
The 8th District sprawls through the suburbs and rural communities of eastern King and Pierce counties. Traditionally a Republican stronghold, it has supported Democrats for president in recent elections.
“We’re still very optimistic, we have the lead overall,” said Amanda Halligan, Reichert’s spokeswoman. “I think we’ll see dips as things come in, but I’m confident we will end up on top.”
The Burner-Reichert race was by far the closest congressional race in the state.
Washington’s other eight members of the U.S. House easily clinched re-election.
Democratic Reps. Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen, Brian Baird, Jim McDermott, Norm Dicks and Adam Smith and Republican Reps. Doc Hastings and Cathy McMorris Rodgers will all head back to Congress.
During the campaign in the 8th District, Reichert painted Burner as too inexperienced and left-leaning. Burner characterized Reichert as an ineffective backer of President Bush.
Reichert counted on voters knowing his name and background and presented himself as a moderate, environment-friendly candidate.
Burner’s camp banked on changing demographics in the tech-savvy district and support from a wave of voters coming out for Barack Obama.
The candidates raised a combined $5.8 million, according to filings made by the campaigns to the Federal Election Commission in October. That ranked the race among the 10 most expensive House races in the country, according to the nonpartisan campaign finance Web site Opensecrets.org.
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