A recount is expected after Democrat Adrian Cortes defeated Republican Brad Benton by just 172 votes in Clark County’s 18th Senate District.
Cortes, a Battle Ground city council member, won 42,053 votes, or 50.1 percent, to Benton’s 41,881, or 49.9 percent, making him the first Democratic candidate to win a seat in the heavily Republican 18th District in more than two decades. The district’s incumbent, Republican Sen. Ann Rivers, is retiring at the end of the year and is not seeking reflection.
Washington state election law requires a machine recount if the two candidates are separated by less than 2,000 votes, or 0.5 percent of the vote, and a hand recount if the margin of victory is less than 150 votes, or 0.25 percent of the vote. The only recount this year will be in the 18th Senate District.
Democrats also gained seats in the House of Representatives when Addison Richards defeated Republican Jesse Young, a former state representative, in the 26th District (Gig Harbor). The district’s incumbent, Spencer Hutchinson (R), did not seek re-election. The Democrats, who have a perennial majority, will have a 59-39 House majority and a 30-19 Senate majority in the legislature next year. Meanwhile, in the Supreme Court race, Sal Mungia, who received the support of Gov.
Jay Inslee and other top Democratic officials, as well as eight of the nine incumbent justices, defeated Republican Dave Larson by less than 1 percent, or about 20,000 votes. Mungia will replace retiring Justice Susan Owens.