Most incumbents comfortably lead in Tuesday primary
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 3 months AGO
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Dorian Shank drops off her ballot for the Washington state primary election at the drop box near Moses Lake Civic Center on Tuesday afternoon.
EPHRATA — A number of important primary elections took place in Grant County and its legislative districts Tuesday, with incumbents comfortably leading in all but one race for a seat on the Grant County Commission.
In early results Tuesday night, challenger Rob Jones led incumbent Commissioner Tom Taylor in the race for Grant County Commissioner Position 2, with Jones netting 1,604 votes, or 50 percent, compared with Taylor’s 1,517 votes, or 48 percent. The two will face off again in the general election.
The race to fill Grant County Commission Position 1, being vacated by longtime Commissioner Richard Stevens, had three candidates: Almira farmer Danny Stone, former Grant County Sheriff’s Deputy Earl Romig and Ephrata City Council member Mark Wanke. Tuesday night, Stone and Romig had the edge to face off in November, according to preliminary results.
Stone garnered 1,710 votes, or 43 percent, compared with Romig, with 1,323 votes, or 33 percent. Wanke was third with 880 votes, or 22 percent, Tuesday night.
In a contested race for Legislative District 13 state representative Position 1, incumbent Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, easily outdistanced Democrat Eduardo Castaneda-Diaz and “Classical Democrat” John “the man” Malan. Dent had over 73 percent of the vote districtwide as of Tuesday night. Across the district, which contains all or most of Lincoln, Kittitas and Grant counties and a portion of Yakima County, Castaneda-Diaz was in second with around 23 percent of the vote.
Dent’s margin was wider in Grant County than in the district at large, earning 7,335 votes, or 76 percent, while Castaneda-Diaz was in second with 1,903 votes, or just under 20 percent, and Malan had 375 votes, or a bit under 4 percent.
In Legislative District 12, which contains a portion of northern Grant County, incumbent Rep. Keith Goehner, R-Dryden, also comfortably led his race with just under 64 percent of the vote districtwide, while challenger Democrat Adrianne Moore netted 36 percent. In Grant County, Goehner had 810 votes, or just under 67 percent, versus Moore’s 401 votes, or 33 percent.
Vote tallies will be updated today and in the coming days as ballots arrive and are counted.
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