A Christmas Eve look back at the November election

Evan Smith reports
on politics

By Evan Smith

I didn’t report earlier on results of the November election; so here’s my report:

Local voter turnout was part of a near-record state mid-term turnout.

The Washington secretary of state’s office on December 12 said three recent weeks agonizing up to that voter turnout for the November election fell just short of the record for a mid-term election. Statewide turnout was 71.83 percent, just short of the record set in 1970. That’s the year that Washington voted on both legalizing abortion and lowering the voting age.

In 2018, local voters turnout ran well ahead of the state turnout. King County reported 74.80 percent turnout, with Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and Kenmore at 78.23 percent.

Salomon turned slim primary lead over Chase into big 32nd District State Senate win.

The Democrat vs. Democrat contest in the November election for 32nd District state senator certainly wasn’t anywhere near as close as anticipated.

Final results showed challenger Jesse Salomon defeating incumbent State Sen. Maralyn Chase by a 69 percent to 31 percent margin after leading by only a 38.2 percent to 37.8 margin in the August primary that eliminated a Republican.

The Washington secretary of state certified final results Dec. 6.

Salomon, who has been on the Shoreline city for the last seven years, won 70 percent of the general-election votes in the King County part of the district and 68 percent in Snohomish County.

The King County part of the district includes the city of Shoreline and part of northwest Seattle on the west of Aurora. The Snohomish County part of the district includes Woodway and nearby unincorporated areas, south Edmonds, the city of Lynnwood and a small part of Mountlake Terrace.

In the primary, Salomon held a small lead over Chase in King County, while Chase had an even smaller lead in Snohomish County.

Salomon said after the November election that he thought his expanded margin wan due to lots of doorbelling throughout the district.

He also had a big fundraising advantage. He has reported raising $182,000 and spending $172,000. Chase reported raising and spending $99,000. Independent (3rd party) expenditures favoring Salomon or opposing Chase totaled $78,015.

The defeat knocks Chase out of the legislature after eight years in the Senate that followed nine in the House of Representatives.

Democratic candidates win big in 32nd Legislative District, bigger in 46th

Democratic dominance of the 32nd Legislative District continued.

Incumbent Democratic State Rep. Cindy Ryu defeated Republican Dio Boucsieguez by a 76 percent to 24 percent margin,

Democratic newcomer Lauren Davis topped Republican Frank Deisler 74 percent to 26 percent to win the position that retiring Democratic State Rep. Ruth Kagi has held for 20 years. And two Democrats had qualified to face off in for the senate seat.

Democratic dominance in the 46th Legislative District was even greater. Incumbent Democratic State Sen. David Frockt and State Reps. Gerry Pollet and Javier Valdez all won with vote counts between 82 percent and 84 percent against Republican opponents.

The 46th District includes Lake Forest Park, Kenmore and northeast Seattle.

A new judge on the Shoreline District Court

The election put a new judge on the Shoreline District Court.

He’s Joe Campagna, who will replace retiring Judge Douglas Smith, who will leave the court after 24 years.

Campagna defeated candidate Les Ponomarchuk by a 78 percent to 22 percent margin.

Smith filed to run for the position but withdrew and filed to run against fellow Judge Marcine Anderson. He withdrew again, leaving Anderson unopposed.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com