South County Politics: Republicans survive primary in seven of eight local legislative races

Final results of the Aug. 7 primary election confirm that there will be a Democrat vs. Democrat general election for State Senate in the 32nd Legislative District, but they also show that Republicans have survived in the other seven legislative contests on South Snohomish County ballots. None of those the Republican candidates received more than 34 percent of votes in their top-two contests.

State officials certified primary results last week.

The all-Democrat contest is between incumbent State Sen. Maralyn Chase and challenger Jesse Salomon. Salomon had 38.2 percent of certified primary-election votes, while Chase had 37.8 percent. Republican James Wood took 24.0 percent of the votes from Snohomish County and King County.

What once had looked like a possible second all-Democrat race was the contest to replace retiring Democratic State Rep. Ruth Kagi. That possibility faded after Republican Frank Deisler established a small but clear primary-election lead over Democrat Chris Roberts. Deisler won 23.78 percent of the votes to 23.35 percent for Roberts.

Deisler will face Democrat Lauren Davis in the November general election. Davis had 52.88 percent of the primary votes to Deisler’s 23.78.

In the other 32nd District contest on the November ballots, incumbent Democratic State Rep. Cindy Ryu will face Republican Dio Boucsieguez. Ryu had the biggest lead of anyone in the primary, with 72.5 percent of the votes to 21.3 percent for Boucsieguez and 6.2 percent for independent “Centrist” candidate Keith Smith.

The 32nd District includes Lynnwood, parts of Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace, Woodway and nearby unincorporated areas, the city of Shoreline and a small part of northwest Seattle.

None of the Republicans in the 1st, 21st or 32nd districts ran close to the Democrats in the primary.

In the 21st Legislative District, Democratic State Sen. Marco Liias was that only incumbent with more than one primary-election challenger. He will face Republican Mario Lionel Lotmore in November. Liias took 48.8 percent of  primary votes to 31.0 percent for Lotmore, 13.1 percent for Democrat Riaz Khan and 7.1 percent for Independent Scott West.

Incumbent Democratic State Rep. Strom Peterson and Republican challenger Amy Schaper both advance to the general election from the primary, where Peterson outpolled Schaper 66.6 percent to 33.4 percent

Incumbent Democratic State Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self and Republican challenger Petra Bigea also advance to November after a two-person primary, where Ortiz-Self led Bigea 66.2 percent to 33.8 percent.

The 21st Legislative District includes most of Edmonds, unincorporated areas north of Edmonds and Lynnwood and northeast of Lynnwood, all of Mukilteo and a small part of south Everett.

In the 1st Legislative District, State Reps. Shelley Kloba and Derek Stanford both will face Republican opponents in November after each won more than 60 percent of primary votes.

Kloba will face Republican Debra Blodgett in November. Kloba took 63 percent of primary votes to 31 percent for Blodgett and 6 percent for Libertarian Matt Seymour.

Stanford’s general election opponent will be Republican Josh Colver. Stanford had 67 percent of primary votes to 26 percent for Colver and 7 percent for independent Colin McMahon.

The 1st Legislative District includes most of Mountlake Terrace, all of Brier and Bothell, part of north Kirkland, unincorporated areas of King County between Bothell and Kirkland, and unincorporated areas of Snohomish County north and east of Bothell.

— By Evan Smith

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmhith@frontier.com.

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