Washington legislative races tighten as ballot counting slows

Washington state Capitol on March 7, 2024. (Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard)

Contests for three Washington legislative seats remained too close to call following Thursday’s tally of ballots.

And, in a statewide race, Sal Mungia moved in front of Dave Larson in their duel for a seat on the Washington state Supreme Court.

Mungia led Larson by roughly 15,000 votes on Thursday night after trailing him on Election Day. He had 50% of the statewide vote to Larson’s 49.5%.

The winner will serve a six-year term and succeed Justice Susan Owens who is stepping down because she is 75, the mandatory retirement age for the state’s Supreme Court justices.

In a hard-fought contest for a state Senate seat, Republican Sen. Ron Muzzall moved ahead of Democrat Janet St. Clair by a mere 74 votes as of 7 p.m. Thursday. The two are competing in the 10th Legislative District spanning all of Island County and parts of Snohomish and Skagit counties. 

St. Clair, an Island County commissioner, had led in the first two days of ballot counts. She is trying to unseat Muzzall, who was appointed in 2019 and won his first full term in 2020 by fewer than 2,000 votes. 

Some of the closest legislative races continue to be in southwest Washington where two Republican senators, Lynda Wilson of Vancouver and Ann Rivers of La Center are retiring.

Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, who is seeking Wilson’s seat in the 17th Legislative District, had a 1,149-vote lead on Marla Keethler, mayor of White Salmon on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, in the duel for Harris’ seat, Republican David Stuebe leads Democrat Terri Niles by 147 votes after he trailed her on election night. 

In the neighboring 18th Legislative District, Democrat Adrian Cortes saw his lead shrink over Republican Brad Benton in the battle for Rivers’ Senate seat. The two were separated by 348 votes Thursday.

Republican John Ley had a 1,299-vote edge over Democrat John Zingale in the race for the House seat vacated by Rep. Greg Cheney, who mounted an unsuccessful run for state Senate. Ley had received 50.8% to Zingale’s 49% on Thursday.

There could be recounts in the tight legislative races.

State law requires a machine recount when the difference between candidates is less than 2,000 votes and also less than half of 1% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates. 

A hand recount is mandated when the difference between the top two candidates is less than 150 votes and also less than a one-fourth of 1% of the total votes cast for both candidates.

Most counties will count ballots on Friday. State law requires local election officials to certify results by Nov. 26.