La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Nov. 7 — Incumbent District 1 County Commissioner Ron Wesen, a Republican, closed to within 118 votes of Democratic challenger Mark Lundsten after Friday's ballot count was reported by the Skagit County elections office. Almost 8,000 votes were counted; some 25,500 ballots are still to be counted. The County is scheduled to provide an update by 5 p.m. today.

Rep. Dave Paul is likely to win reelection for Legislative District 10 Position 2. He leads by 1,620 votes in the multi-county district, with 51% of the vote. Paul's Skagit County margin is much higher, 56.4% of the vote and an advantage of 1,762 votes. Almost all the outstanding votes are in Skagit County, which is where is Paul’s margin comes from. Paul won Skagit County by nine votes in August, though he garnered over 58% of the vote in the La Conner school district precincts.

Peter Browning is on his way to become District 2 County Commissioner. He has increased his lead to 11%, with over 55.5% of the vote against Mount Vernon City Councilmember Mary Hudson, a Democrat. Browning prefers the label of “non-partisan.”

Elizabeth Yost Neidzwski continues to lead Tom Seguine, now by 1,890 votes for Skagit Superior Court Judge Position 3 and 52% of the vote. Seguine gained 436 votes, but his rate of increase is unlikely large enough to overcome Neidzwski's lead.

Skagit County vote totals for statewide executive office races continue to roughly mirror the statewide vote, with Gov. Jay Inslee re-elected to a third term. Secretary of State Kim Wyman, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Granz all won election.

U.S. Rep Rick Larsen won reelection to the Second Congressional District of Island and San Juan counties and the western portions of Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom counties.

Legislative District 10 is comprised of Island County and the northwestern tip of Snohomish, and the southwestern part of Skagit counties.

The Skagit County Office of Elections website link: https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20201103/skagit/. State results are at: https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20201103/.

The Weekly News will post another weekend update with Saturday’s vote totals.