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While losing Skagit County and the state of Washington decisively, the County by perhaps 6,000 votes, President Donald Trump still vaulted local Republicans into elected office in the Nov. 3 elections. District 1 County Commissioner Ron Wesen is headed for victory, leading retired commercial fisherman Mark Lundsten of Anacortes by 2,761 votes after Monday, though votes are coming in and will be counted through Nov. 23.

Peter Browning, director of Burlington’s Chamber of Commerce, running as a “nonpartisan,” is up by 8,635 votes against Democratic Mount Vernon Councilmember Mary Hudson for the District 2 Commissioner’s seat.

Only state Rep. Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor), running for re-election for his Legislative District 10’s Position 2 seat, is withstanding the red tide, up by 1.2% over Bill Bruch, chair of the Skagit Republican Party. And it took exposure of Bruch’s two default judgment cases for defrauding two elderly people of over $1.6 million in 1998 to have voters abandon Bruch.

In Skagit County Trump ran 5.3% ahead of his statewide ratio of 38.6%. His voters in Skagit, Snohomish and Island counties are carrying, if barely, Sen. Ron Muzzall (R-Oak Harbor) and Stanwood attorney Greg Gilday to victory in Legislative District 10. Muzzall is up by 1,370 votes, improving on his 1,079 vote August primary win. Democratic Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson Johnson bested Muzzall by 25 votes in Skagit County precincts last summer, but vote counts since Nov. 3 have increased Muzzall’s margins. Price Johnson’s Skagit lead has shrunk to 667 votes.

In August Gilday garnered 45% of Skagit County votes against five Democratic challengers for state Representative Position 2. Now, he has led former Island County Commissioner Angela Homola districtwide since Saturday. In these Democratic leaning Skagit County precincts, Homola leads, but only by 816 votes.

For Skagit Superior Court Judge Position 3, Elizabeth Yost Neidzwski, a public defender, leads Mount Vernon attorney Tom Seguine by 682 votes. Seguine had a decisive plurality in August against both Yost Neidzwski and Heather Shand Perkins. Now he has been closing the gap with every new vote count.

Some 11,500 votes remain to be counted in Skagit County. Perhaps a third of them come from LD 10 precincts. About 550 Snohomish County votes are uncounted; not all are in LD 10 precincts. Both counties reported updates Tuesday after press time. Island County’s 30 or so votes will be counted on Nov. 24, when local ballot counts are certified.

Skagit County elections office staff have processed and counted 62,021 votes since Nov. 3. There are 85,687 registered voters.

The Weekly News will continue to post updated vote totals through the week on its website.