Kitsap County voters revealed a couple of trends during the Aug. 5 primary.
An incumbent Democrat state representative received 43 more votes than his Republican challenger — a political newcomer — while another longtime Democrat senator finished second during the primary.
Those were two takeaways as the county’s Election Division released the official results Aug. 19 for this month’s primary elections.
The results show 50,980 voters cast ballots in the primary, which decided the top two finishers in the District 26 and 35 legislative races.
All 209 precincts were reported and the primary drew 33.1 percent of the 154,069 registered voters.
Among county results, the closest Legislative race was for the District 26 state representative Position 2 seat, where incumbent Democrat State Rep. Larry Seaquist edged out Republican newcomer Michelle Caldier by 43 votes. Seaquist received 7,047 (50 percent) to Caldier’s 7,004 votes (49.7).
Including Pierce County votes, overall Seaquist received 17,250 votes (50.9) to Caldier’s 16,650 (49.1) — a 600-vote difference.
In the district’s state representative Position 1 race, Democrat Nathan Schlicher received 47.3 percent (6,629) compared to incumbent Republican State Rep. Jesse Young’s 36.2 percent or 5,070 votes in the county. Republican Bill Scheidler got 2,288 voters (16.3). Overall, Schlicher got 47 percent (15,837), Young 38.1 (12,862) and Scheidler 14.8 (5,000).
If Republican voters hold true to party lines, Young could return to Olympia with nearly a 5-point advantage.
In the District 26 senator’s race, the results were similar in the county and overall results with incumbent Republican State Sen. Jan Angel garnering more than half of the votes. Angel received 56.6 percent (8,043) compared to Democratic challenger Judy Arbogast’s 43.2 percent (6,134) among county voters.
Not much changed in the overall results as Angel got 56.9 percent (19,491) of the votes to Arbogast’s 43 percent (14,752) — a nearly 14-point margin.
In the Sixth Congressional race, incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer got 58.7 percent (29,509), followed by second-place Marty McClendon, a Republican, who received 35.8 percent (17,994) in the county. In the overall results, Kilmer had a similarly large lead over his second-place challenger. He received 82,525 (58.7) to McClendon’s 48,248 (34.2).
If the combined votes from Independent W. “Greybear” McPherson and Green Party’s Douglas Milholland go to McClendon, Kilmer still has comfortable 17-point lead.
In District 35, Kitsap County voters favored incumbent Democratic State Sen. Tim Sheldon over Republican challenger Travis Couture and Democrat Irene Bowling. Sheldon got 37.8 percent (2,943), Couture 34.4 (2,678) and Bowling 27.6 (2,151)
But in the overall results, Bowling was first with 35.2 percent (10,524) and Sheldon was second at 33.3 percent (9,971). Couture was a close third at 31.3 (9,371).
The race will depend which way Couture supporters vote. If they favor Sheldon, he would retain his Senate seat.
In the District 35 state representative Position 1 race, incumbent Democrat Kathy Haigh received 46.1 percent (3,570) to 30.8 percent (2,385) by Republican challenger Dan Griffey. Republican Josh Rowell received 22.9 percent or 1,774 of the county’s votes.
In overall results, Haigh got 49.7 (14,785), Griffey 29.5 (8,775) and Rowell 20.7 (6,171).
The general election is Nov. 4.
