PORT ORCHARD — Democratic candidate Emily Randall slightly widened her lead over Republican Marty McClendon in the race to succeed Jan Angel as the 26th Legislative District’s state senator.
Updated results released Nov. 7 by the Kitsap County Elections Division indicated that Randall now has a 450-vote lead over McClendon, an increase of 69 votes over the initial 381-vote margin on Election Night. The totals so far in the state Senate race, as of Nov. 7: Randall with 12,472 votes, 50.9 percent of the total, to McClendon’s 12,022, or 49 percent.
In a similarly close contest between incumbent Republication Jesse Young and challenger Connie FitzPatrick, a Democrat, for the 26th District’s state representative Position 1 seat, there was little movement in the vote margin from initial returns.
Young’s lead increased slightly by 82 votes to 575 ballots. His updated vote total is 12,469, or 51 percent, to FitzPatrick’s 11,912, or 48.8 percent.
The contest for Position 2 was settled Election Night. In updated results, incumbent Republican Michelle Caldier won another term in office by tallying 13,101 votes (53.8 percent) to Democratic challenger Joy Stanford’s 11,219 votes (46.1 percent).
South Kitsap School District’s twin propositions were greeted with split results. Proposition 1, a $184 million bond measure to fund construction of a new high school in the district, received 13,398 votes, or 53.7 percent, of district voters’ approval. But state statute requires bond measures to pass by a supermajority of 60 percent plus one vote, thus sending it to defeat.
Proposition 2, a capital projects levy, needed just 50 percent plus one ballot from the voters to gain approval. Updated results show that happened: Yes votes totaled 13,731, or 55.2 percent, no votes 11,147, or 44.8 percent.
Kilmer coasts to an easy win
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer of the 6th Congressional District watched returns at a Democratic party gathering at Puerto Vallarta restaurant in Port Orchard on Election Night. Just after initial returns showed the incumbent was well ahead of Republican opponent Douglas Dightman by a 61.56 percent to 38.44 percent margin, Kilmer said, “I’m hopeful and hopefully headed back to D.C. in the majority.”
As more votes were counted nationwide indicating the U.S. House would be flipping to a Democratic majority status, Kilmer addressed the crowd:
“We have a profound amount of work to do to make sure people have access to affordable health care, to make sure no community here or elsewhere in the country needs to worry that their main export is young people, and [that] we can provide economic opportunity for more people and more places. “
Updated results Nov. 7 showed Kilmer’s win percentage had increased to 64 percent versus 35.9 percent for Dightman.
