Primary Night Spotlight

Election returns are still coming in from across the state, but here is a rundown of some of the state's most competitive races as the clock strikes midnight on this historic inaugural "top two" primary day.

With 777,876 votes in for the governor's race, Democrat Chris Gregoire leads GOP candidate Dino Rossi by four percentage points, 49.1-45.0, in line with many of the polls that have been done so far this season.

Over in the 8th Congressional District, with a mere 61,251 votes in, Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn) leads Carnation Democrat Darcy Burner 47.7 percent to 44.1 percent.

While those marquee races remain close, some of the key statewide and legislative district races are shaping up more clearly, especially those that are knocking out significant candidates.

In the 6th LD House race, incumbent Don Barlow (D-Spokane) is the clear leader with 48 percent of the vote, and in the close race to see which Republican moves on, Kevin Parker leads Mel Lindauer by exactly 1500 votes with 24,192 counted.

"We are all humbled and honored with the results and the momentum we have going into the race," Parker told PolitickerWA.com before praising the hard work of his friends. "We have great volunteers. Our mainstay has always been our volunteers and our doorbelling."

With 18,964 votes in for the 40th LD Senate race, Republican Steve Van Luven leads Democrats Kevin Ranker and Ken Henderson, with about ten percentage points and two thousand votes separating the party mates. The combined vote of Democratic candidates, however, outpolled Van Luven 59-40.

"We are feeling pretty positive that we can win this, due in great part to the tremendous effort of the volunteers we have in Skagit, San Juan and Whatcom County," said Ranker, who appears headed to the general, on an election night conference call with supporters. "If the trend continues I look forward to being your state senator and competing against my Republican opponent."

In the 17th LD, incumbent Rep. Jim Dunn (18.6%) looks headed for defeat. He is currently in third place behind fellow Republican Joe James (31.9%) and Democrat Tim Probst (49.5%) with 18,022 votes reported.

In Northeastern Washington's spacious 7th District, it appears that pre-race favorites Sue Lani Madsen and Shelly Short will be moving on to the general. With 18,785 votes counted Madsen held a 58 vote lead over Short, both of whom polled in the 26 percent range in the state's closest and only all-Republican race. Mike Davis, Kelly White and Peter Davenport each trailed the leaders by about 2,000 votes apiece. Madsen chalked up her victory to hard work and a strong private business background, two things that she feels will continue to help her in the general election.

The 35th Legislative District race for house position 2 was also bravely fought between four candidates. At the end of the night Democrat Fred Finn led the way with 37.7 percent of the nearly 20,000 votes cast followed by Republican Randy Neatherlin with 31.1 percent. Rounding out the bottom two were Democrat Daryl Daugs and Republican Herb Baze with just under 16 percent each.

"We are very pleased with the outcome. It came out a little better than we had hoped. I look forward to taking on Randy starting very shortly, he is a fine candidate and I look forward to it," Finn said of his electoral prospects before adding on about how he got there. "I think I door belled quite a bit. I don't know if I door belled more than everyone else but I know I door belled literally a couple thousand homes. I did more mailings than the others, and I think the legislative district wanted somebody who has a background in so many different areas, and has more of an issue than just ‘not one more dime'."

The remainder of the contested races below will be strictly by the numbers as they stand at 2 AM on Wednesday morning. Check back Wednesday for a run down of the state's beauty contest and more reactions from the candidates.

CD3 - 108,139 votes counted
Brian Baird (D) 51.7 percent
Michael Delavar (R) 19.0 percent
Christine Webb (R) 16.0 percent
Cheryl Crist (D) 13.3 percent

Insurance Commissioner 760,964 votes counted
Mike Kreidler (D) 54.6 percent
John Adams (R) 35.7 percent
Curt Fackler (I) 9.7 percent
This race was notable for Fackler, the Spokane County GOP Chair, and his idea that he would stand a better chance of winning the general as a non-partisan at the expense of a tougher primary challenge.

LD 8, pos. 1 17,729 votes counted
Carol Moser (D) 40.1 percent
Brad Klippert (R) 18.6 percent
Skip Novakovich (R) 17.1 percent
Rick Jansons (R) 12.7 percent
Steve Simmons (R) 11.6 percent

LD 14, pos. 1 15,709 votes counted
Vickie Ybarra (D) 32.5 percent
Norm Johnson (R) 21.4 percent
Bob McLaughlin (R) 12.1 percent
Al Schweppe (R) 12.1 percent
Scott Hess (R) 11.8 percent
Aubrey Reeves (R) 6.4 percent
J.J Sandlin (R) 3.8 percent

LD 20 Senate 21,800votes counted
Dan Swecker (R) 39.5 percent
Chuck Bojarski (D) 28.0 percent
Neal Kirby (R) 19.8 percent
Ted Shannon (R) 12.7 percent