Des Moines resident Dave Upthegrove is now in second place in the primary election for Washington State’s Commissioner of Public Lands after the final ballot results were released for the Aug. 6 election.
Upthegrove’s apparent margin of victory over Sue Kuehl Pederson is at 51 votes out of the 1.9 million ballots counted – just 1/1000th of a percentage point.
The top two vote getters will move on to the Nov. 5 General Election.
While Upthegrove, a Metropolitan King County Councilmember, currently holds a slight lead over GOP-endorsed Sue Kuehl Pederson, the race remains close and the final results are not yet official.
“I am INCREDIBLY thankful for the hundreds of volunteers who worked with our campaign this past week to help voters fix issues with their ballots so that their votes would count,” Upthegrove said on Facebook. “This heroic ‘ballot curing’ effort made the difference.
“I’ve spent more than twenty years getting big things done for our environment and am ready to use my experience to advance a common sense agenda for our public lands,” he added. “My experience as a suburban legislator working across the aisle to balance interests and find solutions should serve me well in this complex role as I address the needs of people in every part of our state. Democrats are energized up and down the ticket and I’m full of joy and gratitude as we move on to the general election.”
A hand recount is expected to take place within the next two weeks to confirm the results.
