Kraft will return to Washington State Legislature and Bowerman will join the Clark County Council
It appears that Republicans Vicki Kraft and Karen Bowerman have completed their respective comebacks in the Nov. 3 general election. On Monday, the Clark County Elections Department released election results that accounted for all but what is expected to be a total of about 2,500 remaining votes.
In the race for state representative, position No. 1 in the 17th Legislative District, the incumbent Kraft had opened up a lead of 1,791 votes over Democrat challenger Tanisha Harris, who held an advantage of 1,162 votes after Tuesday’s initial report. Kraft has 51.10 percent of the votes and Harris has 48.9 percent. Two years ago, Kraft defeated Harris by just 859 votes.
“I want to thank the people of the 17th Legislative District for the opportunity to continue serving them as their State Representative in Olympia,’’ Kraft wrote in an email to Clark County Today Tuesday. “I’m very thankful for all the prayers and support I’ve received, it’s made all the difference in winning this race.’’
In the race for the Clark County Council District 3 position, Democrat Jesse James had an advantage of 1,110 votes over Bowerman Tuesday night. After Monday’s report, Bowerman had moved ahead by 1,649 votes. Bowerman has 51.47 percent and James is at 48.53 percent.
“With only 2500 votes remaining to be counted county-wide, and a comfortable margin, I now simply want to say ‘thank you’ to voters of District 3 for your confidence in my representing you,’’ Bowerman wrote in an email to Clark County Today Tuesday.
Heading into today’s report, the elections department had counted 273,554 ballots, or 84.52 percent of the county’s 325,144 registered voters. The turnout didn’t reach the estimate of as many as 90 percent registered voters, but it obviously followed the national trend for this presidential election cycle.
Monday’s report included just 1,265 new ballots counted. In Clark County, the election will be certified on Nov. 24.
