Incumbent District 39 state Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, will face-off against political newcomer John Snow in November, according to updated election results on Thursday.
As of 5 p.m., Wagoner was in the lead with 63% of the vote based on more than 6,000 ballots counted in Skagit County. Snow trailed with 28.31% while Tim McDonald received 8.53% of the vote in Skagit County, according to first results.
District 39 encompasses parts of Skagit and Snohomish counties.
Wagoner led the race in Snohomish County with 58.67% of the vote while Snow received 31.15% of the vote and McDonald had 10.08% of the vote with 25,000 ballots counted.
For Wagoner, this is his third time seeking election since his appointment in 2018. In the last six years, Wagoner has risen the Republican ranks to become No. 4 in the Senate.
Wagoner, who was at a election watch party on Tuesday, said he wasn’t surprised by the preliminary returns showing him in the lead.
“I feel great about the fact that I have as I would call it a commanding lead at this point,” he said.
For the general, Wagoner plans to attend voter forums and speak to groups that he’s invited to.
Snow, endorsed by a number of Democrats and union groups, faces an uphill battle in the November general election. Wagoner has walloped his competitors in his last two elections.
Snow said in the past few months of his primary campaign, he’s spoken with thousands of voters who are concerned Wagoner is too extreme or ineffective.
“I know we can outwork what Wagner is doing going into the fall and succeeding in the general election,” he said.
McDonald, a tree farmer from Arlington, said of the primary election “both parties made a positive contribution to the process of self government.”
Snow and Wagoner told CDN ahead of the primary that they were concerned with the cost of living in their district that stretches from portions of upper Skagit County down to Lake Stevens in Snohomish.
But the way the 32-year-old Snow and the 63-year-old Wagoner want to approach the issue show their differences on the political spectrum. Snow told CDN in June he wishes to restructure taxes if elected to Olympia to help families squeezed by the cost of living.
“That will help get more people a little more money in their pocket, help people pay the rent, all that stuff,” he said.
Wagoner pointed to the Climate Commitment Act as one of the likely reasons gas prices have gone up, forcing families to make difficult decisions between paying for gas or for groceries.
“There’s not much we can do about inflation that is nationally induced, but what we can fix in Washington state is the Climate Commitment Act,” Wagoner said.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
