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District 42 incumbent Position 1 Rep. Alicia Rule and Republican challenger Raymond Pelletti are poised to progress to the general election, according to an updated ballot count Thursday, Aug. 8.
Rule has 46.53% of the vote while political newcomer Pelletti garnered 45.84% of the vote. Democratic challenger Janet Melman collected 3,630 votes, or 7.54%, as of Thursday night. There are an estimated 342 ballots left to count.
Incumbent Position 2 Rep. Joe Timmons and Republican challenger Kamal Bhachu will both automatically progress to the general election. Timmons leads Bhachu in the vote count as of Thursday night with 52.61%. Bhachu has so far received 47.27% of the vote.
In the Position 1 contest, Rule is running for a third term in the Washington state House of Representatives. She said she wants to continue working on public safety issues, education funding and affordability if reelected.
Rule fist-bumped a table mate at Goods Local Brews following the results announcement on Tuesday night. “I am so excited,” she said. “These are really strong results,” she said. While she knows more results are incoming, she feels confident about the initial count and is “ready to get back to work in Olympia.”
Pelletti, a Blaine realtor, said if elected he wants to work on affordable housing and homelessness, address crime and emphasize parental rights, particularly when it comes to mandated classes on what he called “gender ideology.”
Pelletti said “so far, so good” on the results Wednesday morning. As for the general election, he said his campaign will continue to focus on homelessness and drugs, as well as gender issues in schools. He said he also wants to further incorporate national conversations of transgender women using women’s bathrooms and locker rooms into his campaign, although he could not point to any local examples.
Melman, also a political newcomer, ran for election to the left of Rule. She said she would advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Olympia and focus on climate change. Melman said she would be the first transgender woman to serve in the Legislature if elected.
On Tuesday night, Melman said there was a “good showing” and she’s happy she was able to provide a choice on the Democratic ticket.
“I did what I set out to do and regardless of the results I will continue to work for my community and for the people in my district and across Washington state,” she said.
Melman said “barring any major changes,” she will support Rule in the general. She was highly critical of Pelletti and his campaign, especially on his positions on LGBTQ+ people and abortion.
When asked about Melman’s critiques of his positions on LGBTQ+ people, Pelletti said he is “not anti-gay” but thinks that transgender people need to “set boundaries” for themselves and not use “biological women’s spaces.”
In the Position 2 contest, Timmons, running for his second term in the House, said he would prioritize efforts to fully fund education, protect reproductive health care and access to abortions and increase housing affordability.
Timmons said Tuesday night that there are a lot of ballots left to count, but he feels “cautiously optimistic.”
“I feel like I’ve done a great job in my first term and I appreciate the voters seeing that,” he said.
“In Whatcom County here, we have a very bipartisan community and so I’m not taking anything for granted but I also respect the importance of working across the aisle,” he said. “I’m honored the voters have seen that and hope to keep purveying that message into November.”
Republican candidate Bhachu said he would focus on public safety, affordable housing and access to trades education for K-12 if elected. Bhachu previously ran for Position 1 in 2022, but did not progress to the general election. He also lost a run for a Whatcom County Council at-large seat in 2021.
Bhachu said Tuesday night that he’s pretty happy with the preliminary results.
“Now I know exactly where I’m at and what to do,” he said. Leading up to the general election, he said he’s going to continue to emphasize cost of living and the fentanyl crisis in his campaign.
He said voters with any questions about his campaign can reach out to him directly, or look at his campaign website.
Cocoa Laney contributed to this report.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
