As ballot counting wrapped up Tuesday night, Aug. 20, Dave Upthegrove appeared to have edged out Sue Kuehl Pederson by just 51 votes — of 1.9 million cast — for second place in the Washington state lands commissioner primary.
It’s one of the closest results in a race for statewide office in Washington’s history.
If the outcome holds, it means Upthegrove, a Democrat, will scrape by into the general election and compete against Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler. But there are still more steps in the process. The slim margin will trigger a mandatory hand recount.
Tomorrow, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office will consolidate county election results submitted today and prepare related documents. On Thursday, Hobbs is expected to certify the primary results and immediately direct a recount to begin in the lands commissioner race.
After that, each county will notify the candidates and parties of the date, time, and location of their local portion of the recount. How long the recounting could take for counties to complete will depend on how many ballots they’re handling and other factors.
Stuart Holmes, Washington’s director of elections, said Tuesday the secretary of state’s office has a survey out to all 39 counties to gauge the time required. “We have some estimates that are as long as 10 days, and some as short as one day,” he said in an interview.
In recent days, attention in the race focused on “curing” ballots that had been turned in but challenged and not yet counted — due to issues like voter signatures that don’t match those on file with election offices.
Holmes explained that voters had until the end of the day on Monday to turn in forms to county auditors’ offices to get ballots fixed. He emphasized that no new ballots – cured or otherwise – would be included in vote counts beyond Tuesday.
Washington law requires a machine recount in this case if the difference between the candidates is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast for both of them and also less than 2,000 votes. A hand recount is required if the difference is less than 1,000 votes and under 0.25%.
Upthegrove was upbeat despite the close result, which came in a race where five Democrats split the party’s voters, raising the prospect of two Republicans moving to the general election.
“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,” he said in a statement. “In a race this close, it made the difference.”
“Our campaign is moving full speed ahead toward November,” he added.
Sam Cardwell, Pederson’s campaign manager, said Pederson was honored by the votes in her favor.
“Although she is losing by a razor-thin margin, Sue feels that she is still right in the pocket of victory to make up the votes in a recount,” Cardwell said. “She is motivated by the countless volunteers who have made ballot rehab efforts a reality.”
The lands commissioner leads the Department of Natural Resources and oversees nearly 6 million acres of state public land, including about 3 million acres of “trust lands” that produce revenue – mostly from logging – for schools, counties and other parts of government.
Lands the agency manages are also open to recreation and some generate revenue from activities like farming, aquaculture, and commercial real estate. The department has about 2,200 employees. And it’s the state’s lead wildland firefighting agency.
If Upthegrove advances to the November ballot, it will set up an intriguing race.
Herrera Beutler served six terms as a congresswoman in southwest Washington but lost a reelection bid in the 2022 primary after voting to impeach former President Donald Trump, who is running again for president this year.
She’s vowed to not buckle under political pressure to set aside more logging lands for conservation and to support career staff who guide timber sales.
Upthegrove, who chairs the King County Council, has made preserving older, but not necessarily old-growth, “legacy forests” on state land a centerpiece of his campaign and has broad support from environmental groups.
The closest statewide primary up until now was in the 1960 superintendent of public instruction race, Holmes said. That contest was decided by 252 votes.
In 2004, the governor’s race was settled by a margin of just 133 votes after multiple recounts, with Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, defeating Republican Dino Rossi. At least at that time, it was the closest governor’s race in U.S. history.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to remove a quote suggesting recounts in Washington had never changed the initially reported outcome in a race. In the 2004 governor’s race, Rossi led by 261 votes when counties completed their initial vote count.
The Washington State Standard is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Washington state government and politics.
