Other key election races in Washington you might have missed

While many Washington voters were watching the hotly contested District 8 race between Democrat Kim Schrier and Republican Dino Rossi, the Senatorial race, or the controversial gun control Initiative 1639, there were a range of other races garnering attention in the state.

Check Washington state election results

State Representative for Legislative District 44 – Pos. 2

Republican Mark Harmsworth has become well-known for his stances on traffic issues in Snohomish County. But Democrat Jared Mead has criticized him for making up problems that don’t exist in order to garner support.

Harmsworth came out behind Mead by about 5 points. Harmsworth got 48 percent to Mead’s 52.

State Representative for Legislative District 44 – Pos. 1

Democrat John Lovick faced a tense race against Republican Jeff Sax who released a slew of documents online during the campaign which painted Lovick as an alleged sexual offender. The documents stemmed from a divorce that Lovick had in the late 1980s. There were allegations that he behaved inappropriately around a child from that relationship. But Lovick argued that the allegations were untrue. That argument was backed up by his sown and his own daughter who was at the core of the allegations from the 1990s. Lovick’s daughter posted a response on Facebook:

I want everyone to know that the allegations against my father, John Lovick, are 100% false. I also want to publicly request Jeff Sax and The Republican Party to take down the website and respect my privacy. As a working mom, I did not ask for this attention and would appreciate people allowing me to go back to my job serving my community.

As of Thursday morning, Lovick had 57 percent of the vote, to Sax’s 43.

State Senator – Legislative District 47

Republican Joe Fain faced a public allegation of rape leading up to the election. He still came out slightly ahead of his Democratic opponent Mona Das in early vote counts Tuesday evening. It remains very close, however. Fain got 50.3 percent to Das’ 49.6 percent. The two candidates were separated by 274 votes. (20,093 / 19,819).

As of the latest count Wednesday evening, Fain’s lead slimmed to a difference of 90 votes — he had 50.1 percent to Das’ 49.9 percent (22,000 / 21,910).

Congressional District 9

It was Smith versus Smith, Democrat against Democrat this midterm, with incumbent Adam Smith defending his Congressional seat against Sarah Smith, who promoted herself as being a more progressive Democratic option.

Adam Smith took an overwhelming 70 percent of early returns, however.

Supreme Court Justice Position 8

Despite never holding a judicial position in his life, and infamously running away from KIRO 7 cameras when pressed for an interview, Nathan Choi had led polling before Election Day. That lead wasn’t exactly commanding, though, with polling from May showing Choi up 16 percent to 10 percent, with a whopping 74 percent undecided.

It appears as though that undecided vote came through for incumbent Washington Supreme Court Justice Steve Gonzalez, who took 68 percent of early votes, to Choi’s 32 percent.

Congressional District 5

Cathy McMorris Rodgers (AP)

Republican Congressperson Cathy McMorris Rodgers made headlines recently, when Washington State University told her to stop using the school’s trademarked phrase, “Go Cougs,” in campaign flyers.

That doesn’t seem to hurt her chances of reelection in the 5th Congressional District, as early returns showed Rodgers leading her Democratic opponent Lisa Brown, 55 percent to 44 percent.

Legislative District 13 – State Representative Pos. 2

Republican Washington State Representative Matt Manweller ran on a peculiar promise: To immediately resign if he was elected. Manweller faced multiple allegations of inappropriate behavior with women throughout his campaign.

Now, there’s a good chance he’ll have to keep his promise, as he led in early returns 64.5 percent to Democrat Sylvia Hammond‘s 35.5 percent.

Washington State GOP Chair Caleb Heimlich told KTTH Radio’s Jason Rantz Wednesday morning that the party recently held a meeting in Moses Lake about replacing Manweller.

“We selected three candidates that we will put forward to the county commission to replace Representative Matt Manweller,” Heimlich said. “Three great gentlemen.”

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