Both incumbents running for re-election to the Okanogan County Board of Commissioners continued to hold comfortable leads over their challengers after updated vote totals were released on Tuesday (Nov. 10) by the Okanogan County Auditor’s Office.
In District 2, which includes the Methow Valley, incumbent Andy Hover, a Republican, led Democratic challenger Katie Haven. Hover had 11,926 votes (60%) to Haven’s 8,035 (40%).
In District 1, incumbent Chris Branch, who declares no party affiliation, was leading Republican challenger Shauna Beeman. Branch drew 11,040 votes (57%) to Beeman’s 8,468 (43%).
Both races reflect countywide votes. The auditor’s office reported on Friday that about 200 ballots were left to be counted and the next vote tally was to be released on Friday (Nov. 13).
In the race for a seat in the state Legislature, first-term incumbent 12th Legislative District Rep. Keith Goehner (R-Dryden) had a substantial districtwide lead over Adrianne Moore, a Winthrop resident who is running as a Democrat for the Position 1 seat. Moore was outpolling Goehner in Okanogan County, with 4,929 votes (51%) to Goehner’s 4,691 (49%). But Goehner led in the other three counties included in District 12 — Grant, Douglas and Chelan — and had an overall districtwide lead of 44,935 (60.5%) to Moore’s 29,232 (39.4%), according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Only incumbent Mike Steele, a Republican, filed for the 12th Legislative District Position 2 seat. Incumbent District 12 Sen. Brad Hawkins was also unchallenged.
In the 4th U.S. Congressional District race, incumbent Dan Newhouse, a Republican, had 196,293 votes (66.4%) for a substantial lead over Democratic challenger Douglas E. McKinley of Richland, who drew 99,080 votes (33.5%) in districtwide results. In Okanogan County, McKinley was doing slightly better: Newhouse had 12,770 votes (63%), to McKinley’s 7,455 (37%).
Democratic incumbent Gov. Jay Inslee had a substantial statewide lead over Republican challenger Loren Culp, drawing about 57% of the vote to Culp’s 43% statewide. In Okanogan County, Culp drew about 61% of the counted returns to Inslee’s 39%.
As for the presidential race, Donald Trump drew about 56% of the votes in Okanogan County, while Democrat Joe Biden drew about 42%. Statewide, Biden was drawing about 58.2% of the votes compared to Trump’s 38.6%.
State Referendum 90, referring to sex education in public schools, was being approved statewide with about 58% of the votes. In Okanogan County, about 57% of the voters were opposed to the referendum.
