PORT ANGELES — Democratic Party challenger Mark Ozias has emerged to face incumbent Clallam County Commissioner Jim McEntire, a Sequim-area Republican.
Ozias, executive director of the Sequim Food Bank, was among the nine candidates who filed to run for public office Thursday.
That brings to 44 the number of candidates who have filed for 36 offices as election filing week draws to a close today.
There are 48 positions up for election.
Candidates can file for office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today at the county elections office in the basement of the courthouse at 223 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles.
Because their race is partisan, Ozias and McEntire automatically will be on the Aug. 4 primary ballot even if no one else files for the position. The general election is Nov. 3.
Ozias, 45, who moved to Sequim from Seattle in 2004, is a former co-owner of the Red Rooster Grocery and the former executive director of the Sequim Open Aire Market.
He also has served on the Sequim Planning Commission, an appointed position, and has never run for public office.
If elected, Ozias said he would focus on building the county’s economy, fostering a spirit of collaboration and advocating for transparency and open government.
He said he was reluctant to draw comparisons with McEntire.
“I have been engaged in the public service and the nonprofit sector and public sector my entire adult life,” he said.
“It is the way that I think, and I will let voters, once they get to know me, make that comparison for themselves.”
Ozias, who writes a monthly food column for the weekly Sequim Gazette with his wife, Lisa Boulware, said he has not decided if he would resign from the food bank if elected.
“I will cross that bridge if and when we come to it,” he said.
Ozias will take a hiatus from writing his Gazette column during the campaign.
McEntire, 64, a former Port of Port Angeles commissioner, said Thursday he was expecting an opponent.
“My main effort is getting face to face with as many voters as I possibly can and just present my case to everyone as I’ve always done,” he said.
In the second contested race that will be countywide in the general election, Port Angeles City Councilman Lee Whetham and Clallam County Planning Commission Vice Chair Connie Beauvais filed earlier this week for the Port of Port Angeles board seat being vacated by retiring Commissioner John Calhoun of Forks.
Among those who filed Thursday were John Miller for the Sequim City Council seat held by council member and former Mayor Laura Dubois. Miller unsuccessfully ran against Dubois in 2011.
Incumbent Jan L. Richardson also filed Thursday for re-election to the Clallam County Park and Recreation District 1 board, also known as Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center, or SARC.
Also filing Thursday for the SARC board were incumbent Melinda E. Griffith for re-election and Bill Jeffers for Gill Goodman’s SARC seat.
Incumbents Donald R. Baker and Tracey Rascon filed for re-election Thursday to the Clallam Bay-area Quillayute Valley School Board.
Incumbent Heather Jeffers, who filed Thursday for re-election to the Sequim School Board, is being challenged by Robin Henrikson, Willard Naslund and Rebecca Bratsman, who filed earlier this week.
All four will be headed to the Aug. 4 primary, along with Heather Short, William Payne and Charles Meyer, who are vying for Walter Johnson’s Sequim School Board seat.
Sean Ryan also filed Thursday to run for the Sequim-area Fire District No. 3 commissioner seat held by G. Michael Gawley, who was appointed to the position in 2014 and filed for election Monday.
Shan Pak, a former software engineer, filed Wednesday to run for the Port Angeles City Council seat being vacated by retiring Mayor Dan Di Guilio.
Meanwhile, Sequim City Councilman Ken Hays, Forks City Councilwoman Juanita Weissenfels and Port Angeles School Board member Lonnie Linn filed for re-election Wednesday.
Other incumbents who filed Wednesday were Nedra Reed and Gordon Gibbs of the Quillayute Park and Recreation District board, Donna Kay Buck of the Joyce-based Clallam County Fire District No. 4 board and Susan Hopper of the Crescent School Board.
Candidates who filed Tuesday included incumbents Sissi Bruch for Port Angeles City Council, Donald Lawley for Forks Community Hospital board and Lowell P. McQuoid for Forks-area Fire District No. 1 commissioner.
Also filing Tuesday were Jim Stoffer for Sequim School Board and Christina “Stina” Kohout for Forks City Council.
Candidates who filed Monday included Brandon Janisse for Sequim City Council; David Gedlund for Quillayute Park and Recreation District; and incumbents Cherie Kidd for Port Angeles City Council, Candace Pratt for Sequim City Council and Thomas Oblak, Jim Cammack and Jim Leskinovitch, all Olympic Medical Center board incumbents.
Others who filed Monday were incumbents Trisha Haggerty for Crescent School Board, Bill Rohde for Quillayute Valley School Board, David R. Whitney for Port Angeles-area Clallam County Fire District No. 2 board, Tom Rosmond for Forks-area Fire District No. 6 board and Albert Friess for SunLand Water District board.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
