PORT ANGELES — Their names will be on the Nov. 5 general election ballot in Clallam and Jefferson counties, but they are no longer running for office.
Eight candidates have withdrawn from general election races in the two counties of the North Olympic Peninsula.
Their names will be on the ballot in contested races because they changed their minds after the May 20 state-mandated withdrawal deadline.
That forces them to remain as official candidates despite their change in plans.
The deadline falls every year just three days after the end of filing week.
“They can’t be taken off there without a court order,” Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs said Tuesday.
Those who had changes of heart include three vying for school board positions in Clallam and Jefferson counties, four for Clallam County Charter Review Commission seats, and one Port Townsend City Council candidate who twice ran unsuccessfully for Congress.
Tyler Myles Vega of Port Townsend, who ran in 2016 and 2018 for U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer’s seat, cited in a Sept. 19 email to the PDN “the time commitment plus life being quite full on the one hand.”
Vega, who ran as a Progressive Party candidate in 2018 and Green Party candidate in 2016, praised his opponent, incumbent Deputy Mayor David Faber, a Port Townsend lawyer seeking his second four-year term.
“All in all I think he does a good job representing the people given the circumstances,” Vega said.
Laura F. Beck is no longer running for the two-year unexpired position held by Mary Fickett on the Brinnon School Board in Jefferson County.
In Clallam County, Charles W. Smith III bowed out of the race for the four-year term on the Sequim School Board held by Heather Short, who is not running for re-election.
His opponent is Eric Pickens, a Port Angeles School District teacher and union president of the Port Angeles Education Association.
Smith withdrew “for personal reasons,” he said in an email.
“I was starting to realize mostly about who I was running against,” he said, Tuesday, predicting victory would have taken a “huge expenditure” on his part.
“[Pickens] represents the teachers union in the state of Washington.
“I didn’t really feel like I stood much of a chance,” Smith added.
“That’s a very political seat.”
Smith said he could do more good by focusing his energy on a truancy board on which he sits and on working to help homeless children.
Staci Politika also withdrew from the Position 5 Port Angeles School Board race, leaving Jacob Wright the presumptive winner.
Clallam County Charter Review Commission candidates Stephen Landess of Sequim-area District 1 and Allen Coleman, Jerry Weider and Leya Heart of Port Angeles-area District 2 said they have withdrawn their candidacies.
The top five candidates running in each of three charter review commission districts will be elected to the 15-member board.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.