PORT TOWNSEND — Democrats Heidi Eisenhour of Port Hadlock and Lorna Smith of Port Townsend appear to be headed for a November showdown for a seat on the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners after the first count of primary election ballots Tuesday night.
Also apparently paired for the Nov. 3 general election are Congressman Derek Kilmer and Elizabeth Kreiselmaier, Rep. Mike Chapman and Sue Forde, and Rep. Steve Tharinger and Brian Pruiett, according to the state Secretary of State website with 15.35 percent of the votes counted.
The Jefferson County Auditor’s Office counted on Tuesday 9,606 votes, or 36.25 percent, of the 26,465 mailed to registered voters.
An estimated 4,010 ballots are on hand to be counted.
The next ballot count will be by 4 p.m. Wednesday.
The primary election culls the choices in each race to the top-two vote-getters, who will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election. All partisan candidates appeared on the primary ballot whether they had opponents or not, as did races with three or more candidates. Those with only two candidates automatically go on to the general election.
In the initial count:
Eisenhour won 1,204 votes, or 44.98 percent, for the Position 2 Jefferson County commissioner seat now held by Democrat David Sullivan, who is not running for re-election.
Smith took 924 votes, or 34.52 percent, in the first count of ballots.
Fellow Democrat Amanda Rae Funaro garnered 541 votes (20.21 percent).
Incumbent Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Keith Harper faces no opposition on the Nov. 3 ballot along with incumbent Jefferson County Public Utility District Commissioner Kenneth Collins.
Kilmer of Gig Harbor, a Democrat who has served four terms representing the 6th Congressional District — which includes the North Olympic Peninsula — won 14,637 votes, or 43.25 percent, region-wide to Kreiselmaier’s 23,723, or 25.43 percent. Kreiselmaier is a Republican.
Rebecca Parson won 11,908 votes, or 12.77 percent; Chris Welton received 6,010 votes, or 6.44 percent; Stephan Brodhead took 3,855 votes, or 4.13 percent; and Johny Alberg won 2,466 votes, or 2.64 percent.
In Jefferson County, the breakdown was Kilmer, 5,162 votes, or 57.2 percent; Parson, 1,605 votes, or 17.79 percent; Kreiselmaier, 1,344 votes, or 14.89 percent; Welton, 466 votes, or 5.16 percent; Brodhead, 272 votes, or 3.01 percent; and Alberg, 140 votes, or 1.55 percent.
The Clallam County breakdown in the first count of ballots was Kilmer, 10,054 votes, or 45.76 percent; Kreiselmaier, 6,403 votes, or 29.14 percent; Parson, 2,236, or 10.18 percent; Welton, 1,578 votes, or 7.18 percent.
In the 24th Legislative District, Chapman, the Democratic incumbent in Position 1, won 22,193 votes, or 57.61 percent region-wide to Forde’s 10,390 votes, or 26.37 percent.
Daniel Charles Svoboda, who declared himself a member of the “Trump Republican Party” on the ballot, garnered 5,904 votes, or 15.33 percent.
In Jefferson County, the breakdown was Chapman, 6,874 votes, or 73.44 percent; Forde, 1,460 votes, or 15.6 percent; Svoboda, 1,013 votes, or 10.82 percent.
In Clallam County, the breakdown was Chapman, 11,918 votes, or 53.7 percent; Forde, 7,522 votes, or 33.89 percent; Svoboda, 2,740 votes, or 12.35 percent.
Tharinger, a Democrat and Position 2 incumbent, garnered region-wide 18,416 votes, or 48.67 percent, to Republican Puriett’s 9,943 votes, or 26.28 percent.
Democrat Darren Corcoran had 3,120 votes, or 8.25 percent.
Republican Jodi Wilke withdrew from the race last month, too late to have her name removed from the ballot. She took 6,338 votes, or 16.75 percent.
In Jefferson County, the breakdown was Tharinger, 5,795 votes, or 63.3 percent; Pruiett, 1,303 votes, or 14.23 percent; Corcoran, 877 votes, or 9.58 percent, and Wilke, 1,174, or 12.82 percent.
In Clallam County, the breakdown was Tharinger, 10,198, or 46.86 percent; Pruiett, 6,903, or 31.72 percent; Corcoran, 1,355 votes, or 6.23 percent; and Wilke, 3,295 votes, or 15.14 percent.
Also on the ballot were Sen. Kevin Van De Wege, a Sequim Democrat, and Connie Beauvais, a Joyce Republican. Van De Wege won 22,006 votes, or 56.97 percent, region-wide in the first count of primary election ballots. Beauvais earned 16,582 votes, or 42.93 percent.
In Jefferson County, Van De Wege won 6,895 votes, or 73.42 percent, to Beauvais’ 2,490 votes, or 26.51 percent.
In Clallam County, Van De Wege won 11,715 votes, or 52.74 percent, to Beauvais’ 10,473 votes, or 47.15 percent.
Since they are the only two people in the race, they both will move on to the general election.