Upthegrove edges into second place in Washington lands commissioner race

Jaime Herrera Beutler, left, is leading in the Washington lands commissioner primary race. Sue Kuehl Pederson, center, and Dave Upthegrove, right, are in a close battle for the second spot. The top two finishers will advance to the November general election. (Photos courtesy of campaigns)

Democratic lands commissioner candidate Dave Upthegrove inched into second place in the race on Friday night, supplanting Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson who had held the spot since election night.

Upthegrove led Pederson by 4,446 votes in Friday night’s tally around 6 p.m. He had 20.9% of the vote, just three-tenths of a percent more than her. His share of the vote was up from around 19.9% on Tuesday when the first ballot counts posted.

Former Republican congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler remained out front, with about 22% of the vote.

Upthegrove is the top vote-getter in heavily populated King County, where he chairs the county council. He’d vacuumed up nearly 35% of the vote there, compared to Herrera Beutler’s 14% and Pederson’s 11%.

In contrast, Pederson is performing strongly in southwest Washington’s Clark County, where Vancouver is located. There, she had nearly 29% of the vote and Upthegrove 12%.

By Friday night, there were an estimated 1,500 ballots left to count in Clark County and 41,000 in King County.

With those ballots in King County, Upthegrove could cement his lead over Pederson. If he fails and she moves back in front of him, it would mean two Republicans would advance to the general election. Four other Democrats competed in the race, fracturing the party’s vote.

Vote counting is scheduled to continue next week. Aug. 23 is the deadline for the secretary of state to certify the results for this month’s primary.

A mandatory recount would be required in this race if the difference between the second- and third-place finishers is less than half a percent of the total votes cast for both candidates and also less than 2,000 votes.