State Sen. Ed Murray surged to an early lead in the Seattle mayor's primary race, followed closely by incumbent Mike McGinn.
They appeared to have the inside track on the two final spots in the November election.
Former city council member Peter Steinbrueck was in third, followed by Councilman Bruce Harrell.
With more than 27 percent of the votes, McGinn appeared to have escaped the prospect of being eliminated before he could even reach the general election final faceoff of the top two candidates. Murray, who had just over 30 percent of the initial vote count, told supporters that he would create better working relationships for the city as mayor.
The race for Seattle mayor took most of the headlines over recent months as eight challengers took a shot at unseating incumbent McGinn. They attacked him as combative and ineffective in his first term; he countered that he had learned a lot and spurred job creation and educational improvements with city spending.
One of the biggest issues before voters was a quiet one: whether to approve a nearly $400 million levy that provides most of King County Parks' funding. Voters favored the measure by a 2-to-1 margin.
In Bellevue, longtime city council members Don Davidson and Kevin Wallace both drew multiple opponents. The two are key to a narrow conservative majority on the council, and Davidson appeared to be in some danger of elimination in the primary. He trailed both challengers in the Tuesday returns, but he was within striking distance of second place votegetter Vandana Slatter. Lynne Robinson appeared to be assured of a place on the November ballot.
Tonight's election count will be followed by days of daily updates as ballots arrive by mail and votes dropped off late today at ballot collection sites are counted. In many cases, the updates could swing the results. The election count will be certified on Aug. 20.
COUNTY$396 million, six-year parks levy: Approved
Approve 68 percent
Reject 31 percent
(Simple majority required for approval)
Executive: Dow Constantine
Allen Lobdell 27,427
Goodspaceguy 9,252
Everett A. Stewart 16,658
Dow Constantine 168,521
Metropolitan King County, Council District No. 1
John Fray 1,565
Naomi Wilson 6,576
Rod Dembowski 18,912
Metro. King County District No. 9
Kristina Macomber 2,298
Shari Song 8,635
Reagan Dunn 13,759
Commissioner Position 3
Andrew Pilloud 30,968
Michael Wolfe 38,515
Stephanie Bowman 137,285
Mayor
Scot Pondelick 964
John T. Partridge 2,460
Nacy Backus 3,139
Council Position No. 4
Frank Lonergan 2,092
Yolanda Trout 2,877
Thomas Sauers 1,192
Council Position No. 4
Steve Kasner 6,231
Jeffrey Talada 524
Kevin Wallace 6,821
Bill Hirt 1,155
Council Position No. 6
Don Davidson 3,760
Lynne Robinson 7,119
Vandanna Slatter 3,902
Mayor
Keith C. Watson 135
Dave Gordon 567
Rebecca Olness 157
Council Position No. 5
Nadia K. Mustafa 200
Tris Samberg 903
Steve Booth 891
Council Position No. 1
Lauren Berkowitz 2,299
Kip Walton 255
Jack Block, Jr. 1,911
Council Position No. 3
Debi Wagner 1,466
Andrea H. Reay 1,035
Joan McGilton 1,489
Robert L. Richmond, III 495
Council Position No. 4
James Payne 1,151
Chuck Swesey 301
Jeremy Nutting 1,843
Council Position No. 2
Anthony Murrietta 1,097
Mark Koppang 2,178
Kelly Maloney 3,511
Council Position No. 6
Martin Moore 3,148
Diana Noble-Gulliford 2,734
Ryan K. Miller 884
Council Position No. 2
Mark Prince 474
Bob Black 580
Laurie Sperry 1,401
Council Position No. 4
Patrick O'Brien 795
Nigel Herbig 1,131
Charles Crouch 523
Council Position No. 6
Elizabeth Mooney 461
Ken Smith 882
Allan Van Ness 1,117
Council Position No. 6
Barbara Phillips 2,561
Bailey Stober 2,558
Ken Sharp 3,635
Council Position No. 4
Vic Kave 183
Dave Stookey 143
Leanne Guier 166
Council Position No. 5
Stacy May Knudtson 180
Gary Nitschke 166
Stacey D. Jackson, Sr. 137
Mayor
Ed Murray 28,248
Kate Martin 1,730
Bruce A. Harrell 14,458
Mike McGinn 25,364
Peter Steinbrueck 15,189
Mary Martin 1,730
Joey Gray 914
Charlie Staadecker 4,287
Doug McQuaid 1,887
City Council Position 2
Kshama Sawant 27,813
Brian Carver 14,632
Richard Conlin 41,477
City Council Position 8
David Ishii 5,720
Mike O'Brien 48,253
Albert Shen 29,689
Council Position No. 2
Kathryn Campbell 807
Othman Heibe 261
Rick Forschler 925
Director District No. 4
Dean McColgan 1,461
Sue Peters 5,560
Suzanne Dale Estey 6,433
Director District No. 5
LaCrese Green 1,415
Olu Thomas 827
Stephan Blanford 8,574
Director District No. 4
Carol Gregory 4,734
Kenneth Lance Barton 1,836
Medgar Wells 3,860
Director Position No. 4
Jennifer M. Childs 14
Allison Luker 49
Robert J. Mackner 33
Director District No. 5
Ed Luera 5,000
My-Linh Thai 5,528
Erik Fretheim 3,277
Director District No. 1
Jennifer L. Johnson 300
John A. Barbee 136
Mary E. Fertakis 531
Director District No. 4
David Spring 997
Marci Busby 1,106
G. Scott Hodgins 768
Stephen Kangas 679
Director District No. 5
Bruce Elliott 6,015
Carmen Goers 3,195
Maya Vengadasalam 4,270
Director District No. 1
Marci Cheesebrough 1,508
Kimberly D'Angelo 2,605
Julia Lacey 4,116
Director District No. 5
Enid T. Duncan 107
John C. West 144
Bruce Burnside 134
Commissioner Position No. 2
John Levich 247
Roger Gee 394
David G. Lutz 766
Commissioner Position No. 2
Ginny Scantlebury 2,044
Arthur Wadekamper 1,816
Gretchen Atkinson 2,133
Commissioner Position No. 4
Richard Matthews 2,227
Craig Degginger 1,322
George R. Webster 2,359
