In the hotly contested race for King County Sheriff, Mitzi Johanknecht’s lead over the controversy-ridden John Urquhart increased slightly on Wednesday.
On the Eastside, in the nationally watched contest for the 45th District state Senate seat, the Democrat, Manka Dhingra, maintained her 11-point lead over Republican Jinyoung Lee Englund. That led Associated Press to declare Dhingra the winner.
And an hour after results came in, showing virtually no change from last night in the race for Seattle mayor, candidate Cary Moon conceded the race to Jenny Durkan. Moon, whose share of votes increased by just .2 percentage points, said in a statement that she expects the gap to close somewhat in the coming days. But, she said, "the outcome is unlikely to be what we hoped."
Moon, an urban planner and transit activist, ran on a mantle of social justice, pledging to reach out to marginalized communities and bring in voices of people of color. But her patchwork resume and self-funded campaign meant she never built the momentum needed to best Durkan.
"I have offered my congratulations to Jenny Durkan, Seattle's first woman mayor in 90 years," she said. "I urge her to boldly confront the challenges facing our city and to remember that Seattle's prosperity should provide shared opportunity and success for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
"To our supporters who may feel disappointed, I feel disappointed too. But I will not let the future of our city be sunk by status quo thinking and politics as usual. There is too much at stake."
The new afternoon results generally showed little change in any of the other major races around King County in Tuesday’s General Election. Any swing in late voting trends — especially one to the left — has historically begun to emerge on the Thursday or Friday late after an election.
In a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon, the political analyst Ben Anderstone noted that fewer than 50 percent of ballots from left-leaning strongholds — Georgetown, Columbia City and North Beacon Hill — had been received.
“Simply put, there are probably more ballots outstanding in ‘left-lane’ precincts than typical,” Anderstone wrote. “[Jon] Grant and [Cary] Moon may post unusually big improvements, likely starting with [Thursday's] ballot drop.”
The City Council Position 8 candidates saw little change as well: Labor leader Teresa Mosqueda increased her lead over the housing activist Grant but it was barely by a tenth of a percentage point.
In the sheriff’s contest, Johanknecht has 52.6 percent, up from 51.84 percent on Tuesday night, to Urquhart’s 47.4 percent, a drop from his 48 percent-plus total the night before.
In a Port of Seattle race, incumbent John Creighton saw his narrow lead over challenger Ryan Calkins shrink slightly.
Here are the Wednesday afternoon results in major races in Seattle and King County.
Seattle Mayor
Jenny Durkan: 60.39%
Cary Moon: 39.61%
Seattle City Attorney
Pete Holmes: 73.12%
Scott Lindsay: 26.88%
Seattle City Council Position 8
Teresa Mosqueda: 61.62%
Jon Grant: 38.38%
Seattle City Council Position 9
Lorena González: 68.07%
Pat Murakami: 31.93%
45th District State Senate
Manka Dhingra (D): 55.45%
Jinyoung Lee Englund (R): 44.55%
King County Executive
Dow Constantine: 75.59%
Bill Hirt: 24.41%
King County Sheriff
Mitzi Johanknecht: 52.61%
John Urquhart: 47.39%
King County Proposition 1: Property levy for veterans and senior services
Approved: 66.31%
Not Approved: 33.69%
Port of Seattle Commissioner Position 1
John Creighton: 51.16%
Ryan Calkins: 48.84%
Port of Seattle Commissioner Position 3
Stephanie Bowman: 66.32%
Ahmed Abdi: 33.68%
Port of Seattle Commissioner Position 4
Preeti Shridhar: 37.67%
Peter Steinbrueck: 62.33%
Seattle School Board District 4 (Ballard, Queen Anne, Magnolia)
Eden Mack: 86.3%
Herbert J. Camet Jr.: 13.7%
Seattle School Board District 5 (Downtown, ID, Leschi, part of Capitol Hill)
Zachary Pullin DeWolf: 61.7%
Omar Vasquez: 38.3%
Seattle School District 7 (Southeast Seattle)
Betty Patu: 64.69%
Chelsea Byers: 35.31%
The next count is planned for release by 4 p.m. on Thursday. For all results, check King County Elections.
