State representative Glenn Anderson claimed a sixth term in Olympia in Tuesday night’s election.
As of Wednesday night he had 60 percent of the vote. Challenger David Spring followed behind with 40 percent of the vote for the District No. 5 election.
About 67 percent of the total mailed ballots were counted Tuesday.
Republican Jay Rodne also was running far ahead of his challenger, with 62 percent of the vote to Gregory Hoover with 38.
King County is expecting over 65 percent voter turnout countywide for Tuesday’s election.
Although all the ballots haven’t been counted yet, Anderson and Spring already are talking about the next election.
“People are going to be paying even more attention next time,” Anderson said. “Everybody knows we’re not going to be fixing the problems we’re having overnight.”
Spring was less optimistic.
“The next two years are going to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the past 70 years,” he said. “The only good news is we have an election every two years.”
Both candidates were concerned about better funding education, but they disagreed on how to best support the economy.
The Republican incumbent, Anderson plans to focus on encouraging businesses and balancing the budget without raising taxes.
“People are very anxious and concerned about job creation and about the state budget,” he said. “They know they’re going to have to pick up the bill if it (spending) doesn’t stop.”
Spring was just as upset about the failure of I-1098, a state income tax, as he was about his own election, he said.
“I’m just praying that somehow we’ll be able to hold a basic structure of our school system together until voters have another chance.”
Anderson has been in Olympia for 10 years, representing the legislative district which includes Issaquah and Sammamish.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” said the Fall-City native. “It’s nice. It’s one of those things where you worked hard and you’ve listened to a lot of people, and they recognize that you’ve heard them.”
Tuesday was a big night for the Republican Party – state and nationwide – with several local GOP challengers locked in tight races with long-tenured Democrat incumbents.
In the 48th Legislative District, incumbents Democrats Deb Eddy and Ross Hunter hold leads in their races, while Republican Gregg Bennett is ahead of State Sen. Rodney Tom by a narrow margin.
In the 41st, the two state reps., Democrats Marcie Maxwell and Judy Clibborn are leading their races, while State Sen. Randy Gordon trails Republican Steve Litzow 47 points to 52.
At the national level, Dino Rossi is slightly behind incumbent U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.
Local Republicans were full of smiles, excitement and celebration Tuesday at a rally at the Bellevue Hilton as the first results came in. Volunteers spent hours sitting on the floor making final phone calls to potential voters to remind them the final time to get ballots post-marked was 11:58 p.m. Tuesday.
The mood at the Democratic rally at the Bellevue Hyatt Regency was slightly more subdued than that of the Republicans. The rally, which was for 8th District congressional candidate Suzan DelBene, was attended by approximately 100 people. DelBene later conceded her race to incumbent Rep. Dave Reichert, a Republican.
Reporter writer Nat Levy contributed to this article.
