By Lindsay Larin
Reporter Newspapers
The room rumbled on Tuesday night at the Westin Hotel in Seattle as a crowd of democratic supporters cheered for Gov. Christine Gregoire in unison, “Four more years. Four more years.”
The room erupted in applause as a very confident Gregoire took the stage following the announcement of the election results.
Gregoire addressed her supporters at the Democratic rally after major news organizations declared her the winner over Republican Dino Rossi.
With about 48 percent of the expected ballots counted Tuesday, Gregoire had about 53 percent of the vote, or 755,275 votes, compared to Rossi’s 47 percent, or 674,445 votes.
Rossi at first waited to concede, but called Gregoire on Wednesday to do so.
“All the negative ads are done,” Gregoire said and went on to thank Dino Rossi for running and for all he has done for the state of Washington. “It is time for us to come together as one great state.”
Gregoire thanked voters for braving the long lines throughout Election Day and led the crowd in unison, cheering, “Yes we can. Yes we can.”
Standing before her supporters, Gregoire counted her blessings and praised the state of Washington.
“As one Washington, we will work our way through those tough times and we will be better and we will be stronger.” She said, adding, “We are building a new economy and it is going to be a green, clean economy.”
Gregoire was joined on stage by Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. The two congratulated Gregoire on her win.
“Yes we can, and yes we did,” declared Murray as she stood along side Cantwell.
“This election night is every one of yours. You have worked your hearts and souls out,” Murray said, thanking the crowd.
“I just came from Bellevue and I think we are going to make history there when we put first Democrat to represent the 8th Congressional District,” said Cantwell, rousing a loud cheer from the crowd.
Murray echoed Cantwell’s statement, saying, we are going to have a great new woman elected in the 8th district, Darcy Burner.
As the election results poured in, ballots showed Democratic challenger Burner leading Republican incumbent U.S Rep. Dave Reichert in early returns. The tide shifted slightly, placing the two candidates in a neck-to-neck race as the votes were counted.
The 8th District covers most of eastern King County from Bellevue south and parts of Pierce County.
As it stands, Burner and Reichert both have 50 percent of the votes. The numbers remain too close to call with just roughly 20 percent of the expected vote counted in Tuesday’s election.
Two years ago, Burner lost to Reichert by 3 percent.
A tight race continues for the spot of the state representative in the 41st Legislative District between Marci Maxwell (D) and Steve Litzow (R). Nearing the end of Tuesday night, Maxwell had 57 percent of the votes and was leading Litzow by 14 percent, with only 43 percent of votes under his belt. With only 16 percent of votes counted, it remains too early to declare a winner.
For Position 1 of the 48th District Representative race, the early vote count places Ross Hunter (D) in the lead over first-time candidate Charles Lapp (R). Hunter holds has 68 percent of the votes while Lapp has drawn 32 percent. Only 12 percent of the total votes have been counted.
King County results will be updated at about 3 p.m. today (Wednesday) and are available at http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/200811/results.aspx
Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@bellevuereporter.com or at 425-453-4602.
