Tom Vance

Tom Vance, who was defeated in November 2015 in his reelection bid for the Sammamish City Council, is gearing up to run against King County Council Member Kathy Lambert, say people familiar with the situation.

Vance has been soliciting endorsements for a run, people tell Sammamish Comment.

He also dropped an expansive Public Records Request on Lambert’s office for 16 years of data for travel records and meeting attendance.

Vance served on the Sammamish City Council from 2012 through 2015. He was mayor in 2014-15. He lost 54%-46% to Tom Hornish. Vance ran for Council in 2009, losing to John Curley 55%-45%. In his successful 2011 campaign, he defeated a weak and unqualified candidate 68% to 32%, only to drop by 22 points in his losing race against Hornish.

Other candidate activity

In other recent activity:

Jason Ritchie formally filed his paperwork with the State Public Disclosure Commission for Sammamish City Council. Sammamish Comment was the first to report, Feb. 28, Ritchie was a likely candidate. He made an official declaration shortly after.

In his PDC filing, Ritchie did not identify which of the four seats up for election in the fall he will seek. Incumbents Don Gerend and Bob Keller, the mayor and deputy mayor, announced they will not seek election.

Incumbents Kathy Huckabay and Tom Odell haven’t announced their intentions.

Ritchie told several people he was encouraged to run by Huckabay and Odell.

Ritchie, who lives in the Klahanie area, hasn’t updated his Twitter or Facebook accounts to reflect he lives in Sammamish; these still list Issaquah as his city of residence.

Manka Dhingra, a Democrat, now has raised more than $92,000—most from out of state—for her run for 45^th Legislative District State Senator. The seat is now held by Sammamish’s Dino Rossi, a Republican, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Andy Hill died in October. Rossi was appointed with the understanding he would not seek election to fill out the remainder of Hill’s term, which expires in December next year.

Ian S. Stratton of Kirkland filed March 5 for the 45^th’s State Senate seat. He is a Democrat. He doesn’t have a website yet and he is an unknown. He hasn’t filed any financial contributions yet.

Robert P. Harris of Woodinville also filed for the 45^th State Senate seat, declaring no political party. Going by Parker Harris, he filed with the PDC March 16. No contributions filings have been made yet.

Roger Goodman, who is a Democrat holding Position 1 in the 45^th for the House, declared Feb. 28 he will not be a candidate for the State Senate.

Kathy Lambert is seeking reelection to District 3 of the King County Council. This includes Sammamish. The position is non-partisan, but Lambert is a Republican (Vance is a Democrat). So far, Lambert raised nearly $45,000 for her reelection.