Filings for candidates for the November election ended Friday. There are races other than those for Sammamish City Council of local interest.

King County Council

Kathy Lambert

As expected, incumbent Kathy Lambert filed for reelection to the District 3 seat of the King County Council. Sammamish is part of District 3.

Former Sammamish Mayor Tom Vance in March filed the necessary paperwork with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) to challenge Lambert, but in the end, he did not file the required documents to become a candidate.

Instead, John Murphy of North Bend filed to challenge Lambert.

Northeast Sammamish Sewer and Water District

Two of the three commissioner seats are up for election and the incumbents were the only ones to seek election. This is not unusual for these obscure seats.

Paul Robinett and Wayne DeMeester are seeking reelection to Positions 1 and 2, respectively.

Sammamish Plateau Water

Like the Northeast water district, nobody filed to challenge the incumbents seeking reelection.

Tom Harman and Lloyd Warren are seeking reelection to Positions 1 and 4 of the five member board.

State Senator, 45^th Legislative District

Andy Hill held the State Senate seat in the 45^th Legislative District until he died from cancer last October. Dino Rossi of Sammamish was appointed to fill this vacancy until the end of the year, when the winner of the November special election will be seated.

(Rossi could resign early, allowing the winner to be appointed, thus gaining some seniority on other newly elected Senators.)

Hill and Rossi are Republicans. The 45^th includes the northern half of Sammamish from a line that roughly follows SE 8^th St.

Although five people initially filed paperwork with the PDC to seek this seat, only three followed through with their candidacies: Jinyoung Lee Englund, who has the backing of the Republican Party; Manka Dhingra, the Democratic candidate; and Independent Parker Harris.

The top two vote getters in the August primary will advance to the general election in November.

Control of the State Senate may come down to this race. (A similar special election is in State Senate District 31.) Englund and Dhingra each has raised more than $200,000 already and money is pouring in from special interests inside and outside of Washington for each. Look for this to be one of the most expense State Senate races in Washington history and it may become increasingly bitter.

The contest should come down to the party-backed candidates come November.