Category Archives: Regional

Election Update Nov. 10: Projected winner in 5th LD: Paul Graves; Rodne trending toward win; detailed figures

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Updated results from King County Elections today are sufficient for Sammamish Comment to project that Paul Graves will win the open seat for the State House of Representatives in the 5th Legislative District, Position 2.

He will defeat Democrat Darcy Burner. Graves is a Republican, and his win keeps this seat in GOP hands. This change from too close to call is highlighted in green in the chart below.

Incumbent Republican Jay Rodne, seeking reelection in the 5th for Position 1, is trending toward a victory but his race remains too close to call today.

The 5th LD encompasses the greater Klahanie area in Sammamish.

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Breaking News: Graves now projected winner in 5th LD; Rodne trending toward win; Mullet’s lead in jeopardy

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Sammamish Comment now projects Paul Graves will win the open seat for the 5th Legislative District for the House Position 2.

Republican Graves will defeat Democrat Darcy Burner for the seat, based on trends in the results from election night through today.

Incumbent Republican Jay Rodne, who ended election night slightly behind Democrat Jason Ritchie, is now trending toward a win, based on today’s returns from King County Elections. Rodne holds Position 1 in the 5th LD House seats.

In the 5th’s State Senate race, Mark Mullet’s lead is now in jeopardy. He ended election night with 53.33% of the vote. With today’s results, this has been shaved to 51.98%. If this trend continues, he may lose to his GOP challenger Chad Magendanz.

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Breaking News 1: King County Election results delayed until…when?

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King County Election results were supposed to be posted on the website by 8:15pm. It’s 8:30 and no results on the website. Sammamish Comment called and was advised there is a “glitch” in posting the results and there is no estimate when these will be posted.

Meantime, US Rep. Dave Reichert (R-8th) jumped to a winning lead in the rest of the 8th Congressional District outside King County, with a 65% margin over Tony Ventrella. Reichert, the incumbent, is projected by The Comment to be the winner. The 8th includes Sammamish.

In Pierce County, Proposition 1-Sound Transit 3 is losing 55% to 45%.

In Snohomish County, ST3 is winning 51.2% to 48.4%.

Sammamish has until Nov. 3 to decide on ELST appeal

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City_of_SammamishSammamish has until Nov. 3 decide whether to appeal a decision by the Shoreline Hearings Board siding with King County on its appeal over three of four issues on development of the southern end of the East Lake Sammamish Trail (ELST).

Sammamish should not appeal the SHB’s decision.

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Sound Transit 3: Vote No

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Sammamish voters should Vote No on the $54 billion plan for Sound Transit 3. This is a $27 billion tax plan over 25 years.

For this, Sammamish gets degraded bus service and prospectively a new park-and-ride on the North End. The average Sammamish household will pay an estimated $1,100 a year in Sound Transit taxes. With about 20,000 households, this is $550 million over the 25 years. For a park-and-ride. And worse service.

Even more notable–and alarming: no project outlined in ST3 is guaranteed. Not a single one. Voters could approve the $27bn in new taxes and none of these projects is a sure bet. This is why The Comment says the park-and-ride for Sammamish is only “prospective.”

One thing that is not prospective but which is guaranteed: if ST3 passes, citizens in its taxing district, including Sammamish, will have no say at all in future tax packages. ST3 takes away voter approval for future taxes and puts it squarely in an unelected board appointed by elected politicians. Unlike the tax packages for ST1 and ST2, there is no sunset for ST3 taxes.

This is a bad deal in so many ways.

The Comment’s position on ST3 is well known to long-time readers of this column, so this recommendation comes as no surprise.

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