King County’s Prop. 1 parks levy is passing

Preliminary results are in for the Aug. 6 primary election and races are being narrowed down to two candidates during a particularly crowded year.

Across King County, some 337 races were up for election and hundreds were expected to run. Four positions were up for election on the King County Council with positions 2 and 4 seeing real primary challenges.

For Pos. 2, incumbent Larry Gossett garnered 39.37 percentage of primary voters, keeping him in the running to square off against challenger Girmay Zahilay. Zahilay received 52.1 percent of the vote. Gossett has held his seat since winning election in 1993 and as of Aug. 6 had raised nearly $91,000, with some $68,000 coming from individual donors, according to the Public Disclosure Commission.

Zahilay had raised more than $124,900, making him the most well-funded candidate in all of the county council races. Of that amount, nearly $119,800 had come from individual donors. The Washington State Democrats donated equal amounts of $1,840 to each.

Also on the ballot for Pos. 2 was Stanley Lippmann. Lippmann registered as a mini-filer, meaning they don’t have to report fundraising provided they raise less than $5,000. He received just under 8 percent of the vote.

McDermott is running to preserve his seat in Pos. 8 against perrenial candidate Goodspaceguy and Michael Neher. McDermott garnered around 82.5 percent of the vote, with Neher and Goodspaceguy raking in roughly 16 percent of the vote combined.

King County’s Proposition 1 was also passing by more than 67 percent. The proposition asked voters to renew and expand a property tax levy to fund parks, zoos and trails across the county. It would authorize a six-year property tax beginning in 2020 at a rate of $.1832 per $1,000 of assessed value and required only a simple majority to pass.

Though not on the ballot, Pos. 4 incumbent Jeanne Kohl-Welles had raised nearly $111,700, with more than $81,900 coming from individual donors.

Her challenger Abigail Doerr had raised more than $63,100 with more than $54,400 coming from individual donors. The Washington State Democrats contributed $2,120 to each of the campaigns.

Claudia Balducci similarly did not appear on the ballot and is essentially running unopposed in the Position 6 race.

Balducci had raised nearly $124,700 as of Aug. 6. Some $101,000 had come from individual donors. McDermott had raised more than $108,200 with more than $89,000 coming from individual donors.

All the candidates with available information had received donations of at least $2,000 from the Realtors or an associated political action committee other than Zahilay and Doerr.

Incumbent county assessor John Wilson was running unopposed and had raised nearly $70,600. Large donors included $1,000 each from the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, Wallace Properties Development, the Washington Association of Realtors and others. He also received $3,000 from unions.

Daniel Satterberg is running unopposed for re-election as the county Prosecutor. No contributions had been filed with the Public Disclosure Commission as of Aug. 6. For the director of county Elections position, incumbent Julie Wise had raised nearly $10,500 with the largest single donation coming from herself. Her opponent Mark Greene had no listed contributions, opting instead for a filing option where he does not report to the Public Disclosure Commission but agrees to raise less than $5,000.