Michael Baumgartner will be next Spokane County treasurer

State Sen. Michael Baumgartner will leave his office in Olympia for one in the Spokane County Courthouse.

Baumgartner will take over as the Spokane County treasurer from Rob Chase, who opted not to run for re-election so he could run for county commissioner. Baumgartner took 57 percent of the vote over challenger David Green, a certified public accountant and financial planner, in Tuesday’s counting.

Baumgartner said he was confident going into the race due to his eight years of legislative experience and substantial lead in the primary.

“We won the primary by 57 percent and I knew we would do better,” he said.

Baumgartner and Green disagreed during the election on whether the role of treasurer should involve policymaking.

Baumgartner, who helped craft state budgets as a state senator and worked in economic development in multiple places around the world, ran on a platform of advocating for policy changes in county government while increasing transparency in the treasurer’s office.

He added that he enjoyed serving eastern Washington and was looking forward to continuing to do so.