Barlow wins in 6th District

Democrat Don Barlow is the new state representative in Spokane’s 6th Legislative District, a recount of ballots from the Nov. 7 election confirmed Friday.

Barlow’s lead of 260 votes over freshman Rep. John Serben held up in the recount, which involved running the district’s 55,881 ballots through the county’s tabulation machines while representatives from both parties watched.

A few of the ballots could not be read by the machines and had to be remade by elections staff, who marked blank ballots to reflect those voters’ choices. Each candidate gained two votes from ballots that previously could not be read by the tabulation machines.

The race featured a rematch of the 2004 election, which was also close, but with the opposite result. Serben, an insurance agent, won that election by less than 2,400 votes.

Barlow, a community college instructor and Spokane School Board member who campaigned on providing more support to education, became the first Democrat elected to the state House of Representatives from the 6th District since 1939. The district also elected Chris Marr, its first Democrat to the state Senate in 68 years.

Barlow will have to resign his school board seat to serve in the Legislature.

Serben said he plans to remain active in politics and public events after spending some time with his family over the holidays.

“I still care about this community,” he said. “I want to make sure we continue to prosper and grow.”