Race to lead Washington’s Department of Natural Resources still too close to call with two Republicans in lead

A tight primary race to become Washington’s next public lands commissioner grew even closer Wednesday as vote margins between leading candidates shrunk.

Two Republicans and one Democrat are all vying to make the cut and secure two spots on November’s general election ballot.

But the more than 500,000 ballots left to count across Washington mean the primary race is too close to call.

As of Wednesday evening’s ballot count, Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler maintained a slim lead with 22.6% of the total statewide votes counted.

Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson followed closely behind, garnering 20.7% of the vote.

Votes tallied Wednesday put Democrat Dave Upthegrove in a close third place behind the two Republican women with 19.9%. Another four Democrats split the remaining vote for the position, including Patrick DePoe, who earned 13.4% and Kevin Van De Wege, who picked up 8%.

Regardless of party, the top two candidates in the primary race will advance to the Nov. 5 ballot.

This year marks the first time in eight years that the primary election for lands commissioner has no incumbent on the ballot. Seven contenders threw their hats in the ring for the crowded primary.

Upthegrove said votes counted so far paint a “very incomplete picture” of the race because many voters wait until the last minute to cast their ballots.

“We’re not going to know tonight,” he said. “I’m still hopeful we’ll pull into second over the next day. But today went better than anticipated.

“The elections consultants who provide information to me continue to be optimistic, so I continue to be optimistic. A huge percentage of folks vote on election day, and we’re going to start to see those votes tomorrow.”

Wednesday’s ballot count showed Democrat DePoe, a former Makah Tribal Council Leader, taking fourth place in the race.

On Wednesday evening, a spokesperson for DePoe’s campaign told The Spokesman-Review that the Democrat had yet to make any decision about who he might support in the race if he doesn’t make it to the November ballot.

“We’ll see if we make any significant ground tomorrow,” spokesperson Stephen Paolini said. “If that doesn’t happen, we’ll prepare a statement. There’s really no rush.

“We’ve never had a really competitive candidate run for state office who’s a member of a tribe. We’ve been celebrating that.”

The state Commissioner of Public Lands serves a four-year term and oversees Washington’s massive Department of Natural Resources – an agency in charge of nearly 6 million acres of forests, beaches and other public lands.

The commissioner also runs all firefighting efforts on state-managed lands.