Natasha Hill takes lead over Ben Stuckart in race for Spokane House seat – and other updates in uncalled races

Crowded fields or not, Spokane and Spokane Valley voters turned their state Legislature races into three-person heats with only two spots to secure in November’s general election.

Republican Tony Kiepe maintained his lead for the state House seat in the 3rd Legislative District, but Natasha Hill overtook fellow Democrat Ben Stuckart with a 22-vote lead Thursday.

Kiepe, an insurance professional, garnered 35.1% of the votes; Hill, a Spokane attorney, received 32.4%; and Stuckart, a former Spokane City Council president, had 32.3% of the votes in the tally released Thursday.

The three candidates are vying to replace Democratic Rep. Marcus Riccelli. The top two vote getters will advance to the November election.

“We know it’s not over yet, but it definitely feels good to see some ballots coming in for me and taking that lead,” Hill said.

Hill acknowledged the lead over Stuckart was “very slim” and that she would have to wait to see how the rest of the votes panned out.

Hill said she hoped her Thursday surge reflected a boost in young voter turnout, which her campaign focused on, just before the ballot submittal deadline.

According to Spokane County Election Office statistics, there are more than 6,300 votes left to count in the 3rd Legislative District. Countywide, there are more than 37,000.

Election results will be certified Aug. 20.

4th Legislative District – Senate

The six-candidate field in Spokane Valley largely remained unchanged from Wednesday, with Democrat Miguel Valencia, Republican Rep. Leonard Christian and Republican Mike Kelly leading the way.

Valencia, a law student and U.S. Army veteran, will likely advance with 22.8% of the votes as of Thursday. He’s followed by Christian with 21.5% and Kelly, a businessman, with 20%. Only Republicans have represented the district in the past 30 years, but Valencia has said his constituents are “ready for change.”

Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley (13%), Spokane Valley City Councilman Al Merkel (11.4%) and Democrat Paige Scott (11.2%) rounded out the bottom half of the race.

The candidates seek to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Mike Padden, who announced his retirement.

4th Legislative District – State Representative Pos. 2

Similar to the Senate race, the half-dozen candidate field for the open House seat appears to have whittled down to a three-person race.

Kaiser Aluminum employee Ted Cummings, a Democrat, leads with 25.1% of the votes, followed by Republicans Rob Chase, a former state representative, with 23.8% and Spokane Valley City Councilwoman Brandi Peetz with 22.4%.

Cattle rancher Michael Schmidt received 16.1%, former county Democratic Party Chair Ed “Woody” Wood had 8.8% and bigfoot hunter Stephen Major got 3.8% of the votes.

Washington Public Lands Commissioner

Two Republican women stayed atop the Democratic field of Washington public lands commissioner candidates, but Democrat Dave Upthegrove closed the gap Thursday night.

Jaime Herrera Beutler led the other five hopefuls with 22.2% of the statewide votes counted and Sue Kuehl Pederson followed with 20.6%. Upthegrove climbed to within one-tenth of a percentage point of Pederson.

Patrick DePoe received 13.7% of votes, followed by Allen Lebovitz with 10.4%, Kevin Van De Wege with with 7.8% and Jeralee Anderson with 4.6%.

The public lands commissioner oversees Washington’s Department of Natural Resources and runs firefighting efforts on state lands.

The top two primary candidates will advance to the Nov. 5 election.