Stuckart concedes Spokane state House race and will not endorse Hill or Kiepe

Spokane voters now know which two state House candidates will appear on their ballots this November.

Spokane attorney and community organizer Natasha Hill has likely built a big enough lead over former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart to move on to the general election as the sole Democratic candidate in the race.

Hill received 32.46% of the votes counted this week, and Stuckart received 31.96%. Just 189 votes separate the candidates, but with roughly 1,200 left to count in the district, it’s unlikely Stuckart will overtake Hill if current trends hold.

Republican Tony Kiepe, an insurance professional who unsuccessfully ran for the Spokane City Council in 2017 and 2019, has held the lead in the race since the first tally, pulling in 35.4% thus far.

Stuckart conceded and thanked his supporters following Friday’s count in a statement posted on social media.

“To everyone who offered me their support, time, expertise, conversation, love, donations, and time the last few months, I am so grateful for you,” Stuckart said in a written statement. “Unfortunately, this journey has ended.”

In an interview Friday, Stuckart said he is “absolutely not” going to endorse either of his opponents in the general election.

Stuckart said he can’t support Kiepe due to his dramatically different viewpoints, including the place of religion in public school. He also pointed to Kiepe’s support for the idea of splitting Eastern Washington into a separate state, as reported by The Inlander.

As for his fellow Democrat, Stuckart cited Hill’s accusation he was using “coded classist and racist rhetoric” in the lead-up to the primary on her campaign’s social media page as one reason he can’t bring himself to support her.

“Our campaign for Natasha for House Rep is sending a strong message that we won’t let coded classist and racist rhetoric discredit Natasha’s lived experience, legal experience or community organizing,” the post read, in part. “Despite the opposition believing only elected experience counts, our campaign knows how important it is to have representatives with lived and diverse experience. We don’t believe cronyism should continue to run Spokane.”

Stuckart pointed to himself as the only candidate with legislative experience during his campaign, and decried Hill’s characterization that his attempts to stress the experience he would bring to the position were discriminatory.

“That’s offensive, and it defamed me,” Stuckart said. “I’m disgusted by that. It doesn’t belong in politics.”

Stuckart also said Hill’s behavior and terse altercation with Spokane County Democratic Chair Naida Spencer at the Spokane Pride festival earlier this year is another reason he won’t support her.

Hill accused Spencer of attempting to silence a Black woman after Spencer asked her to move away from the booth or stop making disparaging comments about Stuckart to passersby while campaigning. Spencer allegedly threatened to call festival security if Hill did not comply, Hill said in a June interview.

As the exchange escalated, and Hill turned to the passing crowd for support, some of them began accusing Spencer of being racist and a white supremacist, according to witnesses.

Hill told The Spokesman-Review she was citing policy differences between her and Stuckart, that it was wrong to threaten a Black woman with a call to security and that she felt party leadership didn’t like “that I was using my voice.”

The county party opened an investigation into the incident in June, but have not provided any updates on the inquiry since.

“That’s not somebody I can support,” Stuckart said.

Hill did not return a request for comment early Friday evening.

Hill trailed Stuckart in the first two days of ballot counts, but built a 22-vote lead by the end of Thursday. She outperformed Stuckart in precincts north of the Spokane River, while Stuckart pulled more support south of the city’s dividing natural feature.

In an interview Thursday, Hill said she hoped her late surge reflected a boost in turnout among young voters, an area of focus for her and her campaign.

The seat Kiepe and Hill will contend for was vacated by Rep. Marcus Riccelli, who’s running unopposed for the state Senate seat in the 3rd Legislative District.

About 19,000 ballots countywide still need to be counted starting Monday. Election results will be certified Aug. 20, according to the Spokane County Elections Office.