State Rep. Lynda Wilson and former legislator Tim Probst are neck-and-neck in the race for Sen. Don Benton’s seat in the 17th Legislative District.
Democrat Probst polled 8,073 votes or 50.53 percent, while Republican Wilson got 7,861 votes or 49.21 percent, according to Tuesday night’s initial primary election results.
“I expected it to be a tight race,” said Wilson. “I expect our numbers to get better in the next few days.” She said it’s important that she continues to run a positive race.
Probst, however, categorized Wilson’s race as negative.
“We tried something different. We tried to go extra positive to beat a negative campaign,” Probst said. “The primary is not even halftime. We’ve got a lot more work to do.”
The race could help determine which party holds control of the state Senate, which currently has 25 Republicans and 24 Democrats. The House has 50 Democrats and 48 Republicans. In 2008, Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate.
So, both state parties have targeted the 17th District seat. Probst has raised $199,460 and Wilson $235,920 — the largest combined total of any local legislative race — according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Probst served as a state representative from 2009 to 2013. In 2012, he gave up his House seat to challenge Benton but lost by 76 votes. Wilson challenged incumbent Democrat Rep. Monica Stonier two years ago and won with nearly 52 percent of the vote.
Kraft, Kim lead their race
Six people were vying Wilson’s House seat. Vicki Kraft, who has been active in the Clark County Republican Party leadership, staked almost a 10 percentage point lead on election night. She captured 31.91 percent of the vote, while Sam Kim, an independent Democrat, got 21.48 percent. Democrat Don Orange, who has been vocal in the fight against a crude oil terminal in Vancouver, got 19.02 percent.
Tuesday’s early figures indicate Kraft will advance, possibly with Kim, who currently works as Clark County’s chief information officer and has served for 16 years on the Battle Ground school board.
“I think we did great. I really appreciate all the supporters,” said Kim, who celebrated at Los Jalape?os restaurant in Brush Prairie. “I look forward to working with Vicki to make sure voters pick the very best candidate.”
He said he’ll be watching the election numbers closely over the next few days to see if he maintains his lead. And Orange, too, will be watching the numbers to see if they tip in his favor.
“The numbers don’t look good, but there’s very little point in doing much but thanking all of the (supporters),” said Orange, who owns a Vancouver auto repair shop. “I’m so immensely thankful.”
The other candidates were Port of Vancouver Commission President Jerry Oliver (15.07 percent), progressive Democrat and veteran Rob Frisina (7.23 percent), and Democratic precinct officer Joshua Egan (5.16 percent).
Harris leads Hash
Incumbent Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, was in the lead for the other House seat with 46.56 percent of the vote as of Tuesday night. Democrat Martin Hash garnered 40.10 percent of the vote and moves onto the general election for Position 2. Republican Richard Colwell got 12.99 percent of the vote and will not advance.
Harris has been in the House since 2010. When he ran to keep his seat in 2014, he captured almost 62 percent of the vote.
