Council Prez race: Where they’re strong and where they aren’t

Unlike Spokane’s mayoral race, which has a clear favorite based on the primary results, the council president race is a more interesting mix of support around the city for the top three candidates.

As things stand now, former Council President and Mayor Dennis Hession would face political newcomer Ben Stuckart in the November general. Councilman Steve Corker is third in the Top Two primary, and will have to make up ground on Stuckart in the later vote counts. (Update: With almost all the ballots counted, it’s clear that Corker will not make up that ground.)

But maps (found below or by clicking the links on the names) of the candidates’ support, based on the first round of ballot counts, shows the three have different strongholds.

Hession, not surprisingly, ran very strong on the South Hill, where he’s lived for years and where his base of support was in previous successful runs for city council and council president. He actually won outright some of the heaviest voting precincts on the hill, as well as the Logan District precinct that incluldes Gonzaga University, and ran strong in the far northwest sections.

Stuckart did well on the South Hill where ever Hession didn’t, basically below 29th around Manito Park and east of Rockwood Boulevard. He did OK in some parts of northwest Spokane, but not so well in the northeast.

Corker did better north of Interstate 90, both in his Northwest Spokane Council District 3, and in much of the the northeast, but poorly in much of south Spokane. The problem for Corker, as candidates discover in most Spokane city races, is that doing well in the northeast district doesn’t usually help you as much — voter registration and turnout are lower there than other parts of Spokane, so you wind up running behind in a citywide race.