Benn secures spot on November ballot; Snyder endorses Riccelli

Spokane City Councilman Jon Snyder ended his campaign for state House on Thursday and endorsed Marcus Riccelli in the November election.

Snyder conceded after the third day of counting in Tuesday’s primary showed that Republican Tim Benn’s hold on second place getting more secure.

Riccelli, a Democrat, was the top-vote getter in the race for an open House seat in Spokane’s 3rd Legislative District. The top two candidates face each other in the general election.

The Spokane County Elections Office counted about 500 ballots in the race today. Out of the more than 24,000 ballots cast in the 3rd Legislative District, only about 1,500 are left to count.

In today’s count, Benn’s lead for second place over Democrat Snyder grew slightly to 426. His lead over former Spokane City Councilman Bob Apple, also a Democrat, increased to 565.

After the first day of counting, Benn, Snyder and Apple were within 100 votes.

The election’s office won’t resume counting until Monday.