Gorton Increases Lead Over Cantwell

Fri., Nov. 10, 2000

By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com (509) 879-7461

Incumbent Sen. Slade Gorton pulled further ahead of Democratic challenger Maria Cantwell on Thursday as counts of absentee ballots trickled in from around Washington.

Gorton held a lead of about 14,500 votes over Cantwell, out of about 1.8 million counted.

The new tallies include absentee ballots counted in Spokane County, where Gorton registered a net gain of about 1,000 votes.

The biggest block of absentee ballots, however, is in King County, the state’s most populous, which has an estimated 250,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted. King County officials plan to count as many absentee ballots as they have processed this afternoon.

Both Gorton and Cantwell have said the outcome of the election may not be known until next week. Gorton will return to Washington, D.C., on Monday to prepare for the lame-duck session of Congress.

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