Notable races throughout the region

Stevens County voters must choose between incumbent Sheriff Craig Thayer and former county Commissioner J.D. “Andy” Anderson, a constitutionalist whom Thayer’s officers once arrested.

Anderson was arrested in December 2000 for obstructing an officer and failure to identify himself when stopped for driving with an expired license. That was slightly more than a year after voters turned him out of office in his primary election bid for a second term.

Representing himself in Stevens County District Court with a variety of constitutionalist arguments – including an assertion that the court had no jurisdiction over him – Anderson was convicted and sentenced to three months in jail.

At his arraignment, Anderson declared his case “dismissed” and walked out.

Thayer personally brought him back when the judge issued an arrest warrant.

This isn’t the first time in three terms as sheriff that Thayer, 48, has faced a far-right challenger who doesn’t believe all state and federal laws must be obeyed, but Anderson may be the strongest such candidate.

Anderson, 69, got more votes than Thayer in last month’s primary, although that may say more about the state’s new pick-a-party primary than the sheriff candidates.

Anderson won his unopposed Republican primary with 3,637 votes; Thayer received 2,977 votes as the only Democratic candidate.

But Thayer got roughly the same number of votes as other unopposed Democrats, while Anderson got less than three-fourths as much support as other unopposed Republicans – except for incumbent county Commissioner Merrill Ott.

Ott received only 1,584 primary election votes, but he has no general election opponent.

Seats up for grabs

Elsewhere in rural northeastern Washington, voters will choose replacements for several incumbents who were eliminated in the Sept. 19 primary.

In Ferry County, first-term incumbent Prosecutor James von Sauer lost the Republican primary to his own deputy, Michael Sandona, who now faces Democrat Alex Wirt.

In Whitman County, where numerous local levies and propositions will be on the general election ballot, voters will replace retiring Republican County Commissioner Les Wigen with either Democrat Nathan Weller or Republican Michael Largent.

Largent won a four-way primary race with nearly twice as many votes as his nearest rival.

One-term incumbent Pend Oreille County Commissioner Mitch Brown finished last by one vote in his four-way Republican primary.

The winner, Laura Merrill, will face Democrat Mike Deerwester in the general election.

Merrill had 439 votes in her primary race while Deerwester, running unopposed, had 226 in his.

Also in Pend Oreille County:

Republican Marianne Nichols, who defeated first-term incumbent Auditor Carla Heckford 1,444 to 859 in the Republican primary, is facing former Auditor Ann Swenson. Swenson, who was unseated four years ago by Heckford, got 788 votes in her unopposed Democratic primary.

Incumbent Sheriff Jerry Weeks, who had more than twice as many votes as his Republican primary challenger, faces off against one of his own deputies, Democrat Ron Froman. Froman received 825 votes in his unopposed Democratic primary, while Weeks defeated Jack W. Hall 1,559 to 711.

Incumbent Republican Assessor Fred Anderson faces Democrat Janet Walker. Anderson and Walker were unopposed in their primaries, in which Anderson collected more than twice as many votes as Walker.