The five-way race in Southeastern Washington’s 9th Legislative District has three candidates knotted near the top, with the top two shifting as the different counties report their results.
At the close of counting Tuesday night, Republican Susan Fagan of Pullman, a former U.S. Senate staffer and public affairs director for Schweitzer Laboratories, was in first place with just under 29 percent of the vote.
Republican Pat Hailey of Mesa, the widow of former Rep. Steve Hailey who previously held the seat, was less than 600 votes behind Fagan, and Democrat Glen Stockwell of Ritzville, a one-time Republican legislative candidate and former city councilman, was just 75 votes behind her.
Darin Watkins of Palouse and Art Swannack of Lamont finished far back in the pack and won’t make it to the general.
Although the office is partisan, the state’s Top Two primary system sends the two candidates with the most votes in the primary on to the general election. That means both candidates on the November ballot could be Republicans.
Results updated at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 19, 2009
| Washington House of Representatives, Legislative District 9 |
|---|
| Susan Fagan (R) | 5,728 / 28.7% |
| Pat Hailey (R) | 5,126 / 25.69% |
| Darin Watkins (R) | 1,639 / 8.21% |
| Glen R. Stockwell (D) | 5,003 / 25.07% |
| Art Swannack (R) | 2,461 / 12.33% |
