Democratic incumbent’s margin over rival widens

OLYMPIA – U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen’s lead over Republican John Koster grew for the third straight day Friday in the race for northern Washington state’s 2nd Congressional District seat.

The latest update by counties in the district increased Larsen’s lead to 3,872 votes, more than double the lead he held on Thursday night. Larsen also tightened the margin in Snohomish County, the district’s population center. On Thursday night, Koster led Larsen in Snohomish by more than 2,200 votes; by Friday night Koster’s lead had shrunk to 1,656 votes.

Larsen initially had been trailing Koster by fewer than 1,500 votes after the initial count on election night Tuesday, but took the lead on Wednesday and has increased his margin every day since.

With more than 244,000 votes counted so far, Larsen had about 51 percent of the vote, compared to Koster’s 49 percent.

In a statement issued Friday, Larsen wrote that the recent vote counts “show a clear trend over the last three days in my favor” but noted there are still thousands of votes left to be counted in the coming days. About 83,000 votes remain to be counted in the district. Snohomish and Whatcom County are both scheduled to update results this evening.

Koster spokesman Larry Stickney said Friday that the numbers looked bleak, “but we’re not putting the white flag up yet.”

“There’s still a large number of votes out there,” Stickney said. “But obviously, the trends aren’t going in our direction right now. We’re hoping for a better day tomorrow.”

Koster, a farmer from Arlington, had the backing of tea party activists and the endorsement of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Larsen was first elected to the seat in 2000, beating Koster, who was then a state representative, by four percentage points.

The 2nd District spans the northern part of Western Washington from just north of Seattle to the border with Canada, and includes the San Juan Islands.