McMorris Rodgers’ lead grows in Friday’s ballot count

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers lengthened her lead over Democrat Lisa Brown on Friday as the ballot count continued in Washington’s 5th Congressional District primary.

With the lion’s share of votes spread between them, both will move to the general election in November. But as of Friday evening, McMorris Rodgers’ total stood at 78,167 to Brown’s 74,085 – leading by 4,082, up from a lead of 1,435 the day before.

Brown’s edge in Spokane County, which she has led since Wednesday, narrowed as well. After Thursday’s count, Brown had claimed more than half of the county’s votes; on Friday, that had fallen to just below 50 percent, to McMorris Rodgers’ 45.5 percent of the county total. There remain 30,000 ballots left to count in Spokane County.