After two days of counting 50,451 ballots by hand, the Whatcom County Auditor's Office declared Michael Shepard the second-place finisher in the 42nd Legislative District Senate race. The county Canvassing Board will certify the recount results at 9 a.m., Monday, Aug. 31. The Democrat will compete against Republican Erika Creydt for the seat in November's general election.
Shepard squeezed by with four votes over third-place finisher Eamonn Collins. It was the four-vote lead between the two Democrats that triggered the mandatory manual recount, according to the Secretary of State's office.
While observing the recount on Tuesday, Shepard told me the 42nd Legislative District has a history of being a tight race as one of the "closest and last remaining swing districts in Western Washington."
Michael Shepard probably didn't imagine a two-day recount on Election Night to determine his path to the 42nd Legislative District Senate Seat. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)
We'd like to think recounts are rare, but there seems to be a trend in recent years of close races. Just two years ago in the primary election, the race for Commissioner of Public Lands went to a recount between second-place finisher Dave Upthegrove (spoiler: he's now the current public lands commissioner) and third-place finisher Sue Kuehl Pederson. The 42nd Legislative District also had recounts in 2018 for a House seat and for the Senate seat. Not to mention the time in 2019, when city council member positions in Sumas and Ferndale were tied, and the finishers had to flip a coin to determine if they got the seat or not.
Before the 2018 recounts, the last time the Whatcom County Auditor's Office had to dust off the hand-counting gloves was in 2004 during the Washington Governor's race between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi, according to the Bellingham Herald.
You can read more in my story about the sights and sounds of the recount here.
Sixteen Whatcom County Auditor’s office employees count votes by hand. A hand recount is triggered when the difference in votes is less than 150 and less than 0.25% of the total votes cast. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)
A brief detour to Bellingham City Club
About an hour before the Whatcom County Auditor's Office determined the recount outcome, I was at Bellingham City Club for its first of four election forums. Attendees learned about two of the citizen initiatives on the ballot — repealing the millionaire's tax and barring transgender girls from participating in girls' sports — and the folks running for 40th LD House position one and 42nd LD House position one.
The millionaire's tax, passed by the state Legislature earlier this year, places a 9.9% tax on income over a million dollars and was roundly cheered or booed depending on the candidate or the person speaking to the ballot initiative. Misty Flowers, a Republican running against Rep. Alicia Rule in the 42nd LD House race, said if elected, she would push for repealing the tax as well as investigating the Climate Commitment Act. To her, the state's budget crisis can be solved by figuring out where the "waste" is and holding services more accountable.
Rule similarly said in order to fix the budget, the state can't continue to tax its way out of the crisis. Rather, programs funded by the state should be measured in effectiveness. Rule did not mention the millionaire's tax, which could've turned tricky considering she voted against it.
Upcoming civic engagement
If you weren't able to attend City Club's forum on Wednesday, you'll have other chances. The group will hold a candidate forum on Sept. 23 featuring the 42nd State Legislative District Position 2 House and the Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney candidates. Then on Oct. 2, City Club will host the Supreme Court candidates, and on Oct. 21, candidates from the 40th State Legislative District Position 2 and Port of Bellingham Districts 4 and 5 will appear.
The Sept. 23 and Oct. 21 events will be held at noon at the Bellingham Yacht Club (2636 Harbor Loop Road). The Oct. 2 forum will be held at the Bellingham Golf and Country Club (3729 Meridian St.). Tickets cost $25 for members and $35 for non-members. The fourth forum featuring Shepard and Creydt will be announced soon.
The Whatcom Working Waterfront Coalition will also host its own town hall for port candidates on Oct. 7 (time and place are to be announced).
On Oct. 10, Cascadia Daily News will host its election town hall, featuring prosecuting attorney and 42nd District Senate candidates. New incoming Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Martin will put the candidates to the task at Sehome High School. More details to come.
Winning Citizens Agenda questions
Big thanks to everyone who contributed the 74 questions for the legislative, Skagit County commissioner, prosecuting attorney and port candidates for our Citizens Agenda initiative.
The questions below are the ones candidates will respond to in CDN's Voter Guide published in October. As reporters, we also use the questions to guide our election reporting.
Questions to ask legislative candidates
#19. Would you support and vote for universal healthcare?
#4. Do you support increasing taxes on very wealthy individuals and corporations?
#13. What formula do you recommend for balancing the state’s budget, addressing spending priorities, specific cuts, specific tax cuts, or tax and/or fee increases?
#18. What is your position on legislation regarding limiting the corporate practice of medicine, (what is now) HB 1675, to ensure clinical decisions are driven by patient care needs rather than corporate profits?
#21. How would you address the water rights adjudication process? Who has access to water fundamentally will affect our economy, sustainability, growth or decline, and population. If elected, how will you propose to resolve the very contentious issue and lead to the best resolution for our community?
Questions to ask Whatcom County prosecutor candidates
#43. What steps do you recommend to attract and retain attorneys to the office?
#44. How do you plan to direct charging decisions for crimes that stem from poverty? For example, would you direct your deputy prosecutors to pursue burglary charges against someone who allegedly stole a $5 sandwich from a local big box store?
#42. How should the prosecutor address the perceived exodus of attorneys from the office?
#37. What policies do you agree with from former leadership? Which policies will you change? What about incarceration policies?
#35. What will you bring to the office that you see as an advantage over your opponent?
Questions to ask Port of Bellingham candidates
#49. What is your preferred vision for development of Bellingham’s waterfront?
#47. What are your ideas for the port to better serve as an economic engine and business incubator for the county?
#53. Are ferries in Bellingham’s future? If not, why? And if so, how do you plan to bring that service here?
Questions to ask Skagit commissioner candidates
#54. What are your priorities for Skagit County?
#61. With a significant budget deficit, how do you plan to continue sufficiently funding necessities in Skagit County?
#58. How should the county respond to a loss of funding from the state that has led to a loss of support for long-standing programs, including senior nutrition, the Skagit Historical Museum, Parks and others?
What I’m reading
Giorgia Meloni Cuts the Hard Right a Path to Power (New York Times, gift link): Roger Cohen, the NYT Paris Bureau chief, sat down with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a far-right member of the Fratelli D'Italia (Brothers of Italy), for a wide-ranging profile about her rise to power and how she's created a stable government in a nation known for political corruption. In September, Meloni will become the longest-serving prime minister in recent memory. Some of Meloni's praises Cohen looks at as examples of stability are her ability to cut the country's deficit. But he barely touches on her harsh immigration policies. The profile doesn’t get into Meloni's policies targeting gay couples with children (birth certificates can only name the child's biological parents and bans on overseas surrogacy).
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"North Woods" by Daniel Mason: If you missed it in Cocoa Laney's "The A-List Encore" newsletter last week, the CDN newsroom read "North Woods" for our monthly book club. The story focuses on a piece of land and its inhabitants, starting from a pair of Puritan runaways all the way to a 1950s crime reporter. I can't say too much, but I started to love the book as soon as a pair of vengeful spirits came onto the page.
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day: I stopped watching Marvel movies as soon as the Marvel Cinematic Universe turned into a homework assignment. But I'm a sucker for Spider-Man, and the new Tom Holland and Zendaya-led film hit all the high points for me. Picking up soon after the events of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Peter Parker must cope with being forgotten by his girlfriend MJ and best friend Ned. Like any early-20s over-achiever adrift in the world, Parker throws himself full-time into being New York City's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But when a mysterious unseen villain arrives, Parker needs to figure out how to protect his friends. You get some classic Spidey villains, some fun combat scenes and a tear-jerking Aunt May speech. Bonus points for two cast members from FX's "The Bear" also making appearances.
Annie Todd is a breaking news and enterprise reporter for Cascadia Daily News. In the past, she covered elections and state government in South Dakota, with a brief stint covering the 2024 Iowa Caucuses. Email: [email protected].
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