All races set for September primaries.
County, state, national and superior court spots up for grabs
With the filing period for candidates expiring Friday, the landscape for the primary elections of Sept. 14 is finally set.
Two Grant County commissioners, two Public Utility District commissioners, three judgeships and a number of state legislature spots are among the area posts up for grabs. There are also two races for the U.S. Congress, where area activists will hope to unseat incumbents, or at least earn the right to face them in the November general elections.
The primaries will narrow all races down to the top two candidates, who will then square off on Nov. 2.
Tom Flint of Ephrata and Mike Conley of Moses Lake each face two contenders to their PUD seats. Flint's seat is for District 1 and Conley's is for District 2.
Flint, whose seat is an at-large position and carries a four-year term, will face Larry Williamson of Quincy, a farmer, and Kathryn Hanford-Wiley of Soap Lake, a woman whose husband is a telecommunications engineer with the PUD. A Wilson Creek resident, David Stevens is running against Flint, as well.
Conley, seeking re-election to another six-year term, is running against two Moses Lake residents, activist Greg Hansen and councilman Lee Blackwell.
Tim Snead and LeRoy Allison are up for re-election as Grant County commissioners. While Snead, a Democrat from Moses Lake, is running against Richard Stevens, a Republican from Soap Lake, Allison, a Republican from Warden will battle against Ron Baker, a Republican from Moses Lake and Richie Norman, a Democrat from the same city.
These two races take place as the county faces a massive financial crisis, with growing deficits projected for the next few years, hitting the $2 million mark by 2007.
Three spots in the Grant County Superior Court are in play this September as well. Judges John Antosz and Ken Jorgensen are running unopposed, while Evan Sperline will seek another four-year term by trying to beat challenger Teddy Chow.
In the state's 13th Legislative District neither of the incumbents will appear in the September ballot, as State Rep. Janea Holmquist, R-Moses Lake, has one opponent, Ellensburg Democrat Dale Hubbard, and her fellow lawmaker from the district, Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, is running unopposed.
At a national level, the picture is different, as three Democrats will seek to win the right to try and unseat incumbent Republican Richard "Doc" Hastings from Pasco, from his Fourth District spot in Congress.
Craig Mason, a college instructor, Sandy Matheson, a businesswoman, and Richard Wright, a businessman, have been campaigning actively, sometimes against Hastings, and sometimes against each other. Hastings, in office for five consecutive terms, is the only Republican vying for the seat.
That is not the case with the one U.S. Senate seat up for grabs, as Ephrata doctor Mohammad Said is one of two Democrats running to unseat incumbent Democratic senator Patty Murray.