Election draws interest: Moses Lake council, school board races get enough candidates to qualify for primary

by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Staff Writer | May 21, 2021 1:00 AM

EPHRATA — Both Moses Lake School Board races will be on the primary ballot in August and so will at least one of the Moses Lake City Council races. Mattawa Mayor Maria Celaya will have at least one opponent and so will Quincy mayor Paul Worley.

The candidate filing period continued Wednesday and Thursday, and closes Friday.

Incumbent Karen Liebrecht will face two challengers for her seat on the Moses Lake City Council. Dustin Swartz and Eric Eleazar Salgado also filed for the job.

As a result, the race will be on the ballot in the Aug. 3 primary election. Both Moses Lake School Board races also will be on the primary ballot.

Paul Hill filed for Position 2 on the school board, joining Noah Zemke and incumbent Vickey Melcher in the race, meaning it will go to the primary. Four candidates filed for the second open seat on the school board, currently held by Elliott Goodrich, by Tuesday afternoon. Goodrich announced earlier this year that he would not run for a new term.

Current Moses Lake Mayor David Curnel will be challenged for his seat on the council by Judy Madewell. Plasido S.D. Lindsey Jr. filed for council Position 4, and will challenge Mark Fancher, who filed earlier in the week. The incumbent, Daryl Jackson, had not filed for reelection as of Thursday afternoon.

Celaya will be challenged for the Mattawa mayor’s job by current Mattawa City Council member Sun Hwang. Celaya was appointed as mayor in November 2020, following the resignation of Scott Hyndman. Because Celaya was appointed, the race is to fill the rest of the unexpired term, which is two years.

Chad Lower filed for a seat on the Quincy School Board, challenging incumbent Liliana Garcia, who filed earlier this week.

Worley will be challenged for the Quincy mayor’s job by Luke Garrison, who will give up his Quincy City Council seat. At least two candidates, Peter Shelton and Jeff Spence, will be running for Garrison’s council seat.

Sarah McDonnell filed for reelection to the Ephrata City Council, and Tiffany Workinger filed for reelection to the Royal City Council. Wendy Lopez filed for reelection to the Mattawa council, and John Lallas for reelection to the Othello City Council.

Cynthia de Victoria is the second candidate to file for Position 5 on the Wahluke School Board, and will run against Luke Jenne. The incumbent is Lorraine Jenne, who has not filed for re-election.