Gary Edwards pulls ahead of Michael Steadman in Thurston County Commissioner race
Incumbent Thurston County Commissioner Gary Edwards has pulled ahead of challenger Michael Steadman by 594 votes in their race for the District 2 seat on the commission, according to Thurston County Auditor’s Office data.
Edwards now leads with 72,308 votes to Steadman’s 71,714 votes. On a percentage basis, Edwards leads with 50 percent of the vote to Steadman’s 49.59 percent.
An estimated 9,400 ballots still need to be counted. The last count was on Saturday and the next count is was to be released Monday evening, according to the Auditor’s Office.
The number of ballots cast, as of Sunday, stands at 144,617, including 595 write-in votes, the data show.
Steadman, a Democrat, currently serves on Lacey City Council. Edwards identifies as an independent.
Both reacted to the lead change on Sunday. “As long as all the legal votes are counted, we will win,” said a confident Steadman.
Edwards said it’s not over until it’s over and all the ballots are counted.
“I just don’t rush into things,” he said Sunday. “We’ll get another count tomorrow and it will give us a sense if this trend continues.”
On election night, Steadman had 52.3 percent of the votes (59,975), while Edwards had 47.4 percent (54,415 votes), The Olympian reported.
The election is set to be certified Nov. 24.
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 12:58 PM.
