Evans, Iyall leading in Port of Olympia races after Tuesday’s first vote count
Amy Evans and Bob Iyall were the early leaders in Port of Olympia commission races after the first count was announced Tuesday night.
Commercial real estate broker Evans was leading her District 3 challenger Joel Hansen, a developer of solar systems, with 56.7 percent of the vote to his 42.6 percent. District 3 incumbent commissioner E.J. Zita chose not to run for re-election.
Asked to what she attributes her good showing Tuesday night, Evans cited what was perhaps the theme of her campaign: collaboration.
“I think the community wants to see more collaboration and less partisan politics,” she said.
In the District 2 race, Bob Iyall, chief executive of the Nisqually Tribe’s Medicine Creek Enterprises Corp., which manages and operates the tribe’s for-profit businesses, had a slim lead over Jessie Simmons, an enrollment coordinator at Tacoma-based Palmer Scholars, an organization that mentors students of color to help them get into college or enter the trades.
Iyall was leading Simmons with 50.7 percent of the vote to Simmons’ 48.6 percent.
“It’s a little closer than I’d like,” Iyall said Tuesday, “but I’m happy to be leading and I hope it carries through.”
District 2 incumbent Bill McGregor also decided not to run for re-election. The District 1 seat held by Joe Downing was not up for election.
The four port candidates raised about $180,000 between them for their campaigns, with Hansen raising the most at $51,000, followed by Evans at $50,000, Iyall at $45,000 and Simmons with about $34,500, according to state Public Disclosure Commission data.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 8:42 PM.
