Selby leading Jones in early returns in Olympia mayor’s race

Cheryl Selby was leading Nathaniel Jones in the race for Olympia mayor in early returns from Tuesday’s election.

Selby, who is running for her second term as mayor, had 4,178 votes in Tuesday night’s tally. Jones, who has served on Olympia City Council since 2012, had 3,524 votes.

“I had anticipated it would be close and I’m not surprised by these results,” Jones said, noting updated vote tallies will be released throughout the week. “I feel as though it’s close. We had a similar result in the primary, so we’ll be watching the count every night.”

The mayor’s race centered on the city’s response to homelessness. Jones called for a more ambitious response, while Selby largely defended the city’s actions while calling on other jurisdictions to be more involved.

Olympia has a “weak mayor” system in which the mayor leads the seven-member City Council. Two other seats on the council were on the ballot Tuesday.

Turnout in Thurston County as of Tuesday’s vote count was 22 percent.

This story was originally published November 5, 2019 at 8:26 PM.