Bateman, incumbents with solid leads in early 22nd Legislative District results
Democrat Jessica Bateman, Olympia’s deputy mayor, held a commanding lead in early election tallies Tuesday for state representative in Legislative District 22, coming out well ahead of Republican and retired Lacey Police Chief Dusty Pierpoint.
The two are vying for the seat of outgoing Rep. Beth Doglio, who’s running for Congress in Washington’s 10th Congressional District and was trailing fellow Democrat and former Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland in early returns.
The 22nd LD lies entirely within Thurston County, where Auditor Mary Hall estimated that about 27,000 ballots were in-hand but left to be counted at the Ballot Processing Center. More ballots also would be picked up at ballot drop boxes that night and will trickle in via mail in the coming days.
In Tuesday’s results posted by the Auditor, Bateman had about 63.3% of votes (42,585), to Pierpoint’s 36.6% (24,663). Reached by phone, Bateman said she’s confident her campaign is the definitive winner in the race.
“I have to say I’m pretty thrilled with the results,” Bateman said. “We’re really confident that these numbers will hold in the coming days ahead as all the votes are counted.”
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Olympia as their council member for the last five years,” Bateman wrote on her Facebook page. “I look forward to bringing the same energy and collaborative spirit to the state Capitol.”
Pierpoint told The Olympian he feels the “writing’s on the wall” and that he wasn’t going to “shy away from obvious numbers.” He was planning to call his opponent and congratulate her, he said.
He said he was humbled by the support he received, and hopes he didn’t “let people down by losing,” but that “the process was great, and the support I got from the community was wonderful.”
He didn’t get into the race to run against anyone, he said. His goal was to try to help the 22nd District, and he supports the people who won.
“Now that it’s over, if there’s anything I can do to help in the future, I’d be glad to do that,” he said. “Because, at the end of the day, that’s what we’re all for.”
Early results also showed 22nd Legislative District incumbents Rep. Laurie Dolan and Sen. Sam Hunt, both Democrats, with comfortable leads in races to maintain their seats.
Rep. Dolan claimed almost 69.9% of votes in early results in Position 1, over Republican candidate J.D. Ingram, who had about 30%, while Sen. Hunt claimed about 70.5% over Republican Garry Holland’s roughly 29.4%.
Thurston County will post updated results daily until the county certifies results Nov. 24. The Secretary of State has until Dec. 3 to certify returns.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 10:29 PM.
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