Olympia City Council incumbents likely to make it to general election

Incumbent Olympia City Council members look likely to make it onto November’s general election ballot, but vote tallies remained very close in at least two races after Tuesday’s ballot count.

Primary voters selected candidates for Olympia City Council’s positions 2, 5, 6 and 7. The top two vote-getters in the primary will move onto the November ballot, when citizens also will vote on who will fill position 4 on the council.

For Position 2 currently held by Yến Huỳnh, Huỳnh was the top vote-getter Tuesday with 3,817, followed by Robbi Kessler with 2,998 votes. Bruce Wilkinson Jr., a bus driver for the North Thurston School District, received just 556 votes.

For Position 7 currently held by Jim Cooper, Spence Weigand was narrowly leading Cooper 3,131 to 3,090. Tyrone Dion Brown received just 1,193 votes.

For Position 6, where there is no incumbent, Dontae Payne was leading the race with 3,821 votes over Corey Gauny with 2,277 votes. Sarah DeStasio, a Democratic Socialist, had just 1,334 votes Tuesday night.

However, the race for Position 5, currently held by Lisa Parshley, was neck and neck with all three candidates close. Tuesday’s tallies gave Parshley 2,745 votes, Wendy Carlson 2,426 votes and Talauna Reed 2,110 votes.

The county will certify the primary election results on Aug. 17 after additional ballot counts. Auditor Mary Hall estimates about 10,000 more ballots from county drop boxes have yet to be counted and mail-in ballots postmarked today are still on the way.

Only about 40,000 ballots, amounting to 20.4% turnout, were counted Tuesday night.

Position 4 did not appear on the primary ballot because the race has just two candidates, incumbent Clark Gilman and challenger Candace Mercer, who will appear on the November ballot.

Talauna Reed’s campaign manager told The Olympian Tuesday the campaign is hoping Reed receives more votes as the county continues to count ballots. “Traditionally younger voters and newer voters tend to vote at the last minute,” Derek Ball said. “So, we’re expecting a great turnout tomorrow as the rest of the numbers come in.”

Ball said Reed was excited “and whatever the results, we know that Talauna’s going to keep fighting for justice in this community, and this community’s going to have her back 100 percent.”

Wendy Carlson, a former corrections officer, received roughly 33% of the votes in her race, which she said was “right where we expected to be.” Carlson “looks forward to taking on my challenger” in the general election.

Parshley could not be reached by The Olympian for comment.

The crowded field of candidates campaigned on issues of affordable housing, homelessness, public safety and improving the downtown area.

Weigand tallied 42% of the votes counted Tuesday, edging out Cooper. Weigand said the results “reflect the attitudes in the community about the current direction of the city.”

Weigand has campaigned on increasing affordable housing and development through loosening regulations and said the city’s response to homelessness was “enabling” those experiencing homelessness.

Cooper could not be reached by The Olympian for comment.

Payne received the most votes of any City Council candidate so far. Payne is running for Position 6, which incumbent Renata Rollins is vacating.

Payne said he felt incredible about the night’s results and that “it appears my message is resonating with members of the community, so I intend to keep sharing that message.” Payne said he would continue campaigning door-to-door until the election.

Huỳnh, who was appointed to fill Jessica Bateman’s council seat after Bateman was elected to the state legislature, said she had been excited all day to see the results, since this was her first election.

“To see the unofficial results come across the screen — I was just overcome with joy, truly,” she said.

Huỳnh appears likely to be on the November ballot with Robbi Kesler, the former general counsel for the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis and member of the Skokomish Tribe in Mason County.

Kesler emailed a statement to The Olympian, saying, “I will continue to work hard to deliver my message to voters — so they are informed about my qualifications and views. I look forward to the next few months of campaigning.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 10:08 PM.