Olympia City Council incumbents poised to keep their seats in preliminary results
Two current Olympia City Council members are projected to keep their seats, and newcomer Paul Berendt is expected to fill the upcoming vacancy left by Jim Cooper, who is retiring.
Position No. 4 incumbent Clark Gilman said he’s very pleased with the Nov. 4 preliminary results. Wednesday’s count showed him leading Wendy Carlson with 55.9% of the vote, or 6,465 votes. Carlson had 5,074 votes, or 43.9%.
Gilman was first appointed to the council in 2016 and elected in 2017. He said he’s proud that Olympia voters continue to vote for compassion, for respect for all people and for building a better future together.
Carlson, who worked for 20 years as a parole officer for the Department of Corrections, said the results are preliminary and there are many more to count. She said when she ran in the 2021 primary, she was ahead by 500 votes before the second count pushed her out of the race.
“I know that I gave 100% effort and I was true to myself,” she said. “I did it with honesty and transparency and integrity, and that’s all you can do. I love Olympia, and I hope that I get a chance to be your city council member.”
Position No. 6
Incumbent Robert Vanderpool was projected to keep his seat against challenger Justin Stang.
According to Wednesday’s second tally, Vanderpool had 52.4% of the vote, or 5,993 votes. Stang received 47.3% of the vote, or 5,410 votes.
Vanderpool said he’s feeling positive about the results so far, even though it’s a relatively close race. He said traditionally, left-leaning voters vote late, and that’s his hope.
“Definitely trying not to stress over it too much,” he said. “I have work tomorrow, and I got family stuff to do with all of that, so not stressing over it. I can’t predict the future, but I feel pretty good.”
Stang said he’s incredibly proud of the work his campaign has done to get out and connect with voters. He said he thinks he ran an incredible campaign and did everything he wanted to do from the primary to the general election.
“We know that there are still a lot of votes to count, and we’re really optimistic and encouraged by what we’ve seen thus far,” Stang said. “Clearly, our message is resonating, and we hope that as more ballots are counted, that we see things continue to move our direction.”
Position No. 7
Paul Berendt was projected to take over the seat being vacated by long-time council member Jim Cooper over Caleb Gieger.
According to preliminary results, Berendt had 53.3% of the votes, or 6,014 votes, while Gieger received 46.1% or 5,197 votes.
Berendt served as chairman of the Washington State Democratic Party from 1995 to 2006 and also previously worked as the Senior Vice President at a consulting firm.
Berendt said he was 7.5 points ahead on primary election night, and he’s in about the same position in this election. He’s feeling pretty good about the way things are going.
“I worked hard, and I met a lot of people, and I think the hard work paid off,” he said Tuesday night.
Berendt said he’s excited for the opportunities he has coming to him with working on the council.
“I went downtown today, and it really kind of made my heart sing; there were four new businesses going into various locations in downtown Olympia and the city just has so much potential that I really look forward to having the opportunity to really provide some community service on this council,” he said.
Gieger could not be reached for comment.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 10:05 PM.
.jpg)