Branch and Haven lead in county commissioner primary race

Republican incumbents lead for 7th District legislative positions

OKANOGAN – One incumbent and one newcomer lead in two-way races for Okanogan County Commissioner positions in the first unofficial count of Tuesday’s primary election ballots.

For Commissioner Position 1, incumbent Chris Branch, who didn’t declare a party affiliation, received 1,140 votes, or 55.8 percent to challenger Shauna Beeman, a Republican, who received 883, or 43.28 percent.

In the race for Commissioner Position 2, Democrat Katie Haven received 1,570 votes, or 51.42 percent to incumbent Republican Andy Hover, who received 1,468, or 48.08 percent.

In the primary election, only voters from the candidates district can cast a ballot. In the general election, the candidates will run county-wide, so Branch will face Beeman and Hover will face Haven.

For the Seventh Legislative District, incumbents Republicans representatives lead over Democratic challengers in both the county and district-wide.

For Position 1, Jacquelin Maycumber received 3208 votes, or 75.82 percent to Democrat Georgia D. Davenport with 998, or 30.25 percent. District-wide, Maycumber received 19,627 votes, or 69.63 percent. Davenport took 8,511 or 30.19 percent.

For Position 2, Joel Kretz garnered 3208. or 76.82 percent of the vote to Democrat JJ Wandler’s 998, or 23.59 percent. District-wide Kretz received 20,209 for 74.32 percent of the vote. Wandler took 6,847 or 25.18 percent.

In the governor’s race there was a field of three dozen candidates looking to take over the governor’s mansion. Okanogan County voters threw the majority of their support towards Republican challenger Loren Culp with 3,864 votes, or 46.31 percent of the electorate. Incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee, finished with the second most votes from Okanogan County with 2,830, or 34.01 percent.

Statewide, the results were reversed with Inslee garnering 683,773 votes (52.3 percent) to Culp’s 214,620 (16.4 percent). The third highest vote-getter was Republican Joshua Freed with 96,753 (7.4 percent).

Tags: