Henderson concedes 40th race to Van Luven, Ranker

SAM TAYLOR

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Republican Steve Van Luven and Democrat Kevin Ranker held steady at the top of the heap of candidates vying for the top two spots in the race for the 40th Legislative District state Senate seat.

Updated results Wednesday, Aug. 20, did little to change the outcome of early results, though Democrat Ken Henderson, a former Whatcom County councilman, was losing his lead over Ranker in Whatcom County, the only place Ranker was behind his Democratic Party rival.

Henderson conceded that he won't make it to the top two and congratulated Ranker. He said he was considering endorsing Ranker but was going to wait a bit longer until more votes were counted.

VOTE COUNT OFF

Democrat Hue Beattie's vote total in the race for the 40th Legislative District state Senate seat race was incorrect throughout the evening Tuesday, Aug. 19, until a reporter pointed out the error to local and state officials.
Beattie also was running as a Whatcom County precinct committee officer for the Democrats, and those votes were counted toward his Senate race.
The numbers have been fixed, said Elections Supervisor Pete Griffin of the Whatcom County Auditor's Office.
Democrat Stephanie Kountouros, who dropped out of the race recently but was still on the ballot for the Senate seat, also ran for a PCO spot and her votes were counted incorrectly, too.

Ranker said he was pleased with the outcome.

"I'm feeling really positive. I think the tremendous effort that so many of us put into this campaign paid off," he said. "I very much enjoyed getting to know Ken Henderson, and I have great admiration and respect for him."

Van Luven, the only Republican in the race, remained on top as three Democrats in the race, two of whom dropped out, and a man representing the Salmon Yoga Party (he's the only member), split the rest of the votes.

Combined, the Democrats had a strong lead over Van Luven, who says he'll work hard to break away some of the Democratic power in the 40th District before the November general election by pointing out his 171/2 years of experience in the state House of Representatives on behalf of the Bellevue area.

Democrats have held the 40th Senate seat since at least the 1970s, though the area has sent both Democrats and Republicans to the House over the years.

Hue Beattie, the other Democrat who remained in the race, had about 6 percent of the vote. Democrats Paul Gonzales and Stephanie Kountouros, who have both quit the race, were just behind Beattie. Timothy "Cleaver" Stoddard, an artist who campaigned under the Salmon Yoga Party and pushed making decisions on a karmic level and making yoga lessons an elective in school gym class, had less than 2 percent of the vote.

Though the race is trending toward a Van Luven-Ranker matchup, it's not over. Whatcom County Elections Supervisor Pete Griffin said about 19,000 ballots are still being counted. The "vast majority" should be counted by Friday, Griffin said.

Henderson said despite the large number of ballots left, Ranker's 10 percent lead over him for second place was basically insurmountable.

Meanwhile, Auditor Shirley Forslof's revised voter turnout prediction of between 45 percent and 50 percent has become a reality, with a 46.4 percent turnout so far.

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Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008

Henderson concedes 40th race to Van Luven, Ranker

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