Election 2025: Here’s who is leading, trailing in early Whatcom County returns
Bellingham voters appeared to be extending the terms of three City Council members, and a rural Whatcom County Council district was leaning toward a candidate backed by Democrats as the first round of ballots were posted online after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Off-year elections focus on the Whatcom County Council, city councils in Bellingham and other cities, and courts, school boards and local commissions such as fire districts and cemetery officials.
In a countywide measure, a proposal to expand the Bellingham Port Commission from three to five members was passing by 65% to 35%.
Elsewhere on Tuesday’s ballot, a pair of Bellingham Public Schools levies were passing by 66% to 34% for the operations levy and 63% to 37% for the maintenance levy.
Ballots were due at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Washington’s vote-by-mail elections. Ballots must have been postmarked by that time, or place in an official ballot box.
Whatcom County has 169,232 active registered voters, according to the Auditor’s Office, which conducts elections. A total of 45,420 ballots had been counted through the first tabulation at 8:13 p.m. Tuesday.
A second tally of votes is scheduled by 5 p.m. Wednesday, including ballots left in ballot boxes Tuesday and those that arrived in Wednesday’s mail with valid postmarks.
Bellingham City Council
Council member Jace Cotton was running unopposed for re-election the City Council’s at-large seat, a two-year term.
First-term Ward 2 council member Hollie Huthman was leading epidemiologist Leah Wainman by a margin of 65% to 35%.
First-term Ward 4 council member Skip Williams was leading neighborhood activist Kerri Burnside by a margin of 63% to 37%.
Four-term Ward 6 council member Michael Lilliquist was leading Andrew Reding, former head of the Whatcom Democrats, by a margin of 61% to 39%.
Whatcom County Council
Kaylee Galloway is running unopposed for her second straight term representing the south part of Bellingham, including downtown.
Elizabeth Boyle was leading Maya Morales by a margin of 74% to 26% for the Whatcom County Council District 2 seat, covering northern Bellingham. Two-term Councilman Todd Donovan, a political science professor at Western Washington University, is not running for re-election.
Jessica Rienstra was leading Kyle Christensen by a margin of 56% to 44% in District 3, which encompasses the rural Whatcom County cities of Everson, Nooksack and Sumas, along with the foothill communities of Kendall, Maple Falls and Glacier, the South Fork Valley communities of Acme and Van Zandt and the communities of Geneva and Sudden Valley. Two-term Councilman Tyler Byrd of Sudden Valley lost a primary challenge.
Three-term County Councilman Barry Buchanan was leading Misty Flowers, chair of the Whatcom Republicans, by a margin of 63% to 36% for a fourth term for one of two at-large seats on the council.
Port of Bellingham
Michael Shepard is running unopposed for the Port of Bellingham Commission District 1.
Three-term Port Commissioner Ken Bell was leading Carly James by a margin of 51% to 49% in District 2. Bell leads by 751 votes — 21,496 to 20,745.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 9:00 PM.
