By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch A race in south Pierce County for a seat in the Legislature has a smaller field after one of the candidates was declared ineligible. Election officials last week disqualified Andrew Christensen, who listed a Bellingham address when he filed in May as a candidate for state representative (Position 2) in the Second Legislative District. Candidates must live in the district or jurisdiction where they're seeking an elected office. Bellingham is about 130 miles outside the Second District. The district includes Eatonville, Graham, some of the South Hill area and other parts of south Pierce County, plus north Thurston County. Because the district stretches across county lines, candidates file through the secretary of state's elections division. When Pierce County election officials asked the state agency to look into Christensen's residency requirements, the state officials determined he was ineligible because he doesn't live in the Second District. "They contacted him and notified him and the other candidates in the race that he wasn't eligible,GÇ¥ said Mike Rooney, elections manager for Pierce County. It's unclear why Christensen, who didn't pick a political party when he filed, was trying to be a candidate in a district so far removed from his residence. "It seems odd,GÇ¥ said Derek Maynes, a Democrat who is one of three remaining candidates in the race. The others are the incumbent, Rep. J.T. Wilcox, who is a Republican, and Nathaniel Downes, a Democrat. The leading votegetters in the primary election that ends Aug. 2 will face off in the general election in November. Maynes, 39, who lives in the South Hill area, served in the Air Force for 12 years until he was medically retired. He now runs a small business. "It is in my nature to be a fighter. Nothing was given to me in life -- I earned it,GÇ¥ he said. "I'm hoping for the opportunity to advocate for this district and make it as great as the residents it represents.GÇ¥ Downes, a literary editor, said in his campaign website that Second District residents lack "comprehensive representationGÇ¥ in the Legislature. "We need a voice in Olympia who speaks not prepackaged rhetoric from some out-of-state focus group, but one who can bring a fresh perspective to the table,GÇ¥ he said. Wilcox is in his second two-year term as a representative. He's the Republican Party's House minority floor leader. He was chief financial officer of the family-owned Wilcox Farms before starting a business and sales consulting firm. Besides the Position 2 seat in the House, voters in the Second District also will pick legislators in two other races this year: " For senator, Randi Becker, the Republican incumbent from the Eatonville area, has opposition from two Democrats GÇô Marilyn Rasmussen, a former senator who lost to Becker in 2008, and Tamborine Borelli, a businesswoman and animal rescuer. " For representative Position 1, the only candidates are Republican Andrew Barkis, a businessman in Thurston County who was appointed to the office earlier this year, and Democrat Amy Pivetta Hoffman, a lawyer and Bethel School Board member.
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