Incumbents lead, voters approve taxes

Voters are opening their wallets for investment in their communities, and incumbents are also getting the nod of approval, if early election returns indicate outcomes.

Suzan DelBene leads opponents for U.S. Representative of the 1st Congressional District with 48.64 percent of the vote. Her closest competitor is Robert J. Sutherland, with 17 percent of the vote. That means those two candidates will likely be the ones to go on to the general election in the fall.

In the 39th District of Washington at the state level, since no one had more than one challenger, the vote count doesn't mean anything except sort of a straw poll of who is ahead going into the general election in the fall. That person appears to be Elizabeth Scott of Monroe, who polled with 58 percent, ahead of her opponent Charles Jensen, who emerged with 41.58 percent.

Sultan Mayor Carolyn Eslick came in second in the three-way race for County Executive. Incumbent Democrat John Lovick, came in with 46.42 percent of the vote; Eslick holds 39.82 percent, and a third candidate garnered 13.11 percent. That means Eslick and Lovick will proceed to the general election in the fall. All candidates were invited to send responses to the outcomes; Eslick's campaign was the only one that did by Sunday.

"Looking forward to November, we are focusing on spreading Carolyn's message of fiscal responsibility, public safety, and family wage jobs,GÇ¥ wrote campaign manager Russell Wiita. "We will expand our outreach efforts to ensure the voters of Snohomish County get the leadership they want and deserve in November."

Fire District 5 in Sultan appears to be handily passing a levy, currently with almost 69.30 percent of the vote.

And Monroe voters are giving the nod to a sales tax increase of two-tenths of a percent to pay for street maintenance and repair. That had 64 percent in favor as of Sunday night.

For complete countywide results and updates, see http://www.snoco.org/elections/results/ecurrent.htm