Lovick concedes to Somers in county executive race

Snohomish County Councilman Dave Somers began making plans Wednesday to become the county’s next leader after executive John Lovick conceded defeat in their hard-fought battle.

Lovick phoned Somers shortly before 4 p.m. to offer his congratulations and pledged cooperation for a smooth transition of power.

“I think it’s appropriate to concede. I wished him well,” Lovick said.

Their conversation took place before release of the second day of ballot counting showed Somers ahead by roughly 10,500 votes in a contest between two of the county’s Democratic heavyweights. Somers had 56.7 percent to Lovick’s 42 percent in vote totals released Wednesday.

“It feels great,” Somers said. “We have all these challenges that I talked about in the campaign. We’re going to have to make some changes. I’m really excited about it.”

Election results won’t be certified until later this month and Somers won’t be sworn in until early next year. But he said he’ll start making decisions on key staff in the next few weeks.

This is Lovick’s first loss in 13 elections spanning a career in city, county and state governments.

“You run to win in this business and that’s what I did. I’m OK with it,” he said. “I have to hand it to Dave. He did a great job of sticking to his message.”

In breaking down his defeat, Lovick said Somers’ made the county’s challenges with its budget and the courthouse project “look they were my problems.”

And, he said, even if he had run the perfect campaign, he couldn’t survive the onslaught of mailers from Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties and robocalls featuring County Auditor Carolyn Weikel and others slamming his record.

“It is the playbook for how to do it,” he said.

But Lovick hinted it might not be the last time his name appears on a ballot.

“Don’t write my obituary quite yet,” he said.

Meanwhile Wednesday, incumbent County Councilman Brian Sullivan’s fortunes brightened as he edged in front of challenger Greg Tisdel in the latest round of ballot counting completed Wednesday.

Sullivan, who trailed by 98 votes on election night, found himself leading Tisdel by 52 votes Wednesday in the all-Democratic contest for the 2nd District seat. Sullivan’s vote percentage stood at 49.8 to Tisdel’s 49.3.

“No surprise,” Tisdel said Wednesday. “I think it’ll flip-flop all the way to the end.”

Meanwhile, the margin of support for a sales tax hike sought by Community Transit grew in the latest round of ballot counting.

Proposition 1, which is a 0.3 percent sales tax increase sought by Community Transit, was passing with 51 percent of the votes. The 1,067-vote margin between supporters and opponents was 300 votes more than election night.

“It’s obviously good news,” CT spokesman Martin Munguia said. “We’re being cautiously optimistic. We don’t know how many votes are left to count in the district. It’s definitely a good trend.”

The measure would add about 3 cents to a $10 purchase within the boundaries of Community Transit’s taxing district, starting in April 2016. The district includes most of the county’s urban areas, except Everett, which is served by Everett Transit. Much of the Highway 9 corridor is also excluded.

Community Transit hasn’t lost a countywide ballot measure since it was established almost 40 years ago. Voters approved three previous 0.3 percent tax increases to pay for bus services in 2001, 1990 and 1976.

In the city of Snohomish, Mayor Karen Guzak clung to a slim 22-vote lead over challenger Larry Countryman while newcomer Zachary Wilde led City Councilman Paul Kaftanski by just 23 votes.

Guzak is a two-term incumbent who has served as mayor for six of her eight years on the City Council. Business owner Countryman previously served 12 years on the council. He wants back on because he said he’s concerned about the direction the city has taken.

Kaftanski, the parks director for the city of Everett, is completing his first term on the council. Wilde, a Boeing project manager, said he entered the race because neighbors told him the City Council wasn’t listening to people and making rash decisions.

And something odd might be developing in Index.

Chuck Davis is seeking to retain his seat on the Town Council and no one filed to run against him.

But as of Wednesday his victory wasn’t certain because there were 24 write-in votes and he had received only 19 votes.

Garth Fell, Snohomish County elections manager, said once all ballots are tallied election officials will determine who received those write-in votes. If a person qualified to hold a council seat winds up with more votes than Davis, they would be declared the winner, he said.

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com

FYI

Looking for the latest results on local races and statewide measures? This link will help you find them fast: http://snohomishcountywa.gov/227/Election-Results.