The November 2024 election was a landmark race with many races and measures on the ballot, with everything from the next president of the U.S. to who would serve as state representatives for the 42nd Legislative District.
So far, 66 percent of Whatcom County ballots have been counted, or 110,127 ballots, with an estimated 12,000 left to go, according to the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office. State-wide, 53 percent of Washington voters’ ballots have been counted, or 2,643,144 ballots, with another 798,865 ballots needing to be processed, according to the Washington State Secretary of State Elections Division.
The next count was scheduled to be tallied at 5 p.m. November 6. To view the latest Whatcom County tabulation, visit results.vote.wa.gov/results/20241105/whatcom.
The AP called the 2024 presidential race after Wisconsin’s electoral votes were determined, naming former president Donald J. Trump the next president of the U.S. in the early hours of the morning Pacific Time. As for Whatcom County’s support, current vice president and opponent Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz received 61 percent (66,243) of votes, while Trump and future vice president JD Vance received 36 percent (39,679) of the votes.
Incumbent U.S. senator Maria Cantwell (D) won re-election against Raul Garcia (R) having received 60 percent of the votes versus 40 percent for Garcia.
Incumbent Rick Larsen (D) will retain his seat as U.S. Congress District 2 Representative, receiving 64.4 percent (171,764) of the voters against opponent Cody Hart (R), who received 35.4 percent (94,513).
Democrat incumbents so far are keeping their seats in state representative races.
In a Blaine face off, incumbent Alicia Rule (D-Blaine) was leading Raymond Pelletti (R-Blaine) 55 percent (39,607) to 45 percent (32,684) for the 42nd Legislative District Representative Position 1 seat.
Joe Timmons (D-Bellingham) is ahead of Kamal Bhachu (R-Blaine) 53 percent (38,533) to 47 percent (33,709).
In the Public Utility District No. 1 races, Eddy Ury was ahead of Jeremiah Goggins 59 percent (52,565) to 41 percent (36,132), and incumbent Atul Deshmane was gliding past Dan Johnson 57 percent (52,291) to 42 percent (38,520).
The Whatcom County Council charter review commission will have three candidates from each county council district conduct a decennial update to the county’s governing document. So far, the top three candidates for District 5 positions, which covers Blaine, Birch Bay and Point Roberts, were Lindsey Graham Elenbaas at 16.1 percent (8,169), Jon Mutchler at 15.4 percent (7,846) and Rod Stump at 13.4 percent (6,804).
Blaine school district’s Proposition 2024-21, authorizing a $70 million, 20-year bond that would replace the current bond for capital improvements, was failing the 60-percent supermajority it needed to pass. The bond had only garnered 55 percent (5,410) in support while 45 percent (4,394) of voters rejected the measure. The bond, which was rejected in the February special election, would have replaced the 70-year-old Blaine Middle School, updated Pipeline Fields, and built an outdoor covering at Blaine Elementary School, among other projects.
Whatcom County Proposition 2024-22, which prohibited elected county officials from concurrently serving other public office positions, passed widely with 84.5 percent of voters in support and 15.5 against.
Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson (D) is on his way to becoming the next governor of Washington having received 56 percent (1,460,746) of statewide votes as Dave Reichert (R) fell short of the majority with 44 percent (1,129,854) of votes.
Denny Heck (D) has retained his seat as lieutenant governor as he received 57 percent (1,448,994) of votes in support, while challenger Dan Matthews (R) received 43 percent (1,108,180).
Superintendent of public instruction Chris Reykdal also kept his position against challenger David Olson, receiving 54 percent (1,207,823) versus Olson’s 46 percent (1,037,041) of the statewide votes by the first ballot count.
Dave Upthegrove (D) won the position of commissioner of public lands against Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) receiving 53 percent and 47 percent of support, respectively.
As for secretary of state, incumbent Steve Hobbs (D) received 60 percent of statewide votes and Dale Whitaker (R) received 40 percent.
Mike Pellicciotti (D) shellacked Sharon Hanek (R) for state treasurer garnering 58 percent to 42 percent.
Incumbent Pat McCarthy (D) has retained the state auditor seat against Matt Hawkins (R) with 59 percent to 41 percent.
The next state attorney general will be Nick Brown (D), who led Pete Serrano (R) 56 percent to 44 percent.
The insurance commissioner race has Patty Kuderer (D) ahead of Phil Fortunato (R) with a margin of 57 to 43 percentage.
Whatcom County voters were supporting Sal Mungia over Dave Larson for Supreme Court Justice Position 2 with 53 percent and 47 percent. Steve Gonzalez and Sheryl Gordon McCloud ran unopposed for the Washington State Supreme Court and Cecily Hazelrigg ran unopposed for Washington Court of Appeals for Division I.
Initiative measure No. 2066, the natural gas initiative, had a majority of support by the first ballot count. Statewide results showed 51.2 percent (1,288,228) of Washingtonians approved the measure, while 48.8 percent (1,227,068) did not. The measure would repeal or prohibit certain laws and regulations that discourage natural gas use and/or promote electrification and require certain utilities and local governments to provide natural gas to eligible customers.
Initiative measure No. 2109, or the excise tax repeal, was failing by a large margin with only 37 percent (937,050) voters in support and 63.2 percent (1,610,148) against. The measure would have repealed an excise tax imposed on the sale or exchange of certain long-term capital assets by individuals who have annual capital gains of over $250,000. As a result, it would have decreased funding for K-12 education, higher education, school construction, early learning and childcare.
Initiative measure No. 2117, the carbon tax measure, was also largely failing with only 38 percent (972,623) of support and 62 percent (1,566,065) against. The measure would have prohibited state agencies from imposing carbon tax credit trading and repealed legislation establishing a cap-and-invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This would have resulted in decreased funding for investments in transportation, clean air, renewable energy, conservation and emissions-reduction.
Initiative measure No. 2124, regarding the long-term health care program, was failing with 44.5 percent (1,119,728) in support and 55.5 percent (1,396,215) against. The measure would provide that employees and self-employed people must elect to keep coverage under RCW 50B.04 and could opt-out any time. It would also repeal a law governing an exemption for employees. This measure would decrease funding for Washington’s public insurance program providing long-term care benefits and services.
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