WA state Senate primary separated by 4 votes, set for recount

The results will be confirmed by a hand recount next week. Recounts don’t often shift electoral outcomes, but the counts are rarely this close.

“For me, this is uncharted territory,” Shepard said Monday evening. He noted his campaign had been reaching out to voters with challenged ballots to resolve the concerns to ensure their votes could be counted.

Collins said he’s been “waiting and seeing” now for two weeks since election day.

“Can’t believe I still have to say that,” he continued.

Collins said that he feels “whatever happens, we ran a really, really good race. I’m really proud of the votes we were able to turn out.”

The two Democrats are running for an open seat with Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, forgoing reelection. Shepard or Collins will face Republican Erika Creydt, a psychologist and Blaine school board member, in November.

On Monday, the county canvassing board reviewed challenged ballots, of which there have been a few hundred. Those ballots either were unsigned or the signatures didn’t match those on file. Voters had until 4:30 p.m. Monday to cure ballots challenged for signature issues. An additional 125 votes were tallied Monday.

Going into Monday’s latest tally Shepard had climbed up to 20 votes ahead of Collins. At one point, Collins was just two votes behind Shepard.

The district covers north Bellingham and rural Whatcom County, including Ferndale, Lynden and Blaine. In recent years, it has become more reliably blue. As recently as 2022, it was represented by a Republican state senator.

Shepard is a Bellingham port commissioner and anthropology instructor at Western Washington University endorsed by Shewmake. Collins, a science teacher at the Lummi Nation School, considers himself a grassroots progressive running to the left of Shepard’s more establishment lane. He’s also a former U.S. Senate policy adviser.

County results are set to be certified Tuesday. The secretary of state’s office will certify them by Friday.

The recount is expected to take about three days and additional time for the canvassing board to certify the final results, said Whatcom County Auditor Stacy Henthorn. The county election’s office will post further details about the recount online Tuesday afternoon, Henthorn said.

The bar for a manual recount like this is that candidates have to be separated by fewer than 150 votes and 0.25% of the total votes. A machine recount is triggered when the difference between two candidates is under 0.5% of the total ballots cast and fewer than 2,000 votes.

The top two candidates in Washington primaries advance to the general election regardless of party.

Creydt picked up 44.6% of the primary vote while the two Democratic candidates combined total was nearly 53%. That bodes well for the party’s chances of retaining the seat. Senate terms last four years.

Creydt, the only Republican in the race, leads the fundraising battle, bringing in $199,000. She’s spent almost all of it. Shepard has raised $105,000 and Collins $75,000.

The two Democrats recently filmed a video together for social media to discuss the close race and to commit to support whoever advances.

“If anyone ever tells you your vote doesn’t matter,” Shepard said, “think differently because we know it does.”