In a race that remained too close to call Monday, Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler led a field of seven candidates vying to become Washington state’s next public lands commissioner.
With 94 percent of the vote counted from last Tuesday’s primary election, the former member of Congress had 22 percent of the vote. She’s trying to mount a political comeback in the traditionally Democratic state after losing her congressional seat in 2022.
King County Council Chair Dave Upthegrove (D) ranked second with 20.9 percent of the vote, leading the third-place candidate, Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson, by only 2,000 votes.
Kuehl Pederson, who won the endorsement of the Washington State Republican Party, had 20.7 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial results.
