First election results show extremely close races for 17th Legislative District, Clark County Council seats

Preliminary election results show Washougal Mayor David Stuebe, a Republican candidate for the state legislature, trailing his Democratic opponent, Terri Niles, by 304 votes. 

The first vote count, released tonight at 8:27 p.m., shows Niles with 30,610 votes (50.18%) to Stuebe’s 30,306 votes (49.69%).  

Stuebe, who has said he hopes to keep his job as a Washougal City Council member and mayor even if he wins his state race, and Niles, a longtime Vancouver nurse, are vying for the state’s Legislative District 17, Position 2 seat currently held by Republican Rep. Paul Harris, who is running for the District 17 senate seat in this election. 

Niles and Stuebe have sought to position themselves as the best candidate to represent the wide-ranging 17th District, which represents around 157,000 constituents in the cities of Camas and Washougal and much of East Clark, Skamania and Klickitat counties. 

At a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Clark County on Oct. 5, the candidates noted their differences.

“While my opponent spent 20 years marketing and selling pharmaceutical drugs I have dedicated my life to caring for people and advocating for better healthcare not for special interest groups or corporate profits,” Niles said. “In Olympia, I will bring that same commitment to working with both Republicans and Democrats to deliver real results for our communities, not for big drug companies.”

“As I talk to people at their doors, I hear the same thing over and over: people are tired of the extremism and hyperpartisanship that’s holding us back. In contrast, my opponent publicly endorsed (Joe Kent, a Republican running for Washington’s Third Congressional District), one of the most divisive and extreme candidates in the country – someone running against our congresswoman who’s done so much for the city of Washougal and our district,” Niles added. “We need someone who will stand up against extremism and bring us together. That’s what I will do in Olympia – work across the aisle to get results together.”

Stuebe argued that his military and local government experience has prepared him for the role of state legislator. 

“I’m all about bringing unity together and solving problems. I’ve been doing that my whole life. I’ve taken oaths since being an Eagle Scout to the Marine Corps to being the mayor,” Stuebe said in his opening statement. “As mayor, I’ve been working up in Olympia, working up in D.C. … bringing back tax dollars, working with people and coming up with solutions. A lot of people say, ‘I’m gonna do this and I’m going to do that.’ I have been walking the walk my whole life. … I want to continue to do that because that’s what I care about.”

Republican Rep. Kevin Waters, who ran unopposed for his 17th District, Position 1 seat, has garnered 93% of the vote with 39,607 votes to 2,947 (7%) votes for write-in candidates. In the race for the 17th District’s Senate seat, Republican Paul Harris is leading the Democratic candidate, Marla Keethler, by 1 percentage point, Harris currently has 31,041 votes (50.49%) to Keethler’s 30,370 votes (49.4%).