Hobberlin’s health
throws primary race into question

By Pat Grubb

Just days after besting fellow Blaine resident Dave White in the Republican primary for 42nd District State Representative, Position 2 in the November general election, former Blaine mayor John Hobberlin suffered a heart attack and was admitted to St. Joseph Hospital and underwent triple bypass surgery. As of September 20, Hobberlin was resting comfortably and is expected to make a full recovery. No decision has yet been made regarding his political plans.
Hobberlin was more than 500 votes ahead of White and appeared certain to face Democratic incumbent Kelli Linville. Hobberlin received 2,582 votes to White’s 2,044 in their battle to win the Republican primary.

Neither Republican incumbent Doug Ericksen nor Democrat Robin Bailey faced opposition in Tuesday’s primary for the 42nd district, position 1 seat so their votes are at most a beauty contest. Bailey received 5,722 votes and Ericksen received 5,328.

Whatcom County Superior Court judge Steve Mura fought back a challenge from Indira Rai-Choudbury, winning more than 80 percent of the vote and automatically winning his race.

In the other Superior Court judgeship up for grabs, Superior Court commissioner Chuck Snyder will face prosecutor Mac Setter in November. Snyder received 5,391 votes (41 percent) to Setter’s 4,327 (33 percent) while third-place contestant David Cottingham received 3,280 votes (25 percent).

Which Republican will face U.S. Representative Rick Larsen for the 2nd Congressional District is too close to call. Suzanne Sinclair narrowly trails Larry Klepinger with 10,447 votes to his 11,152 votes.

In unofficial Whatcom County results, a total of 6,550 individuals cast their votes in person versus 18,147 absentee ballots for a total of 24,697 votes. Of this, 14,119 ballots were cast for Democrats, 9,231 were Republican, 431 were Libertarian while 916 were non-partisan.

This election marked the first use of a four ballot system where voters were required to decide which party’s candidates they wanted to vote for and ignore the three other ballots.

According to a poll undertaken by the Secretary of State’s office, 79 percent of voters objected to the new system.