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.
As of November 20, 82.7 percent of Whatcom County ballots have been counted, or 138,646 ballots, with an estimated 50 left to go, according to the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office. Statewide, 78.6 percent of Washington voters’ ballots have been counted, or 3,944,661 ballots, with another 10,090 ballots needing to be processed, according to the Washington State Secretary of State Elections Division.
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 on November 6. As for Whatcom County’s support, current vice president and opponent Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz received 60.4 percent (83,041) of votes, while Trump and future vice president JD Vance received 35.7 percent (49,052) of the votes.
Statewide, incumbent U.S. senator Maria Cantwell (D) won re-election against Raul Garcia (R) having received 59.1 percent of the votes versus 40.6 percent for Garcia.
Incumbent Rick Larsen (D) will retain his seat as U.S. Congress District 2 Representative, receiving 63.8 percent (262,304) of the voters against opponent Cody Hart (R), who received 35.9 percent (147,483).
Democrat incumbents kept their seats in state representative races.
In a Blaine face off, incumbent Alicia Rule (D-Blaine) beat Raymond Pelletti (R-Blaine) 55 percent (39,607) to 45 percent (32,684) for the 42nd Legislative District Representative Position 1 seat.
Incumbent Joe Timmons (D-Bellingham) kept his position against Kamal Bhachu (R-Blaine) 53.3 percent (47,824) to 46.6 percent (41,775).
In the Public Utility District No. 1 races, Eddy Ury won against Jeremiah Goggins 59.4 percent (65,055) to 40.1 percent (43,938), and incumbent Atul Deshmane glided past Dan Johnson 57.8 percent (64,771) to 41.8 percent (46,869).
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. The winners for District 5, which covers Blaine, Birch Bay and Point Roberts, were Lindsey Graham Elenbaas at 16 percent (9,854), Jon Mutchler at 15.2 percent (9,358) and Rod Stump at 13.1 percent (8,083).
Blaine school district’s Proposition 2024-21, authorizing a $70 million, 20-year bond that would replace the current bond for capital improvements, failed the 60-percent supermajority it needed to pass. The bond had only garnered 55.8 percent (6,629) in support while 44.2 percent (5,243) 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 84.2 percent of voters in support and 15.8 against.
Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson (D) will become the next governor of Washington having received 55.5 percent (2,135,962) of statewide votes as Dave Reichert (R) fell short of the majority with 44.2 percent (1,701,206) of votes.
Denny Heck (D) has retained his seat as lieutenant governor as he received 55.8 percent (2,105,072) of votes in support, while challenger Dan Matthews (R) received 44.1 percent (1,665,671).
Superintendent of public instruction Chris Reykdal also kept his position against challenger David Olson, receiving 52.8 percent (1,741,021) versus Olson’s 46.6 percent (1,536,526) 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 52.7 percent and 47.1 percent of support, respectively.
As for secretary of state, incumbent Steve Hobbs (D) kept his position against 59.2 percent of statewide votes and Dale Whitaker (R) received 40.7 percent.
Mike Pellicciotti (D) shellacked Sharon Hanek (R) for state treasurer garnering 57.3 percent to 42.6 percent.
Incumbent Pat McCarthy (D) has retained the state auditor seat against Matt Hawkins (R) with 58 percent to 41.9 percent.
The next state attorney general will be Nick Brown (D), who led Pete Serrano (R) 55.6 percent to 44.3 percent.
The insurance commissioner race had Patty Kuderer (D) ahead of Phil Fortunato (R) with a margin of 56.7 to 43.2 percentage.
The Seattle Times declared Sal Mungia had won the seat for Supreme Court Justice Position 2 over Dave Larson in a close race. Whatcom County voters supported Mungia and Larson with 53.3 percent and 46.4 percent, respectively. 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, was the only state measure to pass this election. Statewide results showed 51.7 percent (1,932,446) of Washingtonians approved the measure, while 48.3 percent (1,805,880) did not. The measure will 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, failed by a large margin with only 35.9 percent (1,358,669) voters in support and 64.1 percent (2,427,027) 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, also largely failed with only 38 percent (1,430,463) of support and 62 percent (2,330,949) 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.
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