Newcomer appears winner in port race

After a squeaker of a race, newcomer Carly James appears to have taken the Port of Bellingham District 2 seat from incumbent Ken Bell. 

The latest ballot count from the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office on November 6 showed James won by 1,439 votes. James received 35,623 votes, or 50.9 percent of voter support, while Bell received 34,184 votes, or 48.9 percent of support. There were 129 write-in votes.

The county auditor’s office estimated there were 50 ballots left to count as of November 6 before results would be certified November 25. The county had a 44.8 percent voter turnout rate, with 75,850 ballots counted of the county’s 169,232 registered voters. 

Of the voters who turned out for the November general election, 5,914 voters, or 7.8 percent, didn’t participate in the District 2 port race.

Bell had publicly said he supported James running for the seat.

Since 2017, Bell has served on the Port of Bellingham Commission. He is president and CEO of Iron Creek Group, a soil remediation company. 

James owns Bison Bookbinding and Letterpress, which has one of its two storefronts on port property in downtown Bellingham. She also owns an accounting and consulting firm.