Republicans appear likely to hold a majority of seats on the Grays Harbor County Commission for the first time in many decades.

First-time Republican candidate Jill Warne defeated Democratic opponent Jamie Nichols in the District 1 race to represent the East County and Republican Kevin Pine, also a first-time candidate, holds a lead over incumbent Randy Ross, an independent, in the District 2 race to represent the Aberdeen area.

The other commissioner on the three-person board is Vickie Raines, who has no party affiliation.

Pine and Warne often appeared in tandem at campaign events, part of a unified slate of Republican candidates for county and legislative races.

Pine tallied 14,008 votes (51.49%) to Ross’ 13,124 votes (48.24%).

With more ballots to be tabulated over the next few days, the race remains undecided. The next tally is expected on Friday.

Pine said a grass-roots approach to the campaign and a strong team that helped him to a lead.

“If everything goes the way we want it to go, this is just the beginning and then the real work begins,” he said. “We had a game plan. We stuck to the game plan. we were able to exceed a lot of the things we wanted to do. We had a lot of people out there knocking on doors for us to help get the word out.

“It was a team effort and there was a lot of people helping out with this campaign. … We’ve got a great team and that’s what it takes to win.”

Ross said there are still many votes to count and the race it not over yet.

“The initial ballot count is in and there is a definite trend favoring my opponent, however, there are still many ballots left to count,” Ross wrote in a statement to The Daily World. “I will wait until the next count has been completed to make any further comments. I am comfortable with the will of the voters and regardless of the results, I give thanks to everyone who voted and took the time to make their vote count.”

Ross came into the General Election as a bit of an underdog after placing second behind Pine in August’s primary, garnering 32% of the vote to Pine’s 43%.

Ross, who worked in banking and the financial services arena for over 40 years, supported the needle exchange program, stating in July that he believes the program “helps prevent the spread of infectious diseases.” Pine opposes the program.

Similar to Pine, Ross ran on a pro-business platform, noting in July the importance of the county’s CARES Act small business grants in assisting local businesses.

“The most important part is getting businesses restarted, and the business grant program is a small drop in the bucket,” he said.

Ross was seeking his second term after defeating Frank Gordon in 2016.

Pine, whose father Bill Pine was a county commissioner, took a strong stance similar to other local Republican candidates against the needle exchange program, stating it enables addicts rather than contributes to the solution of drug addiction.

““I think if the county were to take a look at it, instead of enabling people to say it’s a drug and alcohol and mental health issue, if we really care about people, let’s get them off drugs,” he told The Daily World back in July.

The current women’s wrestling coach at Grays Harbor College and small business owner, Pine also ran on a platform of taking a “compassionate and responsible approach” to the county’s homeless crisis and the need for fiscal responsibility in county government.

“The county has increased your property taxes every year for more than a decade but has only kept a bare minimum, 3-month operating budget for emergencies,” he said in June. “The county does not have a rainy-day fund capable of handling this current economic crisis. My business experience will provide a much needed outside perspective.”

Warne, a real estate agent from Elma, garnered 15,014 votes, good for 53.9% to Nichols’ 12,830 votes (46.06%). More ballots will be counted in coming days, but Nichols is unlikely to make up the difference.

As to what she felt resonated with voters, Warne said her tough stance on the hot-button topic of the needle exchange program was key.

“The biggest thing people agreed with us on was to stop handing out multiple needles to addicts,” she said. “It’s not one-for-one like it is supposed to be and that fired a lot of people up.”

Warne turned many heads when she beat out four others to win August’s primary with over 55% of the vote as a first-time candidate. An Elma-based real-estate agent for over 30 years, Warne ran on a campaign on fixing what she stated is a broken needle exchange program, which caused her to get into politics in the first place.

She also ran on a pro-small business platform that stressed getting people back to work and opening local businesses to where they can be fully profitable.

“Small and local businesses are hurting. People need to be able to live their life and get back to work,” she said at a local GOP rally in September. “People that are health-compromised need to protect themselves, but healthy people need to live and move on.”

For Nichols, it was her second bid at filling the county seat, having lost to West Cormier in 2016. The current Grays Harbor Democratic Central Committee Chair who is active in the community, sitting on multiple local boards, ran on a platform of bridging the gaps of the current political divide.

“I want to bring some sort of connection with our neighbors and our politicians and more transparent elected officials that have the time to say, ‘Hey, what’s going on, what are your concerns?’” she told The Daily World back in July. “It doesn’t matter what party you’re part of, every concern in Grays Harbor County needs to be addressed.”

While Warne took a stern position on issues such as the controversial needle exchange program and homeless issues, Nichols took a different approach. She stated in July that the issue of homelessness is “multi-faceted” and that while she didn’t necessarily like the needle exchange program, that “it comes down to is it is a public health issue and if we aren’t following state (law) the county is looking at a lawsuit.”