Known as a historically strong Democratic county, Grays Harbor showed a shift toward Republican candidates in the August primary.

The county got statewide and national attention in 2016 when most of the votes cast for president, 49.59%, went to Donald Trump, compared to 42.37% for Hillary Clinton. That same year, Grays Harbor voters preferred Republican Bill Bryant over incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee for governor.

The 2020 primary continued that trend. In a crowded field of candidates for governor, Grays Harbor County voters cast 41.59% for Republican Loren Culp, who actively campaigned in the county, and 37.71% for incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee, who is seeking a third term.

County Commissioner race results were strongly Republican, particularly for Position 1, where Republican Jill Warne gobbled up 55.52% of the primary vote in a five-candidate race. She’ll face Democrat Jamie Nichols, who tallied 27.95% of the vote. In the Position 2 race, Republican Kevin Pine took just over 43% of the vote in a three-person race, and will face incumbent Randy Ross, who lists no party preference and took 32.21% of the primary vote.

In the 19th District State Senator Race, Democrat incumbent Dean Takko appears to be headed toward a tight race to retain his seat. Takko got 44.37% of the three-candidate district-wide vote, while Republican Jeff Wilson took 36.97% to face Takko in the general. County Commissioner Wes Cormier, the third candidate and a Republican, took 18.54% of the primary vote district-wide and quickly moved to endorse Wilson. If Cormier’s votes go to Wilson – never guaranteed but a possibility – Wilson could take that seat.

State Representative Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, seeking a second term, dominated the primary with 55.6% of the vote, and will face Democrat Marianna Everson in November. Everson took just over 23% of the primary vote, narrowly beating fellow Democrat Clint Bryson’s 21.26% to face Walsh.

In the other House race in the 19th District, Republican Joel McEntire outpolled longtime incumbent Democrat Brian Blake districtwide, taking just more than 53 percent. Interestingly, in Grays Harbor County, where Blake lives, he bested McEntire 5,423-5,200 for almost 51 percent of the vote. With just two candidates, both were assured of advancing to the general election.

Legislative Democrats in the 24th District, three incumbents, Kevin Van De Wege in the Senate, and Steve Tharinger and Mike Chapman in the House, showed an erosion of votes in Grays Harbor County. Van De Wege got 56 percent of the votes in a head to head primary four years ago and this time got 45 percent. Tharinger got 52 percent of the Grays Harbor vote in his primary two years ago. This time he got 32 percent, with another Democrat taking 11 percent. The two Republicans in the just finished primary combined for about 56 percent of the Grays Harbor vote.

In the other 24th District House race, Democrat Mike Chapman, got 52 percent of the Grays Harbor primary vote two years ago and 45 percent this time.

It’s difficult to compare one election cycle from another when so many factors — quality of candidates, strategy for spending money in the primary vs. the general, for instance — go into the dynamics of the vote, but it seems to support the notion that Democrats are losing influence in Grays Harbor County.

Democrat response

President Trump’s popularity may have been evident in one 24th District legislative race in which a candidate who listed himself as a Trump Republican on the ballot drew 30 percent of the vote in Grays Harbor County after having stated publicly that women shouldn’t have the right to vote. Daniel Charles Svoboda of Port Ludlow didn’t advance to the general election because he was third districtwide, but in Grays Harbor County, he outpolled the other Republican opponent.

“I want to highly suggest that people read the voters guide, which is available online,” said chairwoman of the Grays Harbor Democratic Party, Jamie Nichols. “When you have someone who got 30% of the vote (in the county) and was quoted as saying he does not believe women have the right to vote, it’s shocking,” said Nichols. “Research your candidates, please, for the future of our county.”

Svoboda’s candidate statement in the 2020 state voters guide read, “I am pro life and do not believe in a woman’s right to vote or kill her child.” Another Republican candidate, Sue Forde, took 28.46% of the district-wide vote in the primary and will face Chapman in the November general election.

Why the apparent shift?

“The people I have spoken to within Grays Harbor County have seen the Democrat party move too far to the left,” said Grays Harbor County Republican Party Chairwoman Lisa Zaborac. “The changes they want do not include defunding the police and the never-ending tax increases. They want the freedom to live their lives and raise their families with limited government interference. Most do not want to sit in their homes for months waiting for permission to live their lives again.”

Walsh said when he first got active in politics the split was about 55%-45% favoring Democrat candidates. Over the last seven or eight years, he sees the script flipped. The numbers from the primary bear that out; if you take the number of votes cast for Republican candidates versus Democrats in August within the county, the split is a little more than 55% in favor of Republican candidates in partisan races.

“I don’t think the county has changed, I think politics has changed around the county,” said Walsh. “The basic issues and values that are important in Grays Harbor haven’t changed, they’re the same, but at the national level and increasingly at the state level, the politics frame around which we deal with issues like jobs, school funding, homelessness, housing, and the needle exchange, the frame in which they work at the state level has changed.”

So, in Walsh’s view, the people of the county haven’t changed, but the candidates who represent their values may not just be Democrats any more.

“They are looking at Olympia and they don’t see their values about working a job, about sending kids to school and paying for that, about getting people off the streets, they don’t see those values reflected in the old party brands they’re accustomed to,” said Walsh.

Voters in Grays Harbor County, in Walsh’s view, seem to be leaning more independent than staunchly supporting one party or another, and will vote for the candidate that focuses more on solutions and the issues rather than based on their party label.

The county’s needle exchange is a divisive issues among residents, and candidates, in Grays Harbor County. In Republican Warne’s campaign for County Commissioner Position 1, she called the exchange her primary reason for entering the race, calling it “a handout enabling addicts and supplying the dealers.” Her November opponent, Nichols, said she wasn’t necessarily a supporter of the program as it exists, but calls it a public health issue and if the county didn’t provide the service it would be in violation of state law.

In the Position 2 County Commissioner race, top primary vote-getter Pine said he felt the needle exchange as it exists perpetuates the issue of addiction. Ross, his November opponent, said all the best science out there shows such a program is a critical piece of the county’s public health protection.

Walsh said the county should reduce the scope of the distribution of needles. “We don’t cut it out completely, we reduce its scale and then focus on sober living housing like the Community House (on Broadway, in Longview), which is a winning combination for getting people off the streets. We can’t help every single person but we can do a better job than we do.”

Aggressive campaigning has helped the Republicans make gains in the county.

“We feel like we are gaining, and I think the numbers bear that out,” said Walsh. “So we keep pressing. When you are gaining, you don’t stop, you stay active.”