Despite four years of disruptions and some unwelcome change, including a global pandemic, a spike in crime and a rising drug epidemic, Whatcom County voters in the Tuesday, Aug. 1 primary were not inclined to shake up their elected leadership.
Incumbents fared well in election returns posted earlier this week.
Bellingham’s next mayor will be either incumbent Seth Fleetwood or Kim Lund. The top job in Whatcom County government will go to either Satpal Sidhu, the sitting county executive, or Republican-endorsed challenger Dan Purdy.
Hannah Stone, the Bellingham City Council member representing Ward 1, will advance to the November election after getting 57.5% of the primary vote — more than 20 percentage points ahead of her opponent, Eammon Collins.
In other races for political office, longtime county council member Kathy Kershner of Lynden should get stiff competition from Mark Stremler, a challenger who positions himself to Kershner’s political right. Stremler garnered more votes than the incumbent in this week’s vote counts.
Russ Whidbee, who lost a close race two years ago against Kristina Michele Martens in a Bellingham City Council race, will have another chance to join the council. Whidbee likely will face 24-year-old Jace Cotton to take Martens’ place on the council.
Martens opted to give up her council position to take a run at the mayor’s seat. Martens currently is in fourth place in the five-person primary.
In a small but consequential ballot measure for a rural fire district in the county, voters are approving a levy increase that will keep Fire District 4’s main station operating around the clock.
Looking ahead, the Nov. 7 election also will feature big races that primary voters didn’t need to consider.
The next Whatcom County sheriff will be decided in November: either current Sheriff Bill Elfo’s undersheriff, Doug Chadwick, or Blaine Police Chief Donnell Tanskley. Voters also will consider a 0.2% sales tax increase to fund a new jail and associated social services. Similar jail measures have failed twice in the past eight years.
Voter turnout for this year’s primary is 35.3% so far, according to the county Auditor’s Office, with hundreds of ballots remaining to be counted. This year’s August election turnout should be similar to the previous odd-numbered election years. The final turnout in 2019 was 39.5%, and 34.1% in 2021.
Read more coverage:
New faces emerge in local school board races
Incumbent Kershner in close county council race with challenger
Fire District 4 levy passing in early count
Stone, Collins lead in Ward 1 city council race
Progressive, conservative advance in county council at-large race
Cotton, Whidbee frontrunners in Bellingham council at-large race
Fleetwood, Lund to face off for Bellingham mayor
Lynden Republican likely to face county exec incumbent in general
A previous photo caption in this story misidentified election officials as volunteers. The caption was updated to reflect this change Aug. 2 at 10:39 a.m. Cascadia Daily News regrets the error.
This story was updated to include additional information at 1:15 p.m. Aug. 3, 2023.
