Clark County voters largely in line with state, presidential election winners

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Local voters in Clark County cast ballots leading to its 2020 election winners in key federal and state races aligning with projected victories, though margins differed compared to districtwide and statewide tallies, while Cowlitz County had greater percentages of voters going for Republican candidates in the presidential, gubernatorial and U.S. House races.

As of the latest election data available Monday morning, Clark County had voted to see former Vice President Joe Biden take up the presidential role in January, picking the nominee at about 51 percent to President Donald Trump’s roughly 45.9 percent. Cowlitz County had a strong showing for Trump at about 57.1 percent to Biden’s roughly 39.7-percent share of the vote in that county.

As of the latest election data available before press deadline, Biden led the state overall with about 58.4 percent of the vote to Trump’s roughly 38.4 percent. As national outlets have begun calling the presidential race for Biden, some Trump supporters have been vocal about what they perceive as issues with the election, including a “Stop the Steal” rally at Esther Short Park in Vancouver Nov. 6.

For the Washington governor’s race, Clark County also voted for the statewide leader while Cowlitz County swung Republican. Clark County voted for incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee for roughly 50.9 percent of the vote to Republican challenger Loren Culp who had about 48.9 percent of the county’s vote, while in Cowlitz County Culp led with roughly 62.5 percent to Inslee’s about 37.1 percent.

Inslee leads statewide with about 57 percent of the vote to Culp’s roughly 42.7 percent. Following the first results released Nov. 3, Inslee had already made a statement about his “historic” election to a third term in office. As of the weekend Culp had still not conceded the race, claiming “irregularities” in ballot processing though offering no examples.



Following the election deadline, Culp, the police chief and sole employee of the Republic, Washington police department, said he learned that the city had approved a contract with the Ferry County Sheriff’s Office for police services, effectively making Culp lose his job. The candidate had been on leave for the past few months from the department as he finished up his campaign. The sheriff’s office has offered him employment.

Where both counties agreed, though in different amounts of support, was on giving U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler a sixth term. Clark County voted for Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, at about 52.3 percent of the vote to challenger Democrat Carolyn Long’s roughly 47.5 percent. Cowlitz County voters gave Herrera Beutler about 62.6 percent of the vote, with Long gaining roughly 37.1 percent in that county.

Overall, Herrer Beutler led the Third Congressional District election with about 56.3 percent of the districtwide vote as of Monday morning, with Long trailing at about 43.5 percent of the vote. See the full coverage of the race here.