While Democrats Derek Kilmer (U.S. Rep., 6th District) and Steve Tharinger (State Rep., 24th District) managed easy victories in their races, the Nov. 4 General Election brought plenty of change to Clallam County.

Republican Bill Peach of Forks edged Democrat Sissi Bruch of Port Angeles in their bids to replace outgoing commissioner Mike Doherty while challenger Mary Ellen Winborn ran away with the county’s Director of Community Development position, trouncing incumbent Sheila Roark Miller.

Port Angeles’ Mark Nichols topped Sequim resident Will Payne for the county prosecutor job, Shoona Riggs beat out Kim Yacklin for the Clallam County Auditor job and voters picked incumbent Rick Porter over challenger Cathy Marshall for Clallam County District Court 1 Judge.

The election is officially certified on Nov. 25.

Clallam County Commissioner

In the tightest race in Clallam County, Peach edged Bruch with 13,927 votes to Bruch’s 13,012 votes, a 51.7-48.3 margin.

“People heard the message I was sharing with the key things I believe in including jobs, whether it is attracting new businesses or keeping existing ones, no new increases in property taxes and protection of private property rights,” he said.

Looking ahead, Peach said some of the issues he sees affecting Sequim that he’d like to work on include land use regulations through the review of the county’s comprehensive plan, the Dungeness Water Rule’s impact and the state of the economy.

“Taxes, the whole issue of change in jobs and the economy not doing well really resonated with people,” he said. Peach said finding and maintaining family wage jobs is essential especially following recent business closures in Forks.

“These are jobs that people can do things like a buy a house, save up for retirement and send kids to college,” he said. “It’ll be awhile before we see the impact (from the closures) but I’m going to look at every (job) opportunity objectively.”

Bruch said after the election that she’s grateful for the help she received through a big learning curve.

“I’ve learned a lot and have met many amazing people through this experience,” she said.

Bruch said she will continue her work as the senior planner for the Lower Elwha Tribe and serve on the Port Angeles City Council.

“I look forward to being able to focus on just those two things again because we’ve really been at this since May,” she said.

Director of Community Development

Roark Miller, incumbent for the only elected Director of Community Development position in the nation, was unable to reclaim the position after Winborn gained 61.2 percent of the votes for the non-partisan office, to Roark Miller’s 38.8 percent (14,824 votes to 9,390).

“I am just blown away by it,” Winborn said on election night. “It’s hard to believe. I have had so many people that have been such great supporters and have stood by me through this. Honestly, I think a lot of it was the whole marijuana issue in rural residential neighborhoods. I think I got a lot of support because of my stance on that.”

Roark Miller did not return multiple phone calls for comment.

“I want that department (DCD) to be the department that everyone in the county wants to work for and the department people look forward to working with,” Winborn said.

Prosecuting Attorney

Nichols edged out Payne, the incumbent, for the county’s lead prosecuting attorney role. Nichols has 12,321 votes (52.3 percent) to Payne’s 11,253 (47.7 percent). Both are Republicans.

“I’ve had a tremendous support team in the county,” Nichols said.

Payne was appointed to the position in early 2014 after county prosecutor Deb Kelly stepped down.

“I’m a little disappointed,” Payne said. “I knew it was a tough race, a tough campaign.”

District Court 1 Judge

Porter jumped out to a sizable lead on election night for the non-partisan office and the numbers stayed strong through following counts as he leads Marshall with 13,650 votes (58.2 percent) to Marshall’s 9,789 votes (41.7).

“Well, first I thank my God for giving me the perseverance to make it through another election,” Porter said.

“I am very happy and just delighted to serve the citizens of Clallam County for another four years,” he said. “During the campaign we were able to go to more than 5,800 doors and I got a real sense for what the concerns were.”

Porter noted that the pay-or-appear issue became a focus of the 2014 campaign.

“I found an overwhelming support for the program so I am not really surprised with this outcome,” Porter said.

“My future plans are to stay as manager at the Attorney General Regional Services in Port Angeles,” Marshall said. “I do wonderful work and I will continue to do my work and love it. I learned a lot and we ran a good campaign and worked hard to our vision to the voters. I and thankful to all of those who voted for me.”

Clallam County Auditor

In the race to fill the position opened by outgoing Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand, Riggs earned 13,506 votes to challenger Yacklin’s 9,293 votes (59.2 percent to 40.8 percent).

State Rep. Position 2

In the race for Legislative District 24’s State Rep. Position 2, Tharinger (D-Dungeness) racked up 56.5 percent of the general election ballots outpacing Republican Thomas W. Greisamer (43.5 percent) of Moclips.

In Clallam County, Tharinger holds a slimmer, 51.35-48.65 percent advantage over Greisamer (14,222 to 13,472 votes). In Grays Harbor he leads 5,197 votes to 4,370 votes. In Jefferson he leads 10,220 votes to 4,991 votes.

Tharinger said the results so far are in line with the primary and his race two years ago.

“In my line of work, you make friends and sometimes you don’t, but in general the work I’m doing, the positives outweigh the negatives,” he said.

Through his campaign, Tharinger said growing the economy with more jobs and funding education properly were the most discussed topics.

“In the 24th District, we have some of the highest unemployment in the state,” he said. “Continuing with challenges of mills closing and the natural resource industries struggling. How do we transition and strengthen?”

When he goes back to the legislative session in 2015, Tharinger said he anticipates a lot of talk about budgets and struggles for cities and counties. Greisamer said he’s thankful for the support he received through the district.

“For a guy who is unknown with no political experience, I’m grateful to the thousands of people who voted for me,” Greisamer said. “I’m a little disappointed it didn’t come out a little better but I feel I did bring up a lot of issues that will come up again in two years.”

Greisamer said he felt he needed to be a politician to win. He said he feels the biggest issue in the district was the lack of job opportunities.

“It’s not apparent at a superficial glance but in 30 years we have had more businesses go out than start,” Greisamer said. “That’s a dire sign.”

Following this campaign, Greisamer said he plans to remain active with the Republican Party but does not plan to run again.

U.S. Representative, 6th District

U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer appears to have successfully defended his 6th District Congressional seat, outpacing Republican Marty McClendon of Gig Harbor, 139,790 votes (63 percent) to McClendon’s 82,134 (37 percent).

Kilmer, a Port Angeles native, tallied 57 percent of the votes among Clallam voters, with McClendon earning 43 percent.

“I’m grateful that folks have chosen to hire me again,” Kilmer said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. There are still too many people out of work and too many families who are feeling squeezed.

“Rather than focusing on partisan games, I’ll keep going to work every day focused on the folks I represent. And I’ll keep working hard to get this economy and this Congress back on track.”

Charter Review, District 1

The leading five vote-getters for Charter Review, District 1, include Sue W. Forde (13.0 percent), Ken Hays (10.6), Ronald Bell (9.9), Nola E. Judd (9.1) and Ted Miller (8.73).

Others running for one of five Charter Review positions in the first district are: Jerry Sinn (8.67), Timothy Bruce (6.9), Bryon C. Gunnerson (6.5), Jon Alan Kirshbaum (6.1), Bill Lowman (5.9), Anita L. Ready (5.8), Brandon Janisse (5.6) and Henning Holmgaard (3.3).

Charter Review, District 2

The leading five vote-getters for Charter Review, District 2, include Glenn Wiggins (10.7 percent), Norma E. Turner (9.8), Maggie Roth (8.7), Steven Burke (7.1) and Selinda Barkhuis (6.8).

Others running for one of five Charter Review positions in the district are: Diane Haffner (6.4), Patti Morris (6.2), Kaj Ahlburg (5.9), Robert Robertsen (5.8), Stephanie Noblin (5.1), Dennis R. McBride (5.0), Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin (4.9), Scott A. Clausen (4.8), Susan Shotthafer (4.2), Sean Ryan (3.9), Judi Hangartner (2.7) and Marcia Farrell (1.9).

Initiative Measure No. 1351

Statewide, voters are approving an initiative that would mandate a teacher-to-student ratio of 17:1 in grades kindergarten through third grade, to the tune of 989,754 votes to 962,794 (50.7 percent to 49.3).

In Clallam County, voters rejected the measure (52.8 percent no votes to 47.2 yes votes).

Initiative Measure No. 591

Washington state voters are rejecting I-591, 55.1 percent to 44.9 percent, a measure that would prevent the government from confiscating firearms without due process and implementing background checks unless a federal standard is established.

In Clallam County, voters are approving the measure, (52.4 percent to 47.6).

Initiative Measure No. 594

Voters in Washington state are overwhelmingly approving I-594 with 59.1 percent yes votes. The measure would require background checks to be run on every person purchasing a gun in the state of Washington, even those who are doing so via private sales.

Clallam County voters, are also in favor of the measure by a 52-48 margin.

Clallam County 2014 General Election, by     the numbers

Registered voters: 46,915

Ballots counted: 28,993

Return rate: 61.8 percent

Ballots left to count (as of Nov. 11): 75

Certification date: Nov. 25