Former Clallam County Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis has filed to run against the prosecuting attorney who sued her in 2016.
Meanwhile, primary and general election contests emerged last week in races for a number of Clallam County positions, along with U.S. Representative for the 6th Congressional District.
May 18 was the last day of filing week for the Nov. 6 general election. The primary election is set for Aug. 7.
Barkhuis, 56, filed with no party preference to challenge incumbent Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols.
Nichols, 46, filed as a Republican to run for a second four-year term.
Barkhuis said she made the decision to challenge Nichols on May 17.
“I firmly believe that I can do a much better job as the county prosecutor than the incumbent, and I believe that because of my 14 years working in the courthouse, and very closely at times, with this prosecuting attorney,” Barkhuis said last week. “That is why I’m running. I can do a better job than he can.”
Barkhuis, a licensed attorney who was elected as county treasurer in 2010, resigned as treasurer last December with one year left on her second term. She cited health issues resulting from work-related stress.
Much of that stress was caused by Nichols, Barkhuis said last week, adding that she was not concerned about health becoming an issue if elected top prosecutor.
“It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve the citizens of Clallam County during my first term in office, and I’m looking forward to the campaign ahead,” Nichols said last week.
“I will be focusing on the issues that are of interest to the citizens, and I look forward to discussing the achievements of my first term and the goals that I’ve identified on my second term, which focus in part on prosecuting those who prey on the most vulnerable in our communities, speaking most notably to children as victims.”
Nichols said he looked forward to sharing data gleaned from his role as ex officio county coroner to advance a conversation on public health issues like suicide and drug overdoses.
Nichols worked as Clallam County’s chief deputy prosecuting attorney from 2006-2014.
Barkhuis worked as a family law and criminal defense attorney in Port Angeles for eight years before she was hired as Clallam County salmon habitat recovery coordinator in November 2003.
She became a senior planner in the county’s Community Development department. She drafted a code compliance title and junk vehicle ordinance before defeating former Clallam County Treasurer Judy Scott in 2010.
Challengers and incumbents
Incumbent Sheriff Bill Benedict is being challenged by former Sheriff’s Detective Jim McLaughlin.
McLaughlin, 61, a former detective under Benedict who was in the department for 13 years before retiring in 2016, is running “to provide something proactive, something more than what we’ve got,” he said Thursday.
“I believe the Sheriff’s Office has been complacent,” said McLaughlin, a real estate broker with Town & Country real estate in Port Angeles.
“I believe the Sheriff’s Office can do more in the community than we do now, we can do crime control better, we can appear in the community better.”
McLaughlin said he believes Benedict is a good sheriff.
“I just believe I can do the job better,” he said.
Benedict, 67, who was a Clallam County sheriff’s sergeant when he defeated incumbent Sheriff Joe Martin in 2006, ran unopposed in 2010 and 2014 and would retire at the end of his next term in 2022 if he wins re-election, he said.
Benedict touted the county jail and his department’s operations as being the only accredited jail and sheriff’s department operations in the state.
“I don’t think we’re complacent at all,” he said. “In terms of complacency, I’m on the neighborhood watch circuit at least twice or three times a month, so I wouldn’t accept that.
“We’re probably the most active sheriff’s office when it comes to neighborhood watches probably in the state.”
Another primary emerged late last week in the race for U.S. Congress.
Tyler Myles Vega of Tacoma filed to run against incumbent U.S. Rep Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, and challenger Douglas Dightman, R-Shelton.
Vega, who filed with the Progressive Party, also challenged Kilmer in 2016.
Kilmer, a Port Angeles native, is serving his third term and filed Monday for re-election.
Dightman, a 48-year-old Tacoma native, said last week he has no political experience and knows very little about Kilmer.
“I’m not really running about him, I’m running to give people a choice,” Dightman said.
The top-two vote-getters in the Aug. 7 primary will square off in the Nov. 6 general election.
Elsewhere, a three-person primary took shape on May 18 in the race for Clallam County commissioner for District 3.
Dale Wilson, Port O Call publisher, filed with no party preference to run against incumbent Clallam County Commissioner Bill Peach, R-Forks, and former Commissioner Mike Doherty, D-Port Angeles.
Here are the other contested Clallam County races:
• Incumbent Community Development Director Mary Ellen Winborn is being challenged by private-sector land use planner Julie Gardiner.
• Port Angeles attorneys Dave Neupert, Pam Lindquist and Suzanne Hayden filed for the District Court 1 seat being vacated by retiring Judge Rick Porter.
• Beaver attorney John Black and Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer of Forks have filed for the District Court 2 seat being vacated by retiring Judge John Doherty.
• Incumbent Clallam County Public Utility District Commissioner Ted Simpson is being challenged by Jim Waddell of Port Angeles.
Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs, Assessor Pam Rushton and Treasurer Teresa Marchi each filed with no challenger.
At the state level, incumbent state Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim, is being challenged by Sequim’s Jim McEntire, a former Clallam County and Port of Port Angeles Commissioner.
Incumbent state Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, is being challenged by Port Hadlock Republican Jodi Wilke.
