After months of delay, state lawmakers are off and running in the quest for re-election campaign cash.

Washington legislators are covered by a freeze that prohibits fundraising for state office during regular and special sessions of the Legislature. It expired Wednesday.

Their opponents face no such restrictions, and some have been raking in campaign contributions for months.

Based on the latest filings with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, which were due Monday, several Clark County races promise to be competitive.

Two legislative seats opened up when Reps. Jaime Herrera, R-Camas, and Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver, jumped into the race for the 3rd Congressional District seat late last year. U.S. Rep. Brian Baird announced in December that he would not seek re-election.

Wallace later dropped out of the congressional contest and also said she would not seek re-election.

In the crowded 18th District race to fill Herrera’s seat, La Center consultant Ann Rivers is leading a field of eight candidates — six Republicans, one Democrat and one independent. As of Thursday, the veteran Republican Party activist had raised $26,945 and spent $15,696.

Her nearest competitor is Republican Shannon Barnett, a Cowlitz County planning commissioner and a member of the Kalama school board. Barnett, who is running on an anti-tax platform, had raised $12,077 and spent $7,292.

Rich Carson, a registered Republican who is running for the open 18th District seat as an independent, had raised less than $500 as of this week. The former Clark County director of community development has pledged not to take any special interest money, to limit individual contributions to $100, and not to “litter the landscape” with campaign signs.

Washougal City Council member Jon Russell dropped out of the 3rd Congressional District race last month and jumped into the race for Herrera’s seat. He reported no contributions as of Monday’s reporting deadline.

For the 18th District’s other seat, Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, has no announced opponent. His latest report shows $21,472 in contributions and $6,216 in expenditures.

In the 17th District race for Position 1, incumbent Tim Probst, D-Vancouver, reported $46,672 in contributions and spending of $1,228.

Republican Brian Peck, a Vancouver gas station owner who is running on a pro-business platform, is Probst’s sole announced opponent. Peck has raised $22,393 and spent $11,760.

In Position 2, the open seat held by Wallace, Monica Stonier, a teacher and Democratic Party activist, has raised $11,210 and spent $4,492. Republican Mark Pelletier, a business leader and community activist, is the only other candidate who has reported raising funds. He has raised $625.

Democrat Martin Hash, a successful animated software developer who is also running for the open 17th District seat, has said he will accept no political contributions because he refuses to be obligated to any special interests.

In the 49th District, Democratic Rep. Jim Jacks has raised $24,220 and spent $4,626. Democratic opponent Jennifer Conkey, who announced her candidacy at the April 10 Clark County Democratic Convention, has raised $9,668 and spent $2,915.

In Position 2, Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, has raised $31,426 and spent $26,443 in his campaign for a fifth two-year term. Republican Craig Riley, a health care consultant, has raised $823 and spent $688 in his campaign to unseat Moeller.

Both Herrera and Wallace have money remaining in their campaign accounts.

Their options, said PDC spokeswoman Lori Anderson, are to contribute that money to a political party or a political caucus (but not to an individual candidate’s campaign); to give it to charity; to donate it to the state; or to hold onto it for a future campaign for state office.

Candidates who have raised money in a campaign for state office may not transfer that money for use in a federal campaign without express permission of their donors, Anderson said.

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