Election results in state and Clark County races can be found at www.columbian.com/election.
Republican legislative candidate Lynda Wilson held a slight edge over Democratic incumbent Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, on Tuesday night.
“I’ve been behind on election night before. There is still tomorrow,” Stonier said after the first general election returns showed her trailing 48.8 percent to Wilson’s 51 percent.
In 2012, Stonier won her first term to the state House by 140 votes.
Although Republicans overall had a good election night Tuesday, Stonier noted that the 17th District has “bucked trends in the past.
“You can’t make predictions in the 17th,” she said.
Wilson did not return a call seeking comment.
In the other legislative districts, Tuesday night was a good one for incumbents, all of whom defeated their challengers.
Harris defeats McCluskey
Republican Paul Harris successfully defended his seat against Democratic challenger and political newcomer Richard McCluskey.
Harris is minority whip in the House, a position he believes will help Southwest Washington residents.
Harris captured 60 percent of the early returns to McCluskey’s 39 percent.
Harris said he’s looking forward to tackling some tough issues this session, including how to adequately fund the state’s public schools.
“I hope we don’t wait until the bitter end. We need to do the hard stuff first,” Harris said Tuesday.
Vick, Pike, Wylie, Moeller win
Republican Brandon Vick of Felida also won a second term Tuesday night. Vick, who has touted his seats on six different legislative committees, including government accountability and appropriations, opposed the Columbia River Crossing and is against raising taxes in order to satisfy a state Supreme Court ruling to adequately fund the state’s public schools.
Early returns Tuesday night showed Vick with 61 percent of the vote; his Democratic challenger Mike Briggs had 38 percent.
“We worked our tails off this election, we knocked on 15,000 doors and it looks like it paid off,” Vick said Tuesday.
In the race for the 18th District, Position 2, House seat, voters chose Republican incumbent Liz Pike of Camas over Democrat Maureen Winningham.
Pike was also an elected freeholder who opposed the Clark County charter. She also opposed the Columbia River Crossing but later joined forces with state Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, to create a bistate bridge coalition.
Pike did not return a call seeking comment.
State Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, will add to her long political résumé by serving another term. Voters elected her over Republican challenger Anson Service.
“I’m gratified, it’s always good to win,” said Wylie, who had 57 percent of the votes Tuesday.
Service had 42 percent of the vote.
Incumbent state Rep. Jim Moeller, a liberal Democrat who holds the second-most powerful position in the House, also will keep his seat.
Moeller said “it feels good to win,” but there are “a lot of challenges ahead.”
