Boldt to run for county seat outside of GOP

Marc Boldt, a former Republican legislator and county commissioner who was sanctioned by the county party in 2012, is giving up his GOP affiliation to make his latest race.

Boldt, who previously announced he would run for the newly created post of chair of the Clark County council as a “conservative Republican,” officially filed with the Clark County elections office Tuesday as an independent.

“This county needs a chair who can represent all of Clark County, not just the people in their party,” Boldt said in a press release.

Over the last few election cycles, Boldt continued, “About half of Clark County voters don’t identify as either party. And it’s not hard to see why! When I’m out in the community every day, I hear it: voters are sick of partisan bickering. It’s hard to get motivated to care about what happens in your government when all you see is hard-line positioning and fighting.”

Republican County Councilors David Madore and Tom Mielke have already filed for the same position.

Boldt, who lost his seat to Madore in 2012, was sanctioned by the party that year for not sufficiently adhering to the party’s conservative policies.

The second day of filing week featured no other surprises, though potential candidates had to wait to file online until a statewide outage of the secretary of state’s systems was fixed.

Latest filings

Here are the candidates who filed Tuesday:

o Clark County Council, chair (at-large): Marc Boldt (no party preference).

o Clark Superior Court judge, Position 3: Derek J. Vanderwood.

o City of La Center mayor: Al Luiz.

o City of Vancouver Council, Position No. 5: Ty Stober. Position No. 6: Bill Turlay.

o Cemetery District No. 6 commissioner, Position No. 3: James W. Landon.

o Battle Ground Public Schools school director, District No. 4: Dick Rylander.

o Camas Public Schools school director, District No. 5: Mary Tipton.

o La Center School District school director, District No. 4: Wendy Chord.

o Mount Pleasant School District director No. 2: Adele Olson.

o Vancouver Public Schools school director, Position No. 5: Nada Wheelock, Rosemary Fryer.

o Port of Vancouver commissioner, District No. 2: Lisa Ross.

Potential candidates in Clark County can file at clark.wa.gov/elections through 4 p.m. Friday or in person at the elections office, 1408 Franklin St. in Vancouver, until 5 p.m. Friday.

There are also seats available on the Woodland City Council, the Woodland Swimming Pool and Recreation District, and the Woodland School District board. Candidates for those offices can file with the Cowlitz County Auditor’s Office in person at 207 N. Fourth Ave. in Kelso or at vote.wa.gov/Cowlitz.

This year’s primary will be Aug. 4. The top two candidates from that primary, regardless of party, will move on to the Nov. 3 general election.