King County Turnout Helps Reykdal Retain SPI Position

Although outside of what some call the political 'Bermuda Triangle' (King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties) voter turnout was close to or over 70 percent-even 80, SPI Incumbent Kris Reykdal kept his seat in the November 3 election.

Reykdal defeated aggressive challenger Maia Espinoza 56-42 percent, a margin of about 400K votes. The SPI race was considered the second most 'bitter' besides Inslee vs. Culp, due to the controversial K-5 sex ed program Reykdal wanted to push through.

In the August primary, Espinoza got 29 percent, Ron Higgins 20 and Reykdal 40, making him very vulnerable.  It appears a lot of 'Higgins' and other support swung for Espinoza, but King and the other west side counties stepped up for him.

Surprisingly in Benton County Espinoza only beat Reykdal 50-48 percent, considering a lot of momentum against his sex ed platform started here in our area.  In Franklin County, the margin was 58-41 in favor of Espinoza.

Reykdal got 608K of his 1.6 Million (and change) votes from King County alone.