State Legislature–GOP Sweeps Area 8th, 9th, 16th Districts
To no one's real surprise our area state legislators held their offices or gained spots in the legislature for the GOP in the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla areas.
In the 8th District State House, which is Kennewick and much of Benton County, incumbents Brad Klippert and Matt Boehnke won by wide margins. Klippert defeated D Shir Revev 64 to 35 percent, while Boehnke won over Alliance Party Candidate Larry Stanley 78 to 20 percent.
In the hotly contested 16th District Senate Race, Walla Walla area native Perry Dozier beat highly funded Democrat Danielle Garbe-Reser 57-42 percent. Outside PACs poured tons of money into this race, it was said Gov. Inslee wanted this district to 'shore up' his razor thin margin in the State Senate. But former County Commissioner Dozier won by a larger margin than expected. The 16th is a large district, Walla Walla the epicenter.
In the 16th House Race, Mark Klicker and Skyler Rude both won GOP seats by a 60 percent plus margin.
And in one of the state's largest, but most rural districts, the 9th, it wasn't even close. The 9th is northern Franklin County and Western Whitman County. GOP Senator Mark Schoessler (Ritzville) won 66-33 over D Jenn Goulet, Rep. Mary Dye won 75-23 percent over Libertarian Brett Borden, and Rep. Joe Schmick won 95 to 4 over a write in.