Politics & Government

UPDATE: Inslee Still Leads But McKenna Not Ready to Concede Governor's Race

Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna still trails by 48,766 votes after the latest count. He remains confident the result will flip with additional remaining ballots.

 

Still trailing after Wednesday's vote count, Attorney General Rob McKenna told supporters that he believes the remaining, uncounted votes will swing the governor's race in his favor.

"We believe my advantage among later voters is going to carry me in this election," McKenna told supporters in a video released Wednesday.

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Democrat and former Rep. Jay Inslee leads 51.16 percent to McKenna's 48.84 percent with slightly more than 2.1 million ballots counted. State elections officials will release updated totals on Thursday. 

McKenna's campaign manager, Randy Pepple, explained that his team's internal data and trend analysis showed that McKenna, a former King County councilmember, was strongly favored by voters who had decided but had not yet cast ballots last week.

Find out what's happening in Puyallupwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“The people that were deciding late were trending heavily in our favor,” Pepple said. 

McKenna did close the vote gap in King County in second-day totals, the Seattle Times reported, but Inslee offset that gain with ballots from other counties. 

Even without the final count, Inslee appears nearly ready to declare victory. On Wednesday, he announced the formation of a transition team for the move into the governor's office. He said he does not see late votes changing anything.

"I am very confident that we will be in a position to lead the state of Washington for the next four years," he said in a news conference.

Check back with Patch Thursday for additional updates.  



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