Early Returns – Early Reactions to Election 2020

Well, well, well. Here we are. Election 2020.  Why shouldn't it be the the same kind of *&%$ show that the rest of 2020 has been!  As of this writing we don't know who won the Whitehouse and both candidates have a couple of scenarios that lead to victory.

So...we'll let that simmer for a while and turn our attention to the Yakima County Ballot.

Good old conservative Eastern Washington...a Trump landslide. right? Nope. Two and a half percentage points - a measly 1,295 votes between Biden and Trump?  What does THAT mean?

Along that same line, smaller government, keep your guns, no new taxes, law and order, live your life without interference -- Loren Culp, received  54% of the vote to Jay Inslee's 45.74 %.  The vote total difference in this county was just 3,498 votes.  That's not much of a gap for all the anti-Inslee rhetoric and Corona closure pushback we have heard here for months.  What happened?  Granted these are early and limited returns but at this point, these numbers are very surprising.

In a win for name recognition, Denny Heck carried the county's Lt. Governor's race. If you saw his arrogant, condescending and snarky performance during the Impeachment Cartoon you...well you couldn't have or else how did he win??  Heck, Heck has a 400-thousand vote total statewide.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson has taken a lot of fire from KIT listeners for the past four years on a variety of issues from guns to car tabs to lawsuits against the president and more, so I while I expected a statewide win, I imagined a county defeat by a total much greater than 2,495 votes.  That's a thousand votes closer than the County Inslee/Culp race!! What are you thinking Yakima?

All incumbent Republicans in the 13th, 14th and 15th legislative districts won handily with the only slight surprise being that the reliable 60/40 conservative/liberal ratio was eroding a bit BUT AGAIN, all these races and result are the earliest returns with a lot more votes to be counted

In Yakima County's Commissioner race, the incumbent appointee, Vicki Baker, lost to her challenger and primary winner Amanda McKinney  54.38% to 43.74 %,  with a comfortable 3,990 vote lead.

Tough to call that a surprise since both women are smart, talented and capable. Despite some success in getting the County out from under the Governor's phase one lockdown, Baker was defeated in the district primary and that preference held up in the county-wide general election. With the recent passing of Commissioner Norm Childress requiring a replacement appointment, Yakima County will move forward into 2021 with a one term incumbent and two new first-time commissioners.

In conclusion, there is always a possibility, though not likelihood, that the final results could change.  For now, these are the total and my reactions.  It makes me wonder about the possibility that KIT is in a thought bubble of our own? I f we are, it's a bubble full of great Americans and we are happy to be in there with them, but we all need to keep our eyes and ears open to our own biases and the changes that may be happening right under our nose.