Kent Republican Bill Boyce will advance to the Nov. 8 general election for the 47th Legislative District Senate seat, but his Democratic opponent remains to be determined with Claudia Kauffman and Satwinder Kaur locked in a tight race.
Boyce received 44.56% (7,380 votes) while Kauffman had 27.98% (4,633 votes) and Kaur 27.29% (4,519 votes), according to primary results released Aug. 2 by King County Elections. The two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election.
Elections officials will release updated results weekdays through Aug. 16 when the results are finalized. The winner in November will replace Sen. Mona Das, D-Kent, who decided not to seek a second four-year term.
The 47th District includes parts of Kent, Auburn and Covington.
Boyce, president of the Kent City Council, has raised $243,723 and spent $195,739, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission website on July 29. His largest contributions are $43,853 and $42,000, each from the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. His largest expenditure is $95,059 on broadcast/cable TV advertising, most of it to the Minnick Group, a Mason, Washington-based company that describes itself as a nonpartisan campaign consulting company.
Kaur, also a Kent City Council member, has raised $118,374 and spent $91,339. Her largest contribution is $20,000 from the Washington Senate Democratic Campaign. Her largest expenditure is $20,942 on printing literature and fliers. She spent $12,750 on digital advertising with SeaTac-based WinPower Strategies, a Washington state progressive Democratic consulting firm, according to its website.
Kauffman, who held the Senate seat from 2007 to 2010, has raised $47,318 and spent $24,712. Her largest contribution is $30,173 from individuals, including 19 of $1,000 each. Her largest expenditure is $8,425 on postage costs and mail permits. Much of that money went to Seattle-based Upper Left Strategies, a political consulting firm. Kauffman raised $385,729 when she ran for the same seat in 2010.
Republicans have put lots of cash behind Boyce in an effort to regain the seat. Das defeated Joe Fain, R-Auburn, in 2018 with 50.79% of the vote. Fain defeated Kauffman in 2010 and held the position for eight years.
The Seattle Times endorsed Boyce. Boyce served on the Kent School Board, prior to his election to the council.
Boyce and 47th District House candidate Carmen Goers held an election night party at JP Taproom and Grill on the East Hill in Kent.
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Satwinder Kaur. COURTESY PHOTO, Satwinder Kaur
Claudia Kauffman. COURTESY PHOTO, Claudia Kauffman
