Bailey Stober declared victory over Barbara Phillips in their Kent City Council primary race for second place behind Ken Sharp and a spot in the Nov. 5 general election.
The tally released Tuesday by King County Elections shows Sharp with 4,715 votes (41.2 percent); Stober with 3,386 votes (29.59 percent); and Phillips with 3,282 votes (28.68 percent). That gives Stober a lead of 104 votes. The race for the second remained too close to call after the first release of results on Aug. 6.
“On election night we were three votes behind Barbara for second place,” Stober said in a media release last week to declare his win over Phillips. “I knew we would gain momentum in the later days because we had successfully executed a plan to reach late voters in Kent. As you can see every day since the election our lead has spread over Barbara and we are extremely confident the trend will continue.”
The two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election to replace Councilwoman Elizabeth Albertson, who decided not to seek reelection.
Phillips did not return phone calls or emails from the Kent Reporter for comment about the latest results. Phillips said after the initial vote count that she had confidence she would hold on to second place.
In the only other primary race in Kent, Bruce Elliott won the three-way race for the Kent School Board. Elliott advances to the general election against Maya Vengadasalam, who took second. Carmen Goers finished third. Elliott had 7,673 votes (43.72 percent), Vengadasalm 5,693 (32.44 percent) and Goers 4,080 votes (23.25 percent), according to the Tuesday results released by King County Elections.
Stober expects to mount a strong challenge against Sharp in the general election.
“What is interesting is when you take a look at Ken Sharp’s numbers there is trend that is positive for our campaign,” Stober said. “First it is noteworthy that 58 percent of the voters voted against the idea of having him on council. The second point is in the two days after the election he gained 900-plus votes and our campaign gained 700-plus votes – this clearly indicates it is going to be a highly competitive general election.”
Sharp looked at the numbers differently than Stober.
“Stober’s spin on the primary election results was a nice try,” Sharp said in an email. “Using his approach I guess we can conclude over 70 percent didn’t vote for him.”
Stober credited his campaign focus for taking second.
“We are the only campaign with a plan to create more local jobs, put more police officers on the street and balance our city’s budget,” Stober said. “I want to thank Barbara for offering her time and talent to the residents of Kent. I’d also like to wish Ken best of luck in the general election. The voters of Kent have a tough choice to make with two highly qualified candidates.”
Sharp doesn’t believe voters have too tough of a choice.
“I think the contrast between me and my opponent, if his slight leads holds in the vote counting, will give the voters a clear choice,” said Sharp, who owns Minuteman Press. “My years of being a small business owner in Kent, my active volunteer commitment and my leadership abilities as president of the Kent Chamber of Commerce will be appreciated by the voter in the fall.”
Voters favored Sharp even though Federal Way Police arrested him in June for investigation of first-degree theft in connection with allegedly taking more than $485,000 from the bank account of his 93-year-old mother.
Prosecutors are still reviewing the case to decide whether to file theft charges against Sharp, according to an email from Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
“We are very excited about the response our campaign received in the primary,” Sharp said. “In a three-way race where all the campaigns were active it was an honor to have such clear support. The voters liked my record of being involved in our community and my desire to work with the other council members and the mayor to make our city even a better place to live, work and raise families.”
King County Elections will update results at 4:30 p.m. each weekday and certify the primary election on Aug. 20.
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