Commissioners to name representative

Commissioners from Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Pacific and Grays Harbor counties will meet October 22 in Kelso to appoint a new senator and representative for the 19th Legislative District.

Senator Brian Hatfield resigned his position last summer to go to work for Gov. Jay Inslee.

Following procedure set in state law, Democrat precinct committee members from the counties met October 3 to pick three nominations for final selection by the combined boards of county commissioners from the counties.

First, Representative Dean Takko received the top nomination to replace ​​Sen. Hatfield. Also nominated were Longview City Councilman Steve Moon and Bette Snyder, widow of the late Sen. Sid Snyder.

Next, precinct committee members selected Pacific County resident Tiffany Turner as their top nominee to replace Takko, who is expected to be appointed to the vacant Senate seat.

JD Rossetti, Longview, and Jim Sayce, Long Beach, were also nominated by the Democrats for the House position, as the second and third choice, respectively.

The special nominating caucus of the 19th Legislative District Democrats consisted of 46 elected and appointed Democratic precinct committee officers (PCOs).

The results of the three rounds of balloting were as follows:

1. While Turner received half of the PCOs on the first ballot (23​ of 46​), no candidate received a majority, so a runoff was held between the top-two vote getters.

2. On the first ballot runoff, Turner received 28 votes to Rossetti's 17 votes, giving Turner the first-ranked spot.

3. On the second ballot, Rossetti received the votes of 27 PCOs for the second-ranked spot.

4. On the third ballot, Jim Sayce received the votes of 32 PCOs for the third-ranked spot.

"Tiffany Turner earned the strong support of local PCOs in the 19th, receiving over 62 percent of the vote in the runoff, and we hope county commissioners take heed of the recommendation when making their review in the coming weeks." said Jaxon Ravens, Washington State Democrats Chair.