Democrat Renee Hernandez Greenfield led Republican Katy Cornell districtwide in early returns Tuesday night in the race for state representative, Position 2, in the 26th Legislative District.
Districtwide, Hernandez Greenfield had 31,204 votes, or 54.8%, to Cornell’s 25,660, or 45.1%, according to the Washington Secretary of State.
Kitsap County voters also favored Hernandez Greenfield, 56.4% to 43.4%, or 14,861 votes to 11,443, according to unofficial results posted by the Kitsap County Auditor’s Office at 8:13 p.m. Tuesday.
Countywide, 92,136 ballots had been counted, a turnout of 45.1% of Kitsap County’s 204,242 registered voters.
The Kitsap County Auditor’s Office will keep counting ballots in the coming days, including mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day, and results can change. The county is scheduled to certify the election Nov. 24.
The winner will serve a two-year term.
The seat is open after Republican Rep. Michelle Valdez, who has held it since 2015, announced in February she would not seek reelection.
Cornell, who was raised in Port Orchard and graduated from South Kitsap High School, serves on the Gig Harbor Planning Commission and is a small-business owner and co-president of the nonprofit Walk In The Light International. She has said affordability, public safety and behavioral health would be her priorities.
Hernandez Greenfield has lived in the district for more than two decades after moving there with a military family. She has worked in early childhood education, including Head Start, and in tribal child welfare as a Child Protective Services investigator for the Suquamish Tribe, and works at Holly Ridge Center in Bremerton.
In the Aug. 4 primary, Cornell received 22,635 votes (44.7%) districtwide and Hernandez Greenfield 20,023 votes (39.6%). In Kitsap County, Cornell had 10,754 votes (43.4%) and Hernandez Greenfield 10,348 votes (41.8%).
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