New results in Central WA’s redrawn 14th District make clearer the likely winners

Three Republican candidates are poised to sweep all three seats in Washington's newly redrawn 14th Legislative District.

With just 4,200 ballots left to be counted across four counties — Benton, Franklin, Klickitat and Yakima — the GOP candidates were holding leads that likely cannot be overcome.

Earlier this week, the race between Democrat Ana Ruiz Kennedy of Pasco and Deb Manjarrez of Wapato had tightened to less than 600 votes.

But by Thursday, Manjarrez had a 2 percentage point lead.

State Sen. Curtis King was winning a fifth term representing the Latino-majority district, while Manjarrez and Gloria Mendoza are running for open seats in the House. King had to move 1.5 miles in order to run in the 14th District.

Results posted Thursday afternoon showed King, a Republican, was leading Democratic candidate Maria Beltran of Yakima by 1,332 votes, or 4 percentage points.

Beltran was winning in Yakima County, where she grew up, and in Franklin County. But the Republican strong-hold of Benton County swung the race to King.

On Thursday, Manjarrez led Ruiz Kennedy in the race for state Representative Pos. 2 by 674 votes.

Mendoza, a Republican, defeated Democrat Chelsea Dimas in the race for state Representative Pos. 1 with 2,874 votes, or by 9 percentage points.

Again, the race was decided by voters in Benton and Klickitat counties, who overwhelmingly favored Mendoza. Just five votes currently separate the women in Yakima County.

After a controversial redistricting process that centered around Latino representation in the Yakima Valley region, Democrats were hopeful that their candidates could flip the three Republican-held seats.

Democrats haven't represented parts of the valley in the Legislature for three decades now.

Of the ballots left to be counted, Yakima County accounts for 2,000 of those ballots, while Benton County has about 1,300 left, according to elections officials.