Eileen Quiring and Eric Holt appear to be headed for a matchup in November’s general election
VANCOUVER — It appears Clark County will soon have a new county chair.
The third release of results from Tuesday’s primary election were made available Thursday afternoon and current County Chair Marc Boldt was 1,729 votes behind second-place Eric Holt in the race for the final spot in November’s general election. Current County Councilor Eileen Quiring had a sizable lead (12,370 votes) over Holt.
Boldt’s deficit grew in each of the past two days as more ballots were counted after initial returns were announced Tuesday night. With an estimated 7,500 votes remaining to be counted, the current county chair acknowledged his fate in an email to ClarkCountyToday.com.
“To catch up will take a miracle but they have happened before,’’ said Boldt, who wasn’t in the mood to speculate why he finished third in the top-two primary. “If it doesn’t go my way I lost the job I love so it really doesn’t matter to me why.’’
Quiring, who prefers the Republican party, had 38.2 percent (33,796) of the votes, compared to Holt’s 24.22 percent. Boldt had 22.26 percent and Christy Stanley received 15.32 percent.
“We are certainly pleased with the momentum and will be watching as the remainder of the ballots are counted,’’ said Quiring in a post on her campaign Facebook page.
Holt, who prefers the Democratic party, was pleased to be joining Quiring in the general election.
“I have been focused on building relationships across the county since my run for State Senate in 2016,’’ Holt said in an email response to ClarkCountyToday.com. “In politics, good relationships are everything.
“I am excited to take on Ms. Quiring, and I believe this is a race that my team can win,’’ Holt added. “I will continue to run a positive and forward thinking race because I believe that the people of Clark County want to be able to vote for a brighter future not a muddy past.’’
County council races
In the race for the county council District 1 seat, a tight three-way race appears to be headed to a matchup between incumbent Jeanne Stewart and Temple Lentz in November’s general election.
With just the 7,500 votes left to be counted, Lentz (33.7 percent) had a lead of 146 votes over Stewart (33.05 percent. Jim Moeller, who prefers the Democratic party, trailed Stewart by 243 votes.
Stewart is running as a Republican and Lentz prefers the Democratic party.
In the race for county councilor District 2, incumbent Julie Olson had 80.38 percent of the votes and challenger Elisabeth Veneman received 19.2 percent. Both candidates prefer the Republican party and each will advance to the November general election.
The last batch of votes are expected to be counted Friday.
