Early results showed Chris Reykdal winning the race to be Washington's next schools chief Tuesday night.
Incumbent Reykdal, who has served as Washington's Superintendent of Public Instruction for two terms since he was elected in 2016, ran against challenger David Olson this year. Olson is a retired Navy officer and has served since 2013 on the Peninsula School District Board.
Tuesday's vote count showed Reykdal had 1,207,283 votes (53.51%) and Olson had 1,037,041 votes (45.94%) after all counties had reported results at 8:59 p.m., according to the Washington Secretary of State. Less than 1% of ballots were cast for write-in candidates.
There are 5,018,747 registered voters eligible to vote in the statewide election, and there was a turnout of 52.66% as of Tuesday at 8:59 p.m., according to the Secretary of State's office. There are about 793,865 estimated ballots on hand to be processed.
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, or OSPI, oversees Washington's K-12 school districts, a total of 295 plus six schools run by American Indian tribes via state agreement. OSPI requests and allocates state funding for education from the state Legislature and issues guidance and resources to school districts, according to the OSPI website.
The State Voters' Pamphlet indicates the office is nonpartisan, but some endorsements for the two candidates have fallen along party lines. Reykdal has been endorsed by several caucuses of the Washington State Democratic Party. Olson has been endorsed by Mainstream Republicans of Washington.
The superintendent will have his work cut out for him for the next four years. The state's education system faces challenges such as helping some school districts stay financially afloat, supporting students' academic performance amid diminishing test scores, and navigating the debate over parental rights and curriculum choices, among others.
Further results are expected to be released Nov. 6 at results.vote.wa.gov/results/20241105/superintendent-of-public-instruction.html.
"Our numbers look really good," Reykdal told The News Tribune on Tuesday night. He said his lead over Olson is a little better than his team predicted, and the split across the state fits with their expectations.
"We always knew we'd be stronger in the Puget Sound," he said. "There's a lot more votes that are going to come in, but I think it will all hold up here."
Olson told The News Tribune he's not ready to concede the race. He emphasized that he won "a massive amount of the counties in the state" and that Republicans tend to vote late.
"I literally had a dozen people call me today asking questions to fill out their ballots, and one person was in another state doing his absentee ballot and so his ballot won't get mailed in for days," Olson said.
The ballots yet to be processed could turn the race, he said.
"I'm still cautiously optimistic that I can pull it out in the next day or two, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet," Olson said.
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