Incumbent Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza led the race against challenger Tracy Murphy in the Aug. 2 primary election, according to preliminary results released Tuesday night.
Regardless of the results of the Aug. 2 primary, both candidates will advance to the November general election under the state’s top-two primary election system
As of 8 p.m. on Aug. 2, the Lewis County Auditor’s Office had counted 8,970 ballots, or 60.58% of the vote, for Snaza and 5,628 ballots, or 38.01%, for Murphy.
Snaza has been sheriff of Lewis County since 2015.
“We’re just excited by the support that we’ve been shown in the community,” Snaza told The Chronicle Tuesday night. “I mean, Lewis County's such a great place and I'm just glad that we're doing well and I'm looking forward to being sheriff for the next four more years. I'm very excited.”
Murphy is a detective sergeant with the Centralia Police Department.
“Tracy has come a long way from being virtually unknown to changing minds and gaining supporters day after day,” Murphy’s campaign said in a prepared statement on election night. “By November, we are going to win this thing because Tracy is the leader our deputies and the public deserve. It's not about politics, it’s about serving and protecting everyone.”
The auditor’s office will continue updating the ballot count over the next couple of weeks. The primary election results will be certified on Aug. 16.
Similar to the sheriff’s race, all candidates in the races for Lewis County assessor and Lewis County clerk will proceed to the general election.
In the assessor race, Ross Nielson was leading with 55.87%, or 7,238 votes, ahead of Tom Crowson, who had 41.66%, 5,396 votes, on election night.
In the clerk race, incumbent Scott Tinney led with 54.68%, or 7,350 votes, ahead of challenger Linda Williams, who had 43.12%, 5,796 votes, on election night.
Also on the August primary ballot were four Lewis County positions where incumbents ran unopposed for re-election: Auditor Larry Grove, Coroner Warren McLeod, Prosecuting Attorney Jonathan Meyer and Treasurer Arny Davis.
All four races had a small percentage of write-in votes as of election night, with the incumbents overwhelmingly ahead of any write-in votes.
The auditor’s office will continue updating the ballot count over the next couple of weeks. The primary election results will be certified on Aug. 16.
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This story will be updated.
