Commissioner of Public Lands 2024

[Boss .300 winmag]

Recount coming.👍

[jstone]

Need two Republicans. This state need to get back to center.!!!

[Boss .300 winmag]

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/briefs/washington-primary-results-certified-recount-ordered-in-lands-commissioner-race/

Hopefully Pederson comes out ahead.👍

[85yota]

Looks like peterson lost by 53 votes in the end. 2 more than originally counted, but I think we figured it would go that way. Such a shame, I know many Republicans who didn't vote, not saying they wouldn't have gone with Herrera butler, but still.

[ganghis]

That stinks - as the only D, Upthepooper is probably going to win...crossing fingers, but that seems to be the way of things.

[fireweed]

Time for Republicans and Rinos and Dinos to unite around JHB

[GOcougsHunter]

That stinks - as the only D, Upthepooper is probably going to win...crossing fingers, but that seems to be the way of things.

I think there are a ton more voters out there who do not vote along a specific party line than the vast majority of both party's echo chambers believe.  Just in these 3 candidates, 815,546 votes went to a republican.  396,300 went to a democrat.  Perhaps the two republican candidates had the better message for the direction of Public Lands and people ignored what party they were affiliated with and simply voted for the best choice?

[ducks4days]

That stinks - as the only D, Upthepooper is probably going to win...crossing fingers, but that seems to be the way of things.

I think there are a ton more voters out there who do not vote along a specific party line than the vast majority of both party's echo chambers believe.  Just in these 3 candidates, 815,546 votes went to a republican.  396,300 went to a democrat.  Perhaps the two republican candidates had the better message for the direction of Public Lands and people ignored what party they were affiliated with and simply voted for the best choice?

You are wrong. Democrat candidates for this race had 1,085,893 votes, Republican candidates had 815,564. That is a 42.89% / 57.1% split, which lines up with the party line vote typically seen in statewide elections. The only reason 2 R's almost ended up in the final was because the D party vote was split among 5 candidates, you cant just discount 4 of them and compare the votes for the remaining candidates and try to use the remaining numbers like they are significant on their own.

There are definitely a lot of voters that dont vote straight party line, but not enough to vote in an R in a statewide race. Especially not this year, in a presidential election with Trump at the top of the ticket. There is going to be increased turnout across the board because of that, and most of the population by a wide margin lives in the wet and votes for the left.  Our best bet was getting more R voters to actually turn in their primary ballots, like 100 more would have made a massive difference but that ship has already sailed.

[GOcougsHunter]

That stinks - as the only D, Upthepooper is probably going to win...crossing fingers, but that seems to be the way of things.

I think there are a ton more voters out there who do not vote along a specific party line than the vast majority of both party's echo chambers believe.  Just in these 3 candidates, 815,546 votes went to a republican.  396,300 went to a democrat.  Perhaps the two republican candidates had the better message for the direction of Public Lands and people ignored what party they were affiliated with and simply voted for the best choice?

You are wrong. Democrat candidates for this race had 1,085,893 votes, Republican candidates had 815,564. That is a 42.89% / 57.1% split, which lines up with the party line vote typically seen in statewide elections. The only reason 2 R's almost ended up in the final was because the D party vote was split among 5 candidates, you cant just discount 4 of them and compare the votes for the remaining candidates and try to use the remaining numbers like they are significant on their own.

There are definitely a lot of voters that dont vote straight party line, but not enough to vote in an R in a statewide race. Especially not this year, in a presidential election with Trump at the top of the ticket. There is going to be increased turnout across the board because of that, and most of the population by a wide margin lives in the wet and votes for the left.  Our best bet was getting more R voters to actually turn in their primary ballots, like 100 more would have made a massive difference but that ship has already sailed.

I stand corrected on the number of votes and just went with just the screen shot in this thread.

[Jake Dogfish]

We still have a good chance in the general.  Not all those people that voted for other democrats are going to vote for upgrove.

[Special T]

Republican turn out was  really low for the primary. I'll bet it's much higher for the general.

[salmosalar]

Policy wise what is the big difference between having an R or a D for this position? Access? Land swaps?

I have to admit that I really don't know a ton about the role of a public lands commisioner.

[Alan K]

Timber harvest from state lands for funding schools is the big one, which supports jobs in the woods and rural communities. 

[Bob33]

Policy wise what is the big difference between having an R or a D for this position? Access? Land swaps?

I have to admit that I really don't know a ton about the role of a public lands commisioner.

It is a gross simplification, but I would say the primary difference is in how each party views human impact on our natural resources. Republicans say humans can benefit the ecosystem; Democrats view humans as destructive forces that need to be restricted.

[Practical Approach]

Whoever it is, I hope they push for funding to enforce illegal activities on state lands.  Dumping, illegal trail making, overharvesting and illegal harvesting of forest products, timber theft, illegal camping, etc are rampant on much of DNR's lands that are not locked behind gates on the westside.