Yellow Pages
Skagit County Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt rode a broad wave of popularity into a third term.
A Republican challenger from Lake McMurray, with a grasp of the major issues confronting the county and strong ties to the business community, turned out to be no match for the Democratic incumbent from Big Lake.
A precinct-by-precinct analysis of Tuesday’s initial vote count showed that Dahlstedt was preferred over opponent Don Gordon in both urban and rural areas, and upriver as well as in the flats.
With his victory Tuesday, Dahlstedt will be the longest-serving commissioner. It’s also his turn to be the chairman of the three-member Board of Commissioners starting in January.
If the race pitted a man inclined to look out for urban interests against a rural-minded incumbent, it didn’t play out that way in the voting.
Gordon, who has actively supported flood control, redevelopment and the overall economic well-being of Mount Vernon, was losing in 19 of 22 precincts in that city Tuesday. The total tally in Mount Vernon was 3,983 votes for Dahlstedt and 2,995 for Gordon — a 14 percentage-point difference that exceeded Dahlstedt’s overall lead.
Gordon thought he would have made a better showing in Mount Vernon.
“Part of my argument has been all along through the campaign that we need to really help the cities prosper so that they can have the revenues they need into the future to grow the way they need to grow,” Gordon said Wednesday.
“I would have thought that message would have helped me, but it didn’t.”
To explain his win in Mount Vernon, Dahlstedt spoke of the grant money he has brought into the city for road projects and his support of the construction of McIntyre Hall, which has generated revenue for Mount Vernon, he said.
“I’ve worked hard for the city,” Dahlstedt said. “It’s the largest city in my district.”
Gordon tried to win over farmers, but the election results showed that Dahlstedt was popular among the same group that voted for Ron Wesen, the Republican dairy farmer who is leading in the race for District 1 county commissioner.
Dahlstedt carried Wesen’s precinct, Bow, by 22 points, and he won Edison by the same margin. Similar successes were repeated in precincts to the south, across Highway 20 and down to Fir Island and Conway.
Dahlstedt comes from a farming family and has advocated for the interests of the members of Pro-Fac, an agricultural marketing cooperative, in his role as co-op board member. During his campaign, he spoke of his record of preserving farmland. He came to the defense of farmers in Riverbend earlier this year, after Mount Vernon Mayor Bud Norris launched an unsuccessful bid to convert that land into a commercial and industrial zone.
“I worked really hard to get some farm support and it wasn’t easy,” Gordon said. “But I’m not surprised. He (Dahlstedt) worked hard at it, too.”
Upriver, the story was no different. Gordon has a slight lead in Concrete, where he says his campaign went well, but Dahlstedt took nearly 70 percent of the vote in Rockport and Marblemount.
Dahlstedt said he was attentive to those communities after they were hit by a rock slide or a flood.
“We went up there when there were problems up there,” he said, referring to himself and the other commissioners.
Dahlstedt believes his willingness to get out among the people contributed to his political success, along with his commitment to the work involved in being commissioner. He calls the office his full-time job, and his voters are his bosses.
“I enjoy the job. I enjoy the people — all the folks I work for,” Dahlstedt said.
Another reason for his longevity in office, Dahlstedt said, is the perception among his constituents that he’s doing a good job.
When asked if three terms might turn into yet another four years from now, Dahlstedt said he couldn’t see why not.
“If people are comfortable with the work I’m doing, I’d hope to keep working for the citizens of the county,” he said.
Dahlstedt said he would focus next term on the impacts of growth to the county, including the deterioration of the county’s roads and bridges.
“Right now, we’ve got a lot of work to do here,” Dahlstedt said.
He went on to say that his tenure in the office will help the county get the money it needs to pay for all that work.
One of his accomplishments in his eight years in office, Dahlstedt said, was to build relationships with other politicians in state and federal government — those who hold the purse strings to the largest projects the county might do.
That might be the best reason, in Dahlstedt’s opinion, why the voters rightly returned him to office as the Board of County Commissioners’ most experienced member.
“Until you’ve earned your opportunity to ask, and have built up the kind of support and cooperation at the state and federal level, you’re not going to get the money,” Dahlstedt said.
* Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .
