With the first “top-two” primary in their rear view mirror, local party leaders are more than happy to look ahead to the general election.

Candidates for Skagit County commissioner are also looking to November. Their audience is broader now, with the general election encompassing the entire county rather than just the candidates’ respective districts.

Leaders in the Democratic and Republican parties remain critical of the top-two primary, which they say has taken away their right to select their candidates.

Under the new system, voted in by citizen initiative, it’s the candidates who choose their party preference. The Democratic Party went through the motions of endorsing candidates, but the party’s choices were not noted on the ballot.

This led to a battle among three Democrats in the 40th Legislative District for a spot on the general election ballot. Between the two strongest Democrats for the Senate seat, Kevin Ranker of Friday Harbor prevailed over Ken Henderson of Bellingham.

Ranker, with a 10-point lead over Henderson as of Wednesday afternoon, apparently will be the one to face overall primary winner Steve Van Luven, who benefited from being the only Republican on the ballot.

“I think that it wasn’t good for the party. For Democrats to be working against Democrats wasn’t good,” Skagit County Democratic Party Vice Chairwoman Gail Nicolls said of the 40th District race. Nicolls said that while Ranker and Henderson remained cordial, this wasn’t always the case among their supporters.

Even though the Republicans saw their candidate attract the most votes, one party leader had nothing good to say about the top-two format.

“I think it’s terrible, as a chairman of the party,” Skagit County Republican Chairwoman Ann Marie Humphreys said. “Democrats and Libertarians all feel the same way.”

Humphreys’ account of voter reaction to the top-two primary conflicted with that of Secretary of State Sam Reed, who said in a statement that the primary ran smoothly and that voters responded to the new format with enthusiasm.

“It was confusing for these people, even though (the new format) was out in the media,” Humphreys said.

“Where was the ‘R’?” she added, referring to the label on the old ballots that indicated a candidate’s Republican affiliation.

Some Republican candidates, including Skagit County commissioner candidate Ron Wesen and gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, listed “GOP” (Grand Old Party) as their party preference — an old-fashioned reference to the Republican Party that not all voters understood, Humphreys said.

One Democratic Party leader was happy with the way the top-two primary turned out in the 40th District Senate race.

Tom Pasma, 40th District party chairman, said the outcome was expected in a district that leans Democrat — a 40 percent vote for the lone Republican, with the other 60 percent shared by several Democrats.

Pasma said he and other party leaders entertained the notion that Henderson and Ranker might finish first and second, making for an all-Democrat general election.

“There was a possibility that Kevin (Ranker) and Ken (Henderson) might come out on top, but I thought it was unlikely. It actually helps us, I believe (to have one candidate advance),” Pasma said.

Having only one Democrat on the fall ballot will bring the party together, he said.

“We’ve come up with one strong candidate, and everyone can get behind that,” Pasma said.

Two clear-cut winners — Bill Turner and Ken Dahlstedt — emerged in the early results from both Skagit County commissioner races. The four remaining candidates are ramping up their campaigns to address a countywide audience.

Anacortes City Councilman Bill Turner, the Democratic candidate for District 1 commissioner, said he would leave the familiar environs of the west county behind as his campaign proceeds.

“I’ll be spending almost 90 percent of my time in the other two districts,” Turner said. He said he and his team will ring doorbells in Mount Vernon this week.

Turner said Tuesday evening that he expects to pick up the votes that went to fellow Democrat Leo Jacobs in the primary, putting him about even with Wesen. But he wants to see how the precinct votes broke down, to better understand how he lagged behind the Republican by 14 points as of Wednesday afternoon.

Turnout in Skagit County for the primary will be just under 50 percent, county Elections Supervisor David Cunningham said Wednesday. Turner hopes the general election will attract more voters.

“The larger the turnout, the more effective the Democrats can be. I sure hope that plays out in November,” Turner said.

Wesen said Tuesday night that he wasn’t so sure Turner would get all of Jacobs’ votes.

“I don’t think you can ever guess what the voters will do,” he said.

As the general election approaches, the dairy farmer from Bow said he will present himself to as many voters as he can across the county.

He has raised more than $27,000 so far for his campaign, but like the other candidates, Wesen said he will need more.

“Everything takes money, so we need to do some more fundraising and decide how to best utilize the money we have,” Wesen said.

Republican candidate Don Gordon of District 2 has already been campaigning in all three districts, including a stop in Concrete on Saturday. He will continue to make appearances in all three districts leading up to November.

Gordon trailed incumbent Democrat Ken Dahlstedt by 8 points in the primary Wednesday afternoon.

“We’re really looking for opportunities to get in front of the voters. We have more work to do in District 2. I need a few percentage (points) there,” Gordon said.

Dahlstedt may enjoy the incumbent’s advantage with a comfortable lead at this point, but he said he won’t rest on that.

“We’re certainly not going to back off in any way, of course, because that was the primary and we want to do well in the general,” Dahlstedt said.

“I’ll continue to have events and forums, meet with people — whoever wants to meet with me, and actively respond to concerns,” he said.

Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .