Candidate filing week in Clallam County closed with a flourish as 72 candidates threw their hats in the ring for 40 elected positions.
The flood of candidates from Thursday evening through 4:30 p.m. Friday created a four-person primary for LaTrisha Suggs’ seat on the Port Angeles City Council, which features three-person primary races for the three other positions up for grabs.
Four people each are running for Sequim and Port Angeles school board positions.
“It’s great,” Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs said after the filing period closed, calling it “a little bit unusual” to have multiple races with four candidates.
But two Port of Port Angeles commissioners who hold the only two countywide positions on the ballot got a pass. No one filed to challenge Port Angeles-area Port Commissioner Steven Burke or Sequim-area Commissioner Colleen McAleer, guaranteeing them four-year terms.
The four-person contests are among the 10 races with more than two candidates that will be on the Aug. 3 primary election ballot.
The top-two vote-getters for those positions will be on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.
Nineteen contested races emerged during the candidate filing week that ended Friday.
Former Clallam County and Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Jim McEntire filed Friday to run against incumbent Olympic Medical Center Commissioner J. Thomas Oblak, the Sequim-area Position 1 incumbent on the board since 2012.
“I did not see anyone running against Tom Oblak, so I said, ‘Why not?’,” said McEntire, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for the state Legislature in 2010 and 2018.
“In my mind, they’ve got a taxpayer mix at OMC that’s skewed heavily toward federal money,” he said. “Over the last couple of weeks, I was thinking about how to best position OMC to weather the fiscal storm that’s coming, so I thought, why not do that from the inside.”
McEntire, an organizer of the conservative Sequim-based Independent Advisory Association, which sought and is advising right-leaning candidates for non-partisan seats in the election, said Friday the IAA will post the names of Port Angeles and Sequim candidates it is backing, but only with their permission.
The IAA’s “Our Candidates” page on its restoreclallam.com website includes Sequim Mayor William Armacost, who is not on the ballot, and incumbent Sequim City Council member Sarah Kincaid, who Monday drew opponent Kathy Downer as an opponent.
All five Sequim City Council members have challengers, including Rachel Anderson, the lone single-candidate holdout until Friday, when Daryl Ness filed for her Position 4 seat.
Three contenders added their names to the slate of Port Angeles City Council candidates, including John DeBoer on Thursday evening and Kelly Perry on Friday, both running for Suggs’ Position 1 seat. Adam Garcia, who filed Monday, makes is a four-person primary.
Jason Thompson also filed Friday Port Angeles City Council Position 2, joining Jena Stamper and incumbent Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin on the primary election ballot.
The four-person race for Port Angeles School Board Position 2 will not include longtime incumbent Cindy Kellly, who did not file for re-election.
Mary Hebert filed for the seat Friday, joining Jean M. Stratton, Jesse Charles and Gabi Johnson.
Port Angeles School Board President Sarah Methner drew opponent Lola Moses for her Position 1 seat Friday.
Sequim School Board members Brian Kuh and Brandino Gibson will not be seeking reelection.
Patrice Johnson was the lone candidate to file for Kuh’s District 2 position.
Kristi Schmeck, who filed Thursday morning to oppose Johnson and withdrew her name Thursday afternoon, filed Friday as the fourth candidate for Gibson’s at-large Position 4 seat. She joins Rachel Tax, Derek Huntington and Virginia R. Sheppard on the primary ballot.
After seeing who had filed and considering those board members not up for election, Gibson said Friday he was comfortable not filing for another term.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with the last year and a half,” Gibson said.
“I’m very comfortable with the way we’ve handled things and the decisions we’ve made.”
Recent turmoil has surrounded the resignation of Sequim Schools Superintendent Rob Clark, an ongoing sex-discrimination lawsuit against Clark, and the placing on leave of Sequim High School Principal Shawn Langston.
A state WorkSource supervisor, Gibson said the agency will be opening a Sequim office.
“It has more to do with the future,” Gibson said of his decision. “A lot of it is work-related.”
Kuh, executive director of EDC Team Jefferson, said it’s a good time for him to focus more on his career and family.
“I may choose to run again in the future, so I’ll hang on to those campaign signs,” he said in a text message.
Three candidates — Jeff Nicholas, Duane Chamlee, Jeff Nicholas and Sean Ryan — filed for Clallam County Fire District 3, Position 1 (Sequim area), while incumbent Mike Gawley declined to re-run for his seat.
In an unusual twist, all three races for Forks City Council are contested, including the Position 2 seat being vacated by John Hillcar.
Forks High School Assistant Basketball Coach Josef Echeita filed for the position Friday afternoon two hours before the deadline, joining candidates Barbara Neilhouse and Clinton W. Wood in a rare three-person race for a Forks City Council position.
Incumbent elected Mayor Tim Fletcher is being challenged by Steve Wright, while incumbent Joe Soha is facing Sarah Holmes for his Position 3 seat.
Forks City Planner-Attorney Rod Fleck said it’s been about a decade since every Forks City Council seat on a ballot was contested, including one with three candidates.
“It’s been a good while,” Fleck said Friday.
Below is a complete list of those who filed last week for the Nov. 2 general election:
• Port of Port Angeles commissioner: Colleen McAleer, Sequim-area District 1; Steven Burke, Port Angeles-area District 2.
• Sequim City Council: Sarah Kincaid, Kathy Downer, Position 2; Vicki L. Lowe, Mike Pence, Position 3; Rachel Anderson, Daryl Ness, Position 4; Brandon Janisse, Patrick Day, Position 5; Lowell Rathbun, Keith Larkin, Position 6.
• Port Angeles City Council: LaTrisha Suggs, Adam Garcia, John DeBoer, Kelly Perry, Position 1; Mike French, John Madden, Samantha Rodahl, Position 2; Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, Jena Stamper, Jason Thompson, Position 3; Kate Dexter, Jon Bruce, John W. Procter, Position 4.
• Crescent School Board: Sandy Middleton, Position 1; Joey Currie, Position 2.
• Forks City Council: Tim Fletcher, Steve Wright, Mayor; Barbara Neilhouse, Clinton W. Wood, Josef Echeita, Position 2; Sarah Holmes, Joe Soha, Position 3.
• Clallam County Hospital District 1 (Forks Community Hospital): Donald Lawley, Position 3; Sarah Huling, Linda Offutt, at-large Position 5.
• Clallam County Hospital District 2 (Olympic Medical Center): J. Thomas Oblak, Jim McEntire, District 1, Position 2; Thom Hightower, District 3, Position 1; Heather Jeffers, Steven C. Blackham, Karen Rogers, at-large.
• Sequim School Board: Patrice Johnston, Position 2; Rachel Tax, Derek Huntington, Virginia R. Sheppard, Kristi Schmeck, at-large Position 4.
• Port Angeles School Board: Sarah Methner, Lola Moses, Position 1; Jean M. Stratton, Jesse Charles, Gabi Johnson, Mary Hebert, Position 2.
• Quillayute Valley School Board: Kevin Hinchin, District 2.
• Cape Flattery School Board: Janine Ledford, District 1; Michael Lawrence, District 2.
• Forks-area Fire District 1: Tony Romberg, Position 5.
• Port Angeles-area Fire District 2: Keith Cortner, Position 2.
• Sequim-area Fire District 3: Jeff Nicholas, Duane Chamlee, Sean Ryan, Position 1.
• Joyce-area Fire District 4: Terry Barnett, Position 4.
• Clallam Bay-area Fire District 5: Greg Bellamy Sr., Position 2.
• La Push-area Fire District 6: Tom Rosmond, Position 3.
• Clallam County Park and Recreation District 1 (Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center-YMCA): Ray L. Henninger; Position 1; Frank Pickering, Position 2.
• Quillayute Park and Recreation District: Donald Grafstrom, District 1; Ron Hurn, District 4.
• Sunland Water District: Alan Frank, Position 3.
• Black Diamond Water District: Sarah Martinez, Position 2.
More about the candidates
Read more about candidates for Sequim City Council, Sequim School Board and Clallam County Fire District 3 in the June 2 edition of the Sequim Gazette.
