Each of the three incumbents in Legislative District 24 posted strong numbers in the early returns of Tuesday’s primary election.

State Rep. Mike Chapman and Sue Forde, state Rep. Steve Tharinger and Brian Pruiett, and Sen. Kevin Van De Wege and Connie Beauvais will face one another in the Nov. 3 general election.

U.S. Congressman Derek Kilmer, another incumbent, looks to take on Elizabeth Kreiselmaier after both earned favorable ballot counts Tuesday.

Clallam County Public Utility District candidates Patti Morris and Rich Paschal appear headed for a November face-off as well.

The Clallam County Auditor’s Office counted 22,708 ballots Tuesday night, or 41.5 percent of the 54,749 mailed to registered voters.

The primary election culls the choices in each race to the top-two vote-getters who will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election. All partisan candidates appeared on the primary ballot whether they had opponents or not, as did races with three or more candidates. Those with only two candidates automatically go on to the general election.

Kilmer, a Gig Harbor resident who has served four terms, won 69,475 votes (49.5 percent) to 35,957 (25.6 percent) for Kreiselmaier, a Republican.

Tacoma resident Rebecca Parson, a Democrat, had 16.954 votes (12.1 percent) for third place.

All other candidates are Republicans. Chris Welton received 8,507 votes. Stephan Brodhead took 5,455 votes. Johny Alberg won 3,737 votes.

In the 24th Legislative District, Chapman, the Democratic incumbent in Position 1, won 22,193 of ballots cast (57.6 percent) to Republican Forde’s 10,390 (26.9 percent).

Daniel Charles Svoboda, who declared himself a member of the “Trump Republican Party” on the ballot, garnered 5,904 votes (15.3 percent).

Tharinger, a Democrat and Position 2 incumbent, garnered 18,416 votes (48.7 percent) to Republican Puriett’s 9,943 (26.3 percent).

Republican Jodi Wilke withdrew from this race last month — too late to have her name removed from the ballot — but still managed to draw nearly 17 percent of ballots cast (6,338 votes, 16.8 percent).

Darren Corcoran, a Democrat, was a distant fourth after the initial count with 3,120 votes (8.3 percent).

Also on the ballot were Van De Wege, a Sequim Democrat, and Beauvais, a Port Angeles Republican. Van De Wege won 22,006 votes (56.7 percent) in the first count of primary election ballots. Beauvais earned 16,582 votes, with 37 ballots cast for write-in candidates.

Since they are the only two people in the race, they will both move on to the general election.

Four candidates ran for the Clallam County PUD seat being vacated by appointee Dave Anderson, who was named to fill the expiring term of the late Hugh Hafner.

In the initial count of ballots, Morris won 2,638 (49.2 percent) votes. Paschall received 1,170 (21.8 percent votes), leading third place Marty Michaelis (913 votes) and Neil Knutson (618 votes).

A levy lid lift of Clallam County Fire District 2 (Port Angeles) asking for a 58 percent levy rate hike of 50 cents per $1,000 of property valuation is undecided as yet, but initial returns have the measure up 1,491 votes to 1,314 (53.2-46.8 percent).

Clallam County Fire District 2’s levy lid lift is essential for the department, said Chief Jake Patterson. It would pay for two first responders at the Dry Creek station and establish a fund to replace the district’s decades-old vehicles, he said.

The rate hike would add $100 in annual taxes for the owner of a $200,000 home. The district’s property tax rate would be set at $1.36 per $1,000 dollars of assessed valuation.

Clallam County Commissioner Randy Johnson, who is running for re-election with no opposition, won 4,843 votes (97 percent) in the primary. He states no party preference.

Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden and Superior Court Judge-appointee Simon Barnhart will be on the November ballot. Neither will have any opposition.

Basden is an incumbent, and Barnhart took office June 2 when Judge Brian Coughenhour retired.

State races

Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, who dropped a presidential bid last year, has drawn 35 opponents in his bid for a rare third term. And while governors in Washington state aren’t subject to term limits — the last three-term governor in Washington was Republican Gov. Dan Evans, who served from 1965 until 1977 — Inslee may be well on his way.

Inslee drew nearly 52 percent of the early ballot returns Tuesday night (645,920), well ahead of possible general election Republican challenger Loren Culp, the police chief of Republic (207,918 votes, or about 16.7 percent).

Anti-tax initiative promoter Tim Eyman (7 percent) and Yakima doctor Raul Garcia (5 percent) were a distant third and fourth, respectively.

In other state executive races:

• Democrats Denny Heck (27.8 percent) and Marko Liias (16.6 percent) are the top two vote-getters in initial counts for lieutenant governor, seeking to replace Cyrus Habib who is not seeking re-election;

• Republican incumbent Kim Wyman (50 percent) and Democrat challenger Gael Tarleton (44.7 percent) are headed to a showdown in the November general election for the secretary of state position;

• Democrat Mike Pellicciotti (54.1 percent) leads incumbent Republican Duane Davidson (45.8 percent) in votes for state treasurer, though both advance to the general election;

• Pat “Patrice” McCarty, a Democrat incumbent, leads Republican Chris Leyba in votes for state auditor (48.2 percent to 40.6 percent) effectively knocking out third-place Democrat Joshua Casey (11.1 percent) from the general election;

• Incumbent attorney general Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, drew 56.7 percent of primary election ballots cast, and looks to face Republican challenger Matt Larkin (23.5 percent) in November;

• Democrat incumbent Hilary Franz earned more than half of the ballots cast in initial counts for superintendent of public lands (51.6 percent); she’ll look to face Republican challenger Sue Kuehl Pederson in November, with Kuehl drawing about 21.8 percent of ballots cast after Tuesday’s ballot count;

• Incumbent Chris Reykdal tallied 40.3 percent of ballots cast for superintendent of public instruction, while Maia Espinoza (24 percent) and Ron Higgins (20.2 percent) battle for the second slot on the general election ballot; and,

• Democrat incumbent Mike Kreidler earned more than 60 percent of ballots cast for insurance commissioner Tuesday night, out-pacing Republican challenger Chirayu Avinash Patel (27.9 percent) and Libertarian challenger Anthony Welti (11.8 percent).