Washington County progressives, Clackamas County Republican grow leads in close legislative races

Two Democratic legislative candidates backed by labor unions and the party’s left flank grew their leads Thursday over an incumbent state senator and local elected official supported by much of the party establishment.

After Washington County published updated election results late Thursday afternoon, former elementary school principal Myrna Muñoz led Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, by 682 votes — 5.6 percentage points — in the Hillsboro-based 15th Senate District. And Tammy Carpenter, a Democratic Socialist and Beaverton School Board member, led Beaverton City Councilor Ashley Hartmeier-Prigg by 435 votes — 4.5 percentage points — in the open 27th House District.

Service Employees International Union 503, the influential union representing service workers and state employees, backed both Muñoz and Carpenter. It celebrated Thursday’s results in a statement.

“These results are the product of people power,” the union’s statement said. “We knocked more than 27,000 doors and made 12,000 calls to voters to help elect pro-worker champions because we know how important it is to have a voice in Salem. We know that when voters are educated about candidates who will fight for them, not corporations, we see outcomes like these.” 

 For Republican voters a county over, Realtor Adam Baker grew his lead over Sue Leslie by 155 votes, or 2.7 percentage points in the open 40th House District. That Gladstone-based district, now represented by departing Democratic Rep. Annessa Hartman, is one of about seven truly competitive Oregon House districts. The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Michael Sugar, a high school history teacher, in November. 

It’s not unusual for results to shift following election night as officials process ballots. The most immediate results typically reflect voters who returned their ballots well before the voting deadline, giving election officials time to verify ballot envelope signatures and process their ballots before the 8 p.m. deadline. 

Oregon law requires hand recounts of ballots when the difference between candidates is 0.2% or less of the total votes for both of the candidates. None of the close legislative races currently fall under that threshold.