ELECTION: University Place Candidate Filings

Filing week is over, and plenty of faces from University Place will be vying to make it out of the August primary.

At the local level, three sitting members of the University Place City Council are seeking election to state and county offices.

Washingtonians will rely on a Top 2 Primary system, which allows any candidate a chance to get on the November General Election ballot, regardless of their party.

Here’s the rundown:

Pierce County Council

• In the race for Pierce County Council, Pos. 4, founding UP City Councilman and current Mayor Ken Grassi will be running with another University Place City Councilman who prefers the Republican Party, Chris Nye. As for the Democrats, Connie Ladenburg of UP and Sharon Benson of Tacoma are both running.

State Legislature

• At the state level, a trio of University Place residents have filed to represent the 28th District in the House. Steve O’Ban and Ken Campbell prefer the Republican Party, while current University Place City Councilman Eric Choiniere is the lone challenger from the Democrat side.
• In Pos. 2, Malcolm Russell and Paul Wagemann, both Lakewood Republicans, are running to unseat Democrat Tami Green.
• In the race for the state Senate, Democrat Yoshie Wong of University Place filed to unseat Mike Carrell, a Lakewood Republican.

Congress

• In the race for the newly formed 10th Congressional District, things pretty much went as expected. On the Republican side, former UP Mayor Stan Flemming and former Pierce County Councilman Dick Muri will run.
• On the Democrat side, Denny Heck of Olympia is running with Jennifer Ferguson of Lakewood.
• Sue Gunn also filed as a member of the Prog. Independent Party, and Steve Hannon filed with no party affiliation.

Other races

• Current 28th District Rep. Troy Kelley filed for state auditor.
• A number of UP candidates have filed for county judge positions.

(Click here for a full list of candidate filings from the Pierce County Auditor's Office)

How the Top 2 Primary works:

(From the Washington State Auditor's Office)

Washington is the first state in the country to establish a Top 2 Primary election system, rather than a party nominating system. A Top 2 Primary narrows the number of candidates to two. The two candidates who receive the most votes in the Primary advance to the General Election, regardless of their party preference. 

Candidates
Each candidate for partisan office may state a political party that he or she prefers. A candidate’s party preference does not imply that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party, or that the party approves of or associates with that candidate.

Voters
In each race, you may vote for any candidate listed on the ballot.  The two candidates who receive the most votes in the Primary advance to the General Election, regardless of their party preference.  Washington voters do not declare party affiliation as part of voter registration.

Political parties
Political parties do not have a guaranteed spot on the General Election ballot. The two candidates who advance to the General Election may prefer the same party, different parties, or not state a party preference. Parties are free to conduct their nominating procedures according to their own rules, at their own conventions, caucuses or meetings. This frees parties to develop their own criteria for nominations, endorsements, and other public declarations of support.