Dear Clark County Democrats,

The national election results are awful, but here at home your volunteering, donating, and organizing are paying off. When it comes to our nation, the Clark County Democrats stand together with immigrants, trans people, people of color, gay and queer Americans, and every human being. We want you to be safe, to be welcome, to belong. We love you and support you. We stand for good jobs for working people and good lives for working families, fiscal discipline, balanced budgets, and thriving rural communities. We stand for unity, and we will continue to do so, even against a backdrop of divisive policies and hateful rhetoric coming from the President-elect. Wrong is wrong, right is right, and we will never stop being the responsible adults in the room.

Locally, we have much to be proud of. First, we did not waver from our principles, and we stayed united, organized, and welcoming toward all. Our reasonable and calm approach paid off in some of the bluest results Clark County has seen in years.

Our hometown hero Marie Gluesenkamp Perez has a healthy lead. All the votes need to be counted, but Marie is in a stronger position than she was two years ago at this time. Current tallies show Clark County at 53.2% for Kamala Harris for President, and 52.2% for Bob Ferguson for Governor. These are remarkably high results for Clark County.

In the last 20 years, no candidate for Governor has achieved results that high in our county, and it is fully 3.6 points higher than the 20-year average.

Wil Fuentes has a strong lead in his County Council race, and if it holds, we will have flipped that seat and taken a 3-2 majority on the Clark County Council! That would be our first majority in many years.  Matt Little is in a dead heat, and if he wins, we will have flipped two seats, for a total of 4 out 5. That is unheard of, and the fact it is this close shows we are turning Clark County blue! Please note, though, that the County Council seats are nonpartisan, and this discussion is referring to the candidates that received the recommendation of the Clark County Democrats.

That brings us to the 17th and 18th districts, in which four races are still too close to call. Friends, we want to win them all and flip two Senate seats and two House seats in our state legislature. Please consider the context here. Democrats have not won a single race in the 17th District since 2010, when our current Chair Tim Probst won a State House seat there. In the 18th District, Democrats have not won a single race since Betty Sue Morris retired from her State House seat in 1996. Today we have FOUR races that are currently at 49.4, 50.2, 50.8, and 49.8 (Keethler, Niles, Cortes, and Zingale, respectively.) This is remarkable progress, and these candidates are courageous and talented people.

Democrats have swept every statewide executive race in the state—all nine races from Governor to Insurance Commissioner. Clark County is not Seattle (proudly!), and we don’t expect to sweep these races. This year, though, Clark County voted blue in all the statewide executive races except two, that’s 7 out of 9 that went to the Democrat! And Clark County is strongly supporting our outstanding US Senator Maria Cantwell, too.

Finally, Clark County is voting down the three most destructive statewide initiatives that were on the ballot. A billionaire spent a few million and put 4 bad ideas on the ballot, just because he could. The people said no, resoundingly. Sometimes, when regular people organize and work, the monied interests lose. That happened this time, and Clark County was a big part of that story. Thank you for protecting our schools from massive cuts, protecting our good laws for a healthy environment, and protecting senior citizens from having their long-term care cut … all because some billionaire wanted to.

Clark County Democrats put people first, we know that Clark County is for all of us, and we win. All of your hard work, volunteering, donating, and positive energy are paying off. We won’t stop and rest, we won’t lick our wounds from the national results. We are standing up now to continue the fight.

Forward Together!

Tim Probst, Kass Bessert, Donna Sinclair, Patricia O’Bannon, Heidi Steigmann, Hector Hinojosa, Leah Perkel

Your Clark County Democrats Officers