ELECTION 2014: FULL RESULTS, PAGE A2 County executive
Nine state incumbents on way to re-election
John Lovick is on his way to victory over Sultan Mayor Carolyn Eslick for special one-year term. Page A2
Snohomish County’s three Democratic representatives, including Suzan DelBene, are ahead. Page A2
County sheriff Appointed Sheriff Ty Trenary is leading opponent Jim Upton by 5,261 votes for one-year term. Page A2
Class sizes The initiative to set lower class levels at every grade level is virtually tied. Page A3 WEDNESDAY, 11.05.2014
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A change of course
Voters back expanded gun checks GOP
captures U.S. Senate By David A. Fahrenthold The Washington Post
GENNA MARTIN / THE HERALD
Campaigners celebrate Tuesday, just after campaign manager Zach Silk announced the passing of state Initiative 594 during an election night party at the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle. The measure requires background checks on all sales and transfers of guns.
By Rachel La Corte and Gene Johnson Associated Press
SEATTLE — Voters have passed a measure to expand background checks on gun sales and transfers in Washington state. Initiative 594 was one of two rival gun measures on Tuesday’s ballot. It requires background checks on all sales and transfers, including private transactions and many loans and gifts. It had especially strong support in King County. The rival measure, Initiative 591, would prevent the state from expanding checks beyond the
Go to www. heraldnet. com for updated results on all of Tuesday’s races.
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courts or the Legislature would likely have to sort it out. Lisa Fain, 41, of Mercer Island, said she was interested in the gun background check issue. “What happened in Marysville was very unfortunate. If there’s a silver lining, it’s perhaps that people realize we need stronger gun laws,” said Fain, referring to the deadly shooting last month at MarysvillePilchuck High School. Karen Smith, 40, of Bellevue, voted against the expansion and for the anti-expansion measure and See CHECKS, back page, this section
Results As of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday Initiative 591 (Prohibits background checks): Yes: 45.4% No: 54.6% Initiative 594 (Requires background checks): Yes: 59.8% No: 40.2%
See SENATE, back page, this section
Control of state Senate remains up for grabs By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer
The battle for an open House seat in Snohomish County and control of the state Senate remained far from decided Tuesday night. Only a few hundred votes separated Republican Mark Harmsworth
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and Democrat Mike Wilson, who are competing to succeed Mike Hope, the Republican lawmaker who resigned in July. Harmsworth, a Mill Mike Creek city council- Mark Harmsworth Wilson man, led Wilson, a
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high school teacher, by 768 votes, 51.9 percent to 47.8 percent after the first night of ballot counting. The winner will serve a two-year term representing residents of the 44th Legislative District that
No Buzz The Buzz is binge-watching “House of Cards” again. It will return Thursday,
includes Mill Creek, Lake Stevens and Snohomish. Both political parties considered this seat up for grabs and that led to nearly $1 million being spent by candidates and an array of independent See CONTROL, back page, this section Indecisive 57/49, C6
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national standard. It was trailing statewide. Like federal law, Washington law requires checks for sales or transfers by licensed dealers but not for purchases from private sellers, like those who sell at gun shows or to friends “Tonight’s victory of Washington’s 594 proves that citizens, including gun owners, do want common-sense gun safety laws,” Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland said in a written statement. Recent polling showed a significant advantage for the expansion measure — which also had an advantage in fundraising. If both managed to pass, officials said, the
WASHINGTON — Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday with a string of election victories from the Deep South to the high plains, after a bitter and expensive midterm campaign in which anger over Washington gridlock was turned against a president who had promised to overcome it. By late Tuesday, Republicans had won at least 10 of the day’s 13 closely contested Senate races, more than the margin they needed to control the Senate for the first time since 2007. GOP candidates held on to seats in Georgia, Kansas and Kentucky, and took seats held by Democrats in Iowa, Colorado, Arkansas, Montana, South Dakota, West Virginia and North Carolina. Those victories came on a night dominated by Republicans nationwide. In the House, the GOP expanded on its existing majority. In governor’s races, Republicans Rick Scott of Florida and Scott Walker of Wisconsin won re-election. In the Senate races, Democrats appeared to have kept just one of the states they had spent two years and millions of dollars trying to save — New Hampshire, where incumbent Jeanne Shaheen defeated Republican Scott Brown, the former Massachusetts senator who had moved
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